NRCM Blog

Product Stewardship Forum Big Success…

Well…we had an incredible afternoon at the Product Stewardship State Legislative Forum yesterday! 

For starters, we had a capacity crowd of over 200 people with state legislators from all over the northeast United States and maritime Canada in attendance.  In addition, we had over 100 folks from all different kinds of backgrounds including academics, solid waste officials, recycling companies, industry representatives and environmental advocates.

Our keynote speaker, Neil Hastie – a longtime EPR veteran who runs the product stewardship program for beverage containers in British Columbia – was incredible.  He explained the benefits of product stewardship policies for business and the environment, and then clearly laid out the pitfalls that can result from poor design and implementation.  He said if we can eliminate or mitigate the pitfalls, then we’ll have a much better chance of winning support from industry.   In the end, he inspired us all, with pictures of the planet and his granddaughter, reminding us that “If not now, when?” and “If not us, then who?” 

Our other speakers, ranging from Mario Laquerre from Recyc-Quebec to Chris Jackson from the Maine State Chamber of Commerce brought many different perspectives and encouraged lively discussions among attendees throughout the afternoon. 

I believe we significantly helped raise the profile and dialogue on product stewardship issues in the Northeast through one of the largest forums on this topic that the United States has had to date.

Big thanks to all the speakers, our co-sponsors - the Council of State of Governments and the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, and especially to Representative Melissa Walsh-Innes who put in countless hours to make the forum a great success. 

Here’s my statement from yesterday.  I’ll be posting more information soon.

Statement of Matt Prindiville, NRCM

Product Stewardship State Legislative Forum

Thank you Melissa.  I would like to thank the Council of State Governments and the Maine State Chamber of Commerce for being such great co-sponsors.  And lastly, our incredible speakers and presenters.  Thank you so much.    I hope you’ve learned as much as I have and that you’re leaving here inspired about the potential for product stewardship to revolutionize the way we think about “waste.”

I think you’ve heard today that we’re trying to shift out of an old paradigm that isn’t working anymore, namely having all these products with valuable, recoverable materials being disposed of in landfills or incinerators.   Product stewardship policies change the paradigm: “waste” now becomes a resource.  Systems and incentives are created are created for the private sector to capture those unwanted products and turn them into something new and valuable.  Have you heard about the term “cradle to cradle” thinking?  Well, this is what we’re talking about here.

If I could leave you all with one thought, it would be this: that together, we can do this.  A spokesperson for Dell said to me recently that, “product stewardship is the right thing to do.”  More and more businesses and industry sectors are getting this.  So how do we do it, and how do we work together in order to accomplish this lofty goal of a truly sustainable economy?  These are the questions we need to consider.   

I think our recent experience in Maine around the framework legislation is a good example: we roll up our sleeves, we sit down at the table together, we listen, we learn and we collaborate.  Now, some might say that this is a naïve proposition.  That business interests and regulatory interests and environmental interests have a long history of being at odds with each other and that’s just the way it is.

But this is coming from a seasoned legislative veteran.  I bear the scars from fighting for and helping to pass 5 first-in-the-nation product stewardship laws, all with their fair share of controversy.  But through these processes, something remarkable has been built between Maine’s business community and our environmental community, that elusive and very human condition known as “trust.”  And by beginning to trust each other a little bit more, we’ve opened up more opportunities to find common ground.

I fundamentally believe that by keeping the lines of communication open and doing our best to work together, we can achieve better outcomes and better public policy.

The environmental community, state legislators and agency officials need to realize that product stewardship programs are very challenging for manufacturers to initiate and operate and to work with them to design legislation that incorporates their concerns, provides flexibility and minimizes costs.  

Industry needs to realize that product stewardship is the future.  It’s taking hold all over the world, and we need you to help design and implement these programs and policies rather than fighting them.  We need you at the table in order to make these programs work.  You are the creators and innovators.  You bring the best ideas to the table.  If anyone can figure out how to make product stewardship work and even figure how to make it add to your bottom line, it’s you.  We need to stop looking at each other as potential enemies, and instead see each other as allies in initiatives that benefit all of us: clean jobs, a growing, green sustainable economy and a healthy, thriving environment. 

We know that while there are tremendous benefits for all of us from our consumer product economy, there are also real costs, costs to the environment, costs to wildlife, and costs to our health.  This is the challenge that we all face.  But it’s also the challenge that we can rise to.  By working together, we can begin to mitigate and even eliminate those costs and carve out a new vision for the future through transforming the way we make and use things. 

By having all of you here today, I feel like we’re we’ll on our way.

- Matt Prindiville, NRCM Clean Production Project Director

A Zero-Waste Future: Pipe Dream or Reality?

