Product Stewardship Can Save Money While Improving Environmental

By Scott Cassel Outcomes

Scott Cassel is the Chief Executive Officer and founder of the Boston-based Product Stewardship Institute (www.ProductStewardship.us). From 1993 to 2000, he was Director of Waste Policy and Planning for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.

18 MUNICIPAL ADVOCATE Vol. 29, No. 4 he collapse of recycling markets following China’s policy to restrict imports of recyclable materials has made it clear that communities are unfairly burdened by an inefficient and costly Twaste management system. The Environmental Research and Education Foundation reports that the average cost to dispose of solid waste rose 3.3 percent from 2017 to 2018, outpacing inflation. Massachusetts municipalities spend tens of millions of dollars each year to recycle or dispose of products and packaging consumers no longer want. These scarce local funds compete with other important municipal services, such as hiring teachers, firefighters and police officers. Government officials around the world are facing the reality that they have responsibility” (EPR) laws already passed gallon of paint in one of the eight states limited control over the design of products in the U.S.—on fourteen products in plus the District of Columbia with an and packaging sold into the market— thirty-three states—are estimated to save EPR law will pay about 75 cents extra to materials that later appear in their municipalities and taxpayers hundreds of cover the management of any leftover recycling bins and trash barrels. When decisions are made regarding what millions of dollars. By shifting the cost paint (which is about 10 percent of all materials to use, the financial burden from governments and taxpayers paint purchased, according to the U.S. consequences of choosing something that to product manufacturers or consumers, Environmental Protection Agency). The is non-recyclable, difficult to recycle, or government officials believe the new paint industry uses those funds to provide even toxic do not fall directly on the systems are inherently fairer. a convenient system for consumers to producer or on the buyer. Instead, they Product stewardship programs in return their leftover paint at retail or fall on citizens and governments. Connecticut, which has EPR laws for municipal locations, and the collected electronics, thermostats, paint and paint is mostly reused or recycled back Extended Producer Responsibility mattresses, have diverted more than 26 into paint, with a small amount of The growing cost of recycling and waste million pounds of material from the waste hardened and sour paint being disposed. disposal has given rise to a global stream, yielded cost savings of more than Instead of state and local governments movement that seeks to control costs and $2.6 million per year, provided services being fully burdened by having to manage reduce waste by holding manufacturers worth another $6.7 million, and created leftover paint, the industry picks up a more responsible for managing the full more than 100 jobs, according to a large amount of the responsibility, while lifecycle of their products and packaging. detailed study conducted by the Product consumers pick up the cost. Local Governments at all levels are passing laws Stewardship Institute in 2017. The EPR governments are partners in such a that require manufacturers to extend their programs have also reduced greenhouse system, since they provide collection responsibility beyond in-plant worker gas emissions and given residents more services, resident education, and local protection and pollution controls—and to convenient options for the disposal of knowledge. As the oversight agency, reuse, recycle or safely dispose of their hard-to-recycle materials. state government ensures a level playing products after consumers are done with EPR policy models exist for dozens of field for all manufacturers, makes sure them. The 116 “extended producer products. For example, a person buying a consumers have a convenient place to

MUNICIPAL ADVOCATE Vol. 29, No. 4 19 PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP CAN SAVE MONEY WHILE IMPROVING ENVIRONMENTAL OUTCOMES bring their used paint, and requires manufacturers to provide comprehensive Governments around and consistent statewide education. Retailers play a significant, voluntary role the world believe it is in education and collection, which brings customers into their stores. their job to develop EPR systems create a web of relationships that result in less waste and policies that require more recycling, which translates into more jobs and reduced environmental producers to share impacts, including fewer greenhouse gas emissions that lead to climate change. more of the waste According to the nonprofit PaintCare Inc. (www.paintcare.org), since 2010, management burden U.S. paint stewardship programs have recycled 16 million gallons of paint, and level the playing relieved local governments of more than $150 million in paint transportation and field so all companies are treated equally. processing costs, created more than 200 jobs related to paint collection and recycling, and added more than 1,750 ambitious recycled-content targets which there is a significant global market, voluntary collection sites (77 percent of currently rely on an incredibly fragmented is only reused or recycled at a 15 percent which are retailers), providing far greater system for collecting and processing convenience to residents and decreasing rate nationally, with 85 percent sent to material. With hundreds of communities the burden on local government programs. landfills or waste-to-energy plants. These in each state collecting a different set of products are disposed because they cost Packaging and Paper materials and educating their residents in more to manage properly, even though, The biggest and most costly part of the a number of different ways, it is difficult from a lifecycle perspective, that waste stream, however, is product for producers to source the volume or calculation invariably changes when packaging (including cardboard, plastic quality of material they need. When a considering recycling jobs created, containers, steel and aluminum cans, system is coordinated on a larger scale energy saved by not having to mine new plastic film and glass) and paper goods rather than splintered into hundreds of materials, reduced impacts from toxics, (including newspapers, office paper and different municipal systems, more and other variables. junk mail). According to the EPA, these material can be recovered. At the same Governments around the world believe materials compose about 40 percent of all time, with a true accounting of the it is their job to develop policies that municipal waste. (See www.epa.gov/ lifecycle cost of recycling and disposal, require producers to share more of the producers have an incentive to minimize facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste- waste management burden and level the packaging and design for least and-recycling/advancing-sustainable- playing field so all companies are treated environmental impact. materials-management.) Nearly 70 tons equally. In Massachusetts, bills have been It might not always make sense from a of paper and paperboard flowed through introduced in the current legislative session strict financial perspective to recycle municipal solid waste streams nationwide covering paint, mattresses, packaging, packaging and paper goods. But when the in 2015. While the amount of paper waste electronics and other products. These bills has declined in recent years, the amount lifecycle of that material is considered— need municipal support to pass into law. of plastic waste is climbing, and less than from mining and remanufacturing new Everyone, including consumers, 10 percent of plastics are recycled. products to the impacts of material communities, retailers and producers, EPR laws for packaging in Europe and disposal—the calculation often looks very shares some of the responsibility for Canada recover more material than do different. systems in the U.S. Europe has made generating and managing waste. EPR the central pillar of its “circular Bulky Products and Toxics Unfortunately, the current system does not economy” package that was passed into The same logic that holds for packaging fairly reflect that reality. law recently. Countries around the world also holds for bulky products, such as Evidence from EPR programs are taking aggressive steps to recover mattresses, carpeting and furniture, which operating around the world points to materials from products and packaging flood our waste system, as well as toxic significant opportunities to design a better because it makes economic sense from a and hard-to-manage products like recycling system with improved systemic lifecycle perspective. thermostats, fluorescent lamps, incentives and markets, one that It makes sense for producers as well. pharmaceuticals, medical sharps and ultimately reduces waste and saves Producers that have committed to pesticides. In fact, even used clothing, for municipalities millions of dollars.

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