Product Stewardship Initiatives for Electronics

Sego Jackson

Snohomish County, WA

PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP

A Strategy for MRW Management

Shirli AxelrodSeattle Public Utilities

710 Second Avenue, 11th FloorSeattle, WA 98104

phone: 206-684-7804

E-Mail: shirli.axelrod@ci.seattle.wa.us

Why Product Stewardship?

•Reduce pollution and health dangers.•Promote manufacturer responsibility for the energy and materials consumption, air and water emissions, toxic materials, worker safety threats, and waste disposal impacts from their products.•Producers make the decisions that most influence those costs and impacts.•Stewardship means they take responsibility throughout the life of their products, from design through the end-of-life management.

Reasons for instituting product stewardship: recapturing resources reducing the amount of garbage reducing waste management costs to government and ratepayers reducing potential harm from toxic material exposure

Why Product Stewardship?

We Need A New Approach

• producers need to get involved to address the problems from their products:

Product Stewardship

Beyond Conventional Thinking

• “Life-line” becomes “life-cycle” when producers bear responsibility for their products’ impacts, and charge buyers (not ratepayers or taxpayers).

• Traditionally, Government Managers accept responsibility for wastes and incorporate costs into customer rates or taxes.

New Product Cycle: No Waste

What We Might Achieve:

• Producer responsibility for existing backlogs of waste;

• Changes in design and manufacturing, to be cleaner and reduce use of toxic materials;

• Manufacturers promote reuse and recycling;• Shift costs from municipal solid waste

ratepayers into “prices” paid by producers and users.

What’s Been Happening?

• National and international “takeback” systems of varying levels of effectiveness (RBRC, Thermostats, Carpet)

• National Electronics Product Stewardship Initiative; Western Electronics Product Stewardship Initiative

• Paint working group (NPSI)

..continued:

• Patagonia, Nike, and others commiting to some levels of stewardship

• Medical industry groups (PVC, Mercury, etc.)• Outside the US:

– British Columbia Product Care Association– EU vehicle, white goods, packaging, electronics

requirements– Japan and Australia electronics takeback

PRODUCT Stewardship Laws or Agreements for electronics

• European Union (proposed)

• The Netherlands

• Norway

• Sweden

• Denmark

• Switzerland

• Belgium

• Italy

• Japan

• Taiwan

• Korea

Ten Elements of Product Stewardship Laws and Agreements for Electronics9. Scope of the types of products covered.

10. Coverage of “historical products” and the timeframe for implementation.

11. Whether and how “orphan” products are included.

12. Responsibility for end-of-life management, including collection.

13. What that responsibility entails and internalization of costs.

14. Whether other entities in the product chain have defined responsibilities.

15. Whether the responsibility is individual or collective.

16. Recycling targets (rates and dates) for end-of-life management.

17. Environmental standards for the end-of-life management.

18. Design guidelines and other design-oriented programs.

National Electronics Product Stewardship Initiative (NEPSI)

Goal of Dialogue • The goal of the NEPSI Dialogue is the

development of a system, which includes a viable financing mechanism, to maximize the collection, reuse, and recycling of used electronics, while considering appropriate incentives to design products that facilitate source reduction, reuse and recycling, reduce toxicity, and increase recycled content.

Dialogue Participants

• 45 Participants – 15 Government– 15 Industry– 15 Other (incl. environmental groups,

retailers, recyclers, etc.)

• Observers

• Core Group

National Electronics Product Stewardship Initiative (NEPSI)

• Product Stewardship Institute: Coordinates State/Local Agencies

• Electronic Industries Alliance: Coordinates Manufacturers

• Center for Clean Products and Clean Technologies: Coordinates Stakeholder Dialogue

National Electronics Product Stewardship Initiative (NEPSI)

• Government Participants (at table)– CA, FL, IA, MA, MN, MO, NJ, OR, SC, WA– Snohomish County, WA– Solid Waste Management Coordinating Board, MN– Northeast Waste Management Officials Assoc.

• ME, VT, NH, NY, CT, RI (MA, NJ)

– Product Stewardship Institute– U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

• Government Observers – NC, PA, NE, TN, WI, VA + Others

Industry Dialogue Participants• Participants: EIA, HP, JVC, Epson,

Panasonic, Sony, Sharp, Best Buy

• Represented by EIA: IBM, Intel

• Interested: Compaq, Apple, Circuit City

• Non-participants: Gateway, Radio Shack, Comp USA, Staples, Dell

Dialogue Objective

• Increase Collection, Reuse, and Recycling of Used Electronics – Performance Based

• Develop a Sustainable Financing System to reach our targets

• Explore Opportunities for Product Design

Agreements

• Meet 6 times over 1 year• Dialogue Objective• Scope of Products• Design Workshop• Ideal System Attributes• Need for Goals for Collection, Reuse,

Recycling• Roadmap• Narrowed Financing Options

Scope of Products

• Computer Monitors and CPUs

• Computer Peripherals– Scanners, Printers, Keyboards, Mice

• Televisions

Status of Dialogue

• Agreed to front-end financed system • many Subgroups

– Financing– Infrastructure– Regulatory Issues– Data – Action Plan– Legislation

Western Electronics Product Stewardship Initiative (WEPSI)

• Similar Issues, Regional Perspective

• Tackling Specific Challenges– Recycler Feedback on Design– Design for End-of-Life Assessment

Methodology

Your Company, Agency, or Organization Can Get Involved:

• The Northwest Product Stewardship Council (NWPSC).

• Organized in 2000 by local governments “to integrate product stewardship principles into the policy and economic structures of the pacific Northwest.”

• Steering Committee of local governments.

NWPSC Organization

• Current Steering Committee members:– Oregon DEQ– Washington DOE– City of Portland– City of Seattle– Clark County– Snohomish County– Kitsap County– King County– Metro– LHWMP– EPA Region 10

NWPSC Projects:

• Electronics: computer and television product stewardship local, regional, and national initiatives with industry.

• Medical Industry Roundtable.• Input to state and/or national projects on

Mercury and Latex Paint.• Provide “Policymaker Bulletins” to Oregon

and Washington officials• www.productstewardship.net

Your Company, Agency, or Organization Can Get Involved:

• Join the National Product Stewardship Institute, and adopt their “Principles.” (Information at www.productstewardshipinstitute.org/)

• Oregon, Washington, Portland, Metro, Seattle, Vancouver, King County, Snohomish County, Kitsap County all have done so.

• Incorporate Product Stewardship in Comprehensive Planning, Economic Development, and other decision-making in your jurisdiction;

and

Your Company, Agency, or Organization Can Get Involved:

Your Company, Agency, or Organization Can Get Involved:

• Use your agency’s buying power: – solicit and buy environmentally-preferable

products, and – include “vendor takeback” and environmentally-

sound end-of-life management by vendors in your purchasing contracts.

(For electronics, see the “Guide to Environmentally Preferable Purchasing” from the Northwest Product Stewardship Council; www.productstewardship.net)