What would you say if I told you that consumer product manufacturers are teaming up with local solid waste officials to eliminate the concept of “trash” altogether?

Does that sound like an eco-pipe dream?

Well, it’s not. Right here in Maine, electronics manufacturers have already set up and are financing collection and recycling programs for unwanted television sets, computers, monitors, cell phones, mercury-containing light bulbs and more. 

The goal of these programs is to divert these products from landfills and incinerators and get them into recycling operations where they can be broken down and turned into new products. 

While, Maine’s been on the cutting edge of this policy approach known as product stewardship (or extended producer responsibility) in the United States, we’re well behind places like the European Union and Canada, which are implementing stewardship plans to get pretty much everything you can think of out of the waste stream and into recycling operations. 

And, here’s the kicker – it’s all done by private companies and the costs are incorporated into the price of the product, instead of left to taxpayers and local governments to figure out what to do with all the unwanted stuff.

Pretty soon, we won’t be talking about “solid waste” policy anymore. We’ll be talking about “sustainable materials” policy, and that, my friends, is a heck of a lot more exciting and truly has the potential to revolutionize the way we manufacture, use and dispose of consumer products. Rather than designing products for disposal, manufacturers will now have the incentives to design their products – and packaging – for their next uses, and will create the systems to capture those unwanted products and turn them into something new and valuable.

If all this sounds exciting to you, then you need to join us in Portland, Tuesday, August 17th for "The Product Stewardship State Legislative Forum: How Business and States are Turning Today’s Trash into Tomorrow’s Products.”

This free forum, taking place in conjunction with the Council of State Governments' Annual Eastern Regional Conference and sponsored by NRCM and the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, is an exciting opportunity to learn about how product stewardship is sweeping Maine and the nation and what it means for you, your business, local solid waste district, and our environment.

To register and learn more about agenda and the speakers for the event, please visit http://www.nrcm.org/product_stewardship_forum.asp.

Hope to see you there!

Matt Prindiville
NRCM Clean Production Project Director

Big news from the Big Apple: E-waste lawsuit withdrawn

Good news for extended producer responsibility (EPR) in the United States!  (i.e. manufacturer responsibility for end-of-life collection and recycling of unwanted consumer products). 

Yesterday, a large consortium of electronics companies formally withdrew their lawsuit challenging New York City’s EPR e-waste recycling law (which I testified in support of in 2006). 

While a recently passed New York state e-waste recycling law that preempts the NYC regulation was seen as the primary reason for this action, the real world impact is that this removes a threat to EPR laws around the nation - including Maine’s 6 EPR laws on the books.  Our laws currently cover 10 different product categories ranging from mercury-containing light bulbs and thermostats to cell phones, TVs, computers and printers. In almost every instance, Maine was the first state in the nation to pass these laws, paving the way for more states to follow. As I write this, more than 20 states and over half the nation’s population are now served by e-waste recycling legislation modeled after Maine’s first-in the-nation law.

With the newly enacted EPR framework legislation in place, Maine is likely to continue to lead the nation toward the greater recycling of more and more products in the waste stream. 

But all this progress could have been stopped dead in its tracks if this lawsuit had gained steam. From NRDC’s Kate Sinding’s blog post:

“the suit was so broadly framed that it put in jeopardy any law based on the notion that the manufacturers of consumer products should bear the financial responsibility for their disposition at end-of-life.”

In order to help apply political pressure, we worked to generate letters from concerned legislators and officials to the companies asking them to withdraw their lawsuit.  And our national partners worked tirelessly to organize, apply media pressure and engage in tough negotiations with the manufacturers.

Through this process there were many lessons learned.  Back to Kate Sinding…

“Not that everything about the lawsuit was regrettable.  One of the silver linings was the way in which it brought the plaintiff manufacturers and the city together to develop workable solutions to the very real practical obstacles to collection in New York City.  Because of its low rates of car ownership and dense living arrangements, how collection might best be implemented in the city poses serious challenges.  Through settlement negotiations, the parties made significant progress toward addressing those challenges and devising viable collection alternatives that should both serve New York City residents and accommodate the business needs of the manufacturers charged under the law with taking back their products.  We hope (and have every reason to believe) that these good discussions will continue, as the need for meaningful e-waste collection opportunities in NYC will persist, albeit now under the terms of the state law (which becomes effective next April).

All sides deserve congratulations for the hard work and good faith they brought to the settlement table - elements that augur well for New York State's nascent e-waste program.”

