February 26, 2009
Who's responsible?
The Del Norte Solid Waste Authority is in the process of starting a product stewardship program for all batteries in which local businesses that sell the batteries may take them back for free after they've been used in an effort to keep them out of landfills.
The program could end up being a model for product stewardship legislation at the state level, said Del Norte Solid Waste Management Authority director Kevin Hendrick.
Product stewardship refers to efforts to shift the responsibility for paying for the disposal of hazardous materials from the general public to the material manufacturers and consumers.
"The way it works right now isn't fair," said California Product Stewardship Council Director Heidi Sanborn. "Why should I, as a general taxpayer, pay to dispose of my neighbor's giant big screen TV? If product stewardship works correctly the consumer pays for the product's end of life in the purchase price."
The Solid Waste Management Authority's pilot program for the recycling of batteries would remove them from the waste stream and provide a model for how product stewardship could work at the state level.
"Our battery return program could demonstrate what a local product stewardship program would look like," Hendrick said.
Sanford agreed that if successful, the Del Norte battery return model could be used to help inform product stewardship efforts statewide.
Currently the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation is a non-profit stewardship organization set up by the rechargeable battery industry, Hendrick said.
"They have boxes in retailers that sell rechargeable and cell phone batteries," Hendrick said. "The consumer returns old batteries to the box at the retailer. Once the box is full the retailer seals it and for no extra cost the United Postal Service ships the box to a central clearing site where the batteries get processed and smelted. We want to do this for single-use batteries."
Hendrick said that Wal Mart, Home Depot, Rite Aide and Crescent Ace Hardware all are currently taking part in the rechargeable battery stewardship program.
"We have signed up five additional retailers and expect to get many more," Hendrick said. "Woodland Villa, Safeway, Fort Dick Market, Coast True Value Hardware and Del Norte County have all signed up to be a part of our pilot program."
Fort Dick Market owner Clyde Eller can't see a downside to product stewardship.
"It's always important, at least to most individuals that feel the environment is important, to do whatever we can to keep hazardous products out of landfills," Eller said. "We are real pleased to be able to take part in this program."
Hendrick is hoping to get 26 local businesses involved.
In addition, "We've offered it to the prison, we are hoping for the parks and the school district and are looking to sign up the rancherias," Hendrick said.
The concept of product stewardship arose in 2001 when the state of California banned disposal of TVs and computer monitors in landfills.
"The ban caught us by surprise," Hendrick said. "The state banned disposal without having a plan to do anything about it. So the expense of disposing of these items fell onto the shoulders of local government and through them the public."
The state has since expanded the list of items that can't be put in landfills to include needles, electronic equipment and products containing mercury.
Many of the banned products have substances that are bad for the environment and the general health of the populace, Hendrick said.
For example, electronic products generally contain a smorgasboard of hazardous materials.
Lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polyvinyl chloride and brominated flame retardants all appear in common electronic components and are all hazardous materials.
The problem with the long list of banned goods, is that disposal is expensive and significantly increases the rates that customers pay to discard the garbage that does belong in landfills.
"We have to pass the cost on to the customer through transfer station fees," Hendrick said. "It is the only way that we can afford to comply with the state and deal with the banned products."
Enter product stewardship.
"We lobbied for a state law that set up a system for TVs," Hendrick said. "When you buy the TV, you pay an advance disposal fee."
As the list of banned products grew, nothing was done, other than with TVs, to take the burden of disposal off of local governments.
"Essentially, instead of the manufacturer of a hazardous product or the consumer that purchased it being responsible for paying for disposal, it falls to the general public," Hendrick said.
According to the California Product Stewardship Council, an advocacy group spearheading the push for state laws requiring manufacturers to be held responsible for the disposal of their products, "product stewardship means whoever designs, produces, sells or uses a product is responsible for minimizing its environmental impact through all stages of the product's life cycle. And the producer, having the greatest ability to minimize impacts has the most responsibility.
"Product recycling should be an extension of the marketing system, mirroring the production and distribution process in a kind of reverse retail process."
Product stewardship would result in companies looking for greener, cleaner ways to make products, Hendrick said.
"It needs to be uniform," he said. "All manufacturers that sell similar products need to be on a level playing field."
In 2007, the Del Norte Solid Waste Management Authority joined a collection of other local California governments in support of product stewardship that has grown to include more than 24 counties and 41 city councils.
"A statewide law would be the next best thing to a nationwide law," Hendrick said. "Most manufacturers would rather see a statewide law because the alternative is that they would have different rules for each of the 58 counties."
Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro, whose district includes Del Norte, introduced legislation to create the California Product Stewardship Act of 2010 on Feb. 12.
"The product stewardship act will provide an essential tool for reducing the amount of waste in landfills," said Chesbro. "The state's existing recycling law has worked well to get us a 58 percent statewide reduction, but it is reaching the limits of its effectiveness. By shifting responsibility from local governments to the manufacturers who create the products that can't be added to landfills, the waste stream will be further reduced and will cost local goverment less."
While there have been some efforts at product stewardship that focus just on specific materials like TVs or rechargeable batteries, Sanborn said, the new approach is stronger because it's a framework approach.
"This new approach establishes a framework for dealing with multiple products," Sanborn said. "It creates a process where hazardous products can be identified and once a product is identified it becomes the manufacturers responsibility to come up with a stewardship plan."
So far, the following 20 locations have agreed to take part in the Del Norte Solid Waste Management Authority Battery Return program.
•Coast Value True Hardware
• Del Norte Office Supply
• Fort Dick Market
• Gas 4 Less
• Gasquet Market
• Hiouchi Hamlet
• La Joya Mexican Market
• Lake Earl Market
• Pem Mey Fuel Mart
• Rays Food Place, Crescent City
• Rays Food Place, Smith River
• Safeway
• Walgreens
• Woodland Villa Market
• DNC United School District
• DNC Building
• Ace Hardware
• Home Depot
• Rite Aid
• Walmart
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