NYSASWM Initiates Formation of NY Product Stewardship Council
The New York Product Stewardship Council made its debut at
the Federation of New York State Solid Waste Associations annual
conference in Lake George on May 4. Kicking off the conference
were Bill Sheehan, Executive Director of the Athens, Georgia
based Product Policy Institute; Sego Jackson of the Northwest
Product Stewardship Council & Snohomish County Solid Waste
Management Division, State of Washington; Heidi Sanborn, outreach
director for the Product Policy Institute, Sacramento, California
(via a pre-taped presentation) and Hans Arnold, representing
NYSASWM. Building on the information and interest generated
at the Product Stewardship Policy Summit held in November, the
NYSASWM Board voted at its March 11, 2009 meeting to create
a New York Product Stewardship Council as a committee of the
Association. In addition to adopting the Product Stewardship
Framework Principles, the Association approved the allocation
of $40,000 for the start-up of the Council. NYSASWM entered
into a contract with the Product Policy Institute as the first
building block to create the Product Stewardship Council, and
to raise additional funds and create a website. NYSASWM President
Mike Wolak made the initial 11 appointments to what is targeted
as a 15 member product stewardship board. Wolak stated, “our
members realize that any chance at truly reducing the volume
of waste has to come from this kind of effort. Continuing to
burden local governments with the costs of handling new wastes
and increasing volumes can’t continue.” The goal
of the Product Stewardship Council is to provide a framework
whereby a new law will establish Extended Producer Responsibility
(EPR) as policy and give state government the authority to address
multiple products over time. New York State joins six other
entities in North America in forming Product Stewardship Councils
- Vermont, California, Northwest (Washington and Oregon), Texas,
British Columbia and Nova Scotia. The council distributed a
flier about the Council to the over 700 attendees at the conference,
noting that EPR policies develop manufacturer responsibility
for the recycling of their products at the end of their useful
life. The intent is to improve recycling, create green jobs
and encourage producers to design more sustainable products
without cost to tax payers. NYSASWM and NYSDEC cosponsored the
Summit to bring stakeholders together to initiate discussion
about forming the Council. The November summit was co-moderated
by Resa Dimino of NYSDEC and Hans Arnold representing NYSASWM.
The purpose of the summit, held in Albany, was to determine
how NYS communities can reduce the waste being generated and
managed by moving forward with appropriate and effective product
and packaging stewardship programs. NYSDEC staff are in the
process of developing a new State Solid Waste Management Plan
that will incorporate product stewardship as an integral part
of future solid waste management planning for the state.
At the November summit, Scott Cassel of the Product Stewardship
Institute of Boston, Massachusetts, gave an introduction on
the topic and Product Stewardship in Action was given an in-depth
perspective by several speakers. Jackson explained how the Northwest
Product Stewardship Council was formed in 1998. A full producer
responsibility program was legislated in 2006 in Washington
State for e-waste. Manufacturers are responsible for setting
up and paying for the costs of the program (cost of collection,
transportation, and ultimate environmentally responsible disposal/recycling/reuse
of the e-waste). Their law includes convenience standards –
there must be an e-waste collection point in each county and
one in each municipality with a population greater than 10,000.
Their law requires the manufacturers to make such arrangements,
and they do so by negotiating for use of the 3 county transfer
stations. Savings to the County include $368,000 in cost to
operate the facility which will now be paid for by the manufacturers,
plus the county will be providing the collection infrastructure.
It is expected that once their e-waste program gets used by
the public this year, that public support/demand for more product
stewardship programs will expand fairly quickly. Garth Hickle,
product stewardship leader in Minnesota, has been working on
this issue since 1999. State legislation was passed for product
stewardship for batteries and e-waste. In year one of e-waste
law in Minnesota, manufacturers were required to collect 60%
of what they sold. In year two they are required to collect
80% of what they sell. He noted the vast majority of materials
collected are recycled/reused. The law includes incentives to
provide collection in rural areas. Since product stewardship
programs are largely privately operated, programs don’t
typically require big staff effort from state agencies, Hickle
noted, adding that Minnesota has an individual staff person
assigned to a particular product. Ms. Sanborn said in California
there are currently a number of product stewardship laws.