As a final note, this was not a clear case of manufacturers opposing an EPR law because they didn’t want to pay to recycle their own products.  Many electronics manufacturers - including most of the household names like Dell, HP, Sony and Apple – now support EPR legislation for electronics.  This was largely the case of making mountains out of molehills.  The manufacturers primarily had problems with the definition of “convenient collection.”  From that point, EPR foes in the electronics industry and elsewhere saw it as an opportunity to try and make a larger case against the Constitutionality of EPR laws in the first place.   

Fortunately, we’ve already won that fight to date. In 2004, NRCM helped successfully defend Maine’s mercury auto-switch law against the auto manufacturers in federal court.  This helped establish the legal precedent allowing states to hold manufacturers responsible for the safe collection and recycling of unwanted consumer products. And yesterday’s news is one more step in the right direction. This shift is what is necessary to turn what will be formerly known as “trash” into the raw materials of the next generation of products, and to make landfills and waste incinerators obsolete. 

-Matt Prindiville, NRCM Clean Production Project Director

Making a difference in the Gulf

I received an email a few weeks ago from the librarian at Nobleboro Central School. The fifth grade students there spent the year selling items that range from pencil erasers to bubbles to "locker buddies" and more in their school store. Now that the school year is over, they got to choose where to donate their profits. This year, the class chose to donate their money to the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) in order to help with their clean up of wildlife, like sea turtles and pelicans, affected by the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Since the Natural Resources Council of Maine is the state's affiliate of NWF, we were asked if someone from NRCM could come accept the check from the students and thank them for their donation.

I was delighted to be able to go to Nobleboro on Tuesday morning to thank the students, read an award of appreciation and letter from NWF, and accept their giant $300 check (I came back to NRCM to ask our bookkeeper if she could start paying me my salary on a giant check...it seemed much more fun and exciting than a regular payroll stub!).

The students were very attentive while I talked about NRCM and the work we do to protect Maine's air, water, forests, and public health. They were all sitting at their desks doing work on their laptops, so I talked briefly about Maine's e-waste law and our work to protect Mainers from toxics in various toys and other household items. One boy in the front row raised his hand and asked if I had heard about the "McDonald's cups." I said that I had...that 12 million Shrek glasses had to be recalled because of toxic chemicals found in them. It was so great to see young students so aware of current events related to the environment!

I thanked them for their decision to use their money to help wildlife in the Gulf. We talked about how it's important to help your friends and neighbors (and even your brothers and sisters...though that is sometimes harder!) nearby, but it is also important to help others (people and animals) around the country and around the world. We talked about how their gift was going to make a big difference to the wildlife clean up efforts along the Gulf Coast.

These students should be commended for their hard work and dedication to helping others. In years past, their school store funds have gone to local food pantries, animal shelters, and toward home heating assistance programs. This year, they decided to do what they can to help wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico. Way to go Nobleboro Central School! You are making a difference - here in Maine, and far away. I hope others are inspired by your good deeds and do all they can to help those affected by the disaster in the Gulf.

- Beth Dimond
NRCM Public Affairs Coordinator

The hope inside my garbage can

Just as a follow-up to my post on recycling and municipal waste, check out the essay below by author, ecologist and cancer survivor Sandra Steingraber about the link between toxic waste, health and trash:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sandra-steingraber/the-hope-inside-canadas-g_b_586625.html

Sandra is an inspiring speaker and advocate.  Maybe you got a chance to see her speak recently in Portland.  If not, read her books Living Downstream and Having Faith.

- Mathew Scease

"Haul-o-well" - new trash reduction pilot project in place

Hallowell, where I live, does not have municipal trash removal—each household has to contract with a trash hauler on its own to get curbside pick-up.  Riverside Disposal of Chelsea, my hauler, is offering a pilot project in which they will cut the customer’s weekly fee if you can get down to a single, 10 lb. bag of trash per week. They will recycle the rest, which they’ve broken down into two categories: containers and paper. They pick up one category per week, alternating from one to the other. 

They are also providing food composting buckets to customers.  We already compost, but the 5-gallon plastic bucket (for short-term storage inside the house) has been a great improvement for us.

My household is enthusiastically taking part, with 20 or 30 other customers.  After we signed up for the pilot project, they monitored our trash for a couple of weeks and told us that we had 36 lbs per week!  If that is truly average, that equals over 1,800 lbs a year—almost a ton for our three-person, two-cat operation.  So just knowing that was an eye-opener. We have two cats and a toddler, so diapers and kitty litter will probably make it very difficult to get down to 10 lbs., at least for a while.  We change the kitty litter once a week (in theory); I reckon that is 10 lbs. right there.  We may switch back to a scoopable litter; Riverside suggests one called Swheat Scoop.  Any other ideas out there?

