MSW Management | Editorial

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By Allen Lynch

British Columbia, Canada, is the leader in Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programs in North America.

Why is there such gnashing of teeth and twisting of arms with respect to product stewardship, and why is there such a division in the great United States and in many parts of Canada about who should be responsible for managing the life cycle of a product, particularly one that might be hazardous? Why isn’t everybody looking at the very successful programs in place in BC?

A deposit-refund system for beer and soda containers was implemented as a provincial litter control initiative way back in 1970—the first such program in North America. The original legislation made retailers responsible for charging deposits and issuing refunds when empty containers were returned to stores. In 1991 the provincial government introduced product stewardship programs for tires and lead acid batteries, and in 1992 it implemented the Lubricating Oil Regulation. Since the establishment of these programs in the early 1990s, the province has moved toward establishing regulations requiring producers to take full responsibility for the end-of-life management of products.

By the end of 2006, the provincial government had established EPR programs for all of the following products: beverage containers—all except those containing milk and milk substitutes; paints and empty paint containers; flammable liquids, including domestic pesticides, solvents, and gasoline; lead acid batteries; used motor oil, oil filters, and oil containers; automobile and light truck tires; pharmaceuticals. And, coming this summer: electronics. Yes—a fully funded take-back program operated by Electronics Product Stewardship Canada will be in place for end-of-life televisions, computers and printers.

While the EPR programs apply to the whole province, I am more familiar with the successful results of these programs in the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) where I manage the recycling programs for 3 municipalities. The GVRD, similar to a US county, has 21 municipalities that make up the metropolitan area of Vancouver with a population of approximately 2 million. Each year the residents of the GVRD generate about 2.9 million metric tons of municipal solid waste.

We’re very proud of the fact that we have achieved a disposal diversion rate of more than 50% through comprehensive recycling and waste reduction programs. Provincially mandated EPR programs diverted more than 120,000 metric tons of products from the Greater Vancouver disposal system in 2004. This is 14% of the residential and ICI waste recycled in the GVRD and these quantities illustrate the importance of these programs.

If you come to BC, you will not see expensive government (ratepayer) funded municipal or regional government HHW depots. In the case of beverage containers, there are 168 independently owned bottle depots as well as 350 major grocery stores that take back beverage containers. As well, there are more than 100 depots across the province where consumers can return leftover paint, including 40 depots where consumers may also dispose of flammables, gasoline and pesticides. And there is a network of 540 return collection facilities in British Columbia that accept used oil materials from the do-it-yourselfer.

Local and regional governments are not required to provide collection facilities at their recycling drop-off depots or transfer stations but they may choose to do so. If they do, the cost of operating those depots is fully funded by industry.

You will note that I used the word “extended” in the title of this piece because despite what you may have heard or read elsewhere, there actually is a difference between plain old product stewardship and extended producer stewardship (EPR). The definition of product stewardship that you may be most familiar with is this one:

“Product stewardship” is a principle that directs all those involved in the life cycle of a product to take shared responsibility for reducing the health and environmental impacts that result from the production, use, and end-of-life management of the product.

In BC, we see this differently and prefer the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) definition of EPR:

An environmental policy approach in which a producer’s responsibility, physical and/or financial, for a product is extended to the post-consumer stage of a product’s life cycle.

Product Stewardship or EPR—whatever you want to call it—is, as Scott Cassel, executive director of the Product Stewardship Institute, so aptly put it in his Lawrence Lecture presentation at SWANA’s WASTECON in Charlotte, NC, “the next frontier” for the solid waste professional. We need to keep more products out of the wastestream and EPR is the way to do it.

The BC Ministry of Environment has four principles for EPR in the province:

Producer/User Responsibility, where responsibility for waste management is shifted away from general taxpayers to producers and users
A Level Playing Field, where all brand-owners for a particular product category are subject to the same stewardship responsibilities and where all consumers have reasonable access to product collection facilities
Results-Based Programs that focus on results and that provide brand-owners with the flexibility to determine the most cost-effective means of achieving the desired outcomes with minimum government involvement (e.g. non-prescriptive programs)
Transparency and Accountability, where program development is open and provides the opportunity for input to all stakeholders.

So then, what are the benefits to our local governments of having the EPR programs in place? One is that of increased diversion from municipal disposal systems, which leads to reduced collection and disposal costs. Removal of the most toxic products from the wastestream is another. Reduced litter and illegal dumping, especially with respect to beverage containers is one more.

EPR results in reduced costs to local government and ratepayers. Why wouldn’t you do it?

To learn more about the successful EPR programs in British Columbia, check out the BC Environment Ministry Web site at www.env.gov.bc.ca/epd/epdpa/ips/

Allen Lynch is manager of the North Shore Recycling Program, North Vancouver, B.C., Canada.

MSW - January/February 2007