It’s interesting that Riverside is doing this by weight, not by volume.  Some towns do pay-per-bag municipal trash pick-up (the residents must pay for bags) that are based on volume, at least nominally—though once the trucks get to the landfill the issue is weight. We are recycling a lot more plastic now, but it doesn’t weigh that much. Kitty litter, food and diapers seem to account for most of the weight.

But even recycling more stuff is kind of a “tailpipe” strategy. As I pondered our trash last weekend, I thought, “Reduce, re-use, recycle.” There’s a reason the words are in that order.  Start by reducing what you buy or bring in to your house. Think about the packaging of the products you buy, especially food, and favor items whose packaging is easier to re-use or recycle. Lastly, think about what you can re-use before tossing it into a bin.

There are more subtle strategies you can use.  We will move our recycling bins closer to the kitchen, the center of a lot of activity, and move the trash barrel further away.  (We also moved the paper towel roll far away from the sink, where they were always close at hand when I “needed” one.  I know we shouldn’t be using paper towels at all, blah blah blah...So sue me.)

I don’t think it’s much of a direct savings for the customer: Riverside already picks up recycling at no additional cost, as mandated by the city of Hallowell, and the price break is not big. But it’s a great program anyway.

As I mentioned, we’re already recycling our food waste in a composter in our vegetable garden—a good way to cut down on garbage volume.  The Maine Resource Recovery Association is offering low-cost composters to communities that sign up. You have to contact your town to see if it is taking part.   The city of Gardiner is:  http://www.kjonline.com/news/gardinercity-offering_green_-products_2010-05-06.html

And of course, the Natural Resources Council of Maine has been working for years, with great results, to keep toxic items out of the waste stream:  mercury-containing products and electronics, most notably. Governor Baldacci signed a landmark bill in March that makes “extended producer responsibility” part of Maine law: http://www.nrcm.org/news_detail.asp?news=3546

How is your city dealing with your garbage? Send us your trash tales!

-Mathew Scease

Another first-in-the-nation law for Maine! CFL recycling bill passed

NRCM just achieved a big legislative victory with passage of a sweeping, first-in-the-nation bill to collect and recycle light bulbs that contain mercury (compact fluorescent lights, or CFLs).  Building off the success of Maine’s landmark electronic waste law, the new CFL bill directs light bulb manufacturers to share the costs and responsibility of recycling mercury-containing light bulbs.  The bill’s passage will set a national precedent for other states to follow. 

At one point during the legislative process, the bill appeared to be headed for a bitter partisan fight – with Democrats at the Natural Resources Committee supporting and Republicans opposed.  That was not the outcome we were looking for, so we redoubled our efforts to talk with every Republican with the goal of building bi-partisan support.

That is when lobbyists representing the manufacturers expanded their ranks and pushed hard for a weakening amendment that would have completely gutted the bill and absolved manufacturers of all responsibility to collect the mercury.  We worked with our friends in the retail community to get letters of opposition to the amendment.  The manufacturers backed down off their amendment strategy, and focused instead on spreading false information about the bill – with the hope of delaying action until next year, so that “more studies” could be done.  In other words:  study the issue to death. 

As the bill was about to head for a final vote, we knew it was make or break time, so we called in reinforcements: Sierra Fletcher from the Product Stewardship Institute, who co-chaired the national stakeholder group on mercury lamps recycling, and Michael Bender, from the Mercury Policy Project and chair of the Multi-state Mercury Campaign.  Michael and Sierra drove up the morning before the committee vote, and we talked with swing committee members right up to the vote.  We prepared documents the night before showing that the manufacturers have been pushing for delay and studies, studies and delay, around the country.  “Anything but action,” has been their refrain.

The vote was taken, and we won with 12-1 vote out of committee, leading to a 130-13 victory in the house, and a near unanimous vote in the Senate.   

We’re very excited about this victory.  The Governor will hold a bill signing of the legislation next week – sending a clear message nationally - and globally - that a new day is dawning for total life cycle management and shared responsibility - from ‘the cradle to the grave’ for products containing mercury and other hazardous substances.  This new law also sends a message to manufacturers that they need to assume their share of responsibility to reduce and wherever possible eliminate the toxicity of their products, and also to alleviate the increasing waste management cost burden on local governments.  

We need to keep mercury and other hazardous materials in products out of the environment.  This bill contributes to that goal.

NRCM appreciates the work of all the legislators who contributed to this victory, especially the bill’s sponsor, Representative Seth Berry from Bowdoinham, the lead co-sponsor, Senator Kevin Raye from Perry, and the two committee chairs, Representative Bob Duchesne and Senator Seth Goodall.  They helped craft the final language that won overwhelming support in both Houses. 

-Matt Prindiville, Toxics Project Director