Product stewardship policy in the United States can be served up in a variety of ways – harmonized or piecemeal, consistent policy or a patchwork of laws. The Product Stewardship Institute (PSI), a Boston-based non-profit organization, was created in 2000 to harmonize state and local product policy. PSI has membership from 45 states and over 150 local governments, and partners with more than 55 businesses, organizations, universities, and non-US governments. The Institute has developed a unique multi-stakeholder process that melds perspectives from retailers, manufacturers, government agencies, and environmental groups. RILA has been involved in several PSI product policy negotiations.
Product stewardship – a concept that makes manufacturers financially responsible for managing products at the end of their useful life – is expanding in the United States. PSI formalized this concept in 2001 with its Principles of Product Stewardship, which guide state and local governments in product policy discussions. These principles have now been adopted by the National League of Cities, Environmental Council of the States, Solid Waste Association of North America, Reusable Packaging Association, and many other organizations.
The goals of product stewardship are to change the way products are designed, so that manufacturers, retailers, governments, and consumers can share responsibility for reducing a product’s health and environmental impacts. Those with the greatest ability to reduce those impacts shoulder the greatest responsibility. Manufacturers, and ultimately consumers, usually pay for collecting, recycling, or appropriately disposing of products consumers no longer want. Retailers serve as voluntary collection points for used or leftover products, and provide information to consumers, while governments oversee product stewardship systems to ensure fairness (e.g., all manufacturers are subject to the same requirements) and effectiveness (e.g., performance levels are achieved). Consumers also have a role in taking action to manage products effectively once convenient solutions are offered. Some of the products collected wind up with processors and end-users, who also have a responsibility to manage products safely for workers and the environment.
Product stewardship has gained considerable momentum in the U.S. As of mid-April 2010, more than 50 laws – covering seven products – have been enacted at the state level, requiring manufacturers to take responsibility for their products at end of life. As shown in Table 1, the greatest number of producer responsibility laws address electronics (21), followed by mercury auto switches (13), mercury thermostats (eight), batteries (seven), fluorescent lamps (two), and paint and pesticide containers (with one each). Maine is currently the only U.S. state to have a producer responsibility framework in place for numerous products. Altogether, 31 states have enacted at least one producer responsibility law, with one state, Maine, passing six such laws. The number of states with at least one law has doubled since 2006.
Now that more than 50 laws have been passed, which require product stewardship for individual products, some states are seeking a comprehensive, or framework, legislative approach to establish an overarching product stewardship policy for multiple products. This approach can further the goal of harmonizing state product policy. To date, framework bills have been introduced in six states, with only one state, Maine, enacting a framework law, although it is not the comprehensive version originally introduced in Maine and in the other states. (The most recent versions of framework and product-specific bills can be found on a producer responsibility legislation map on the Product Stewardship Institute website.)
Table 1. State Product Stewardship Laws (as of May 10, 2010)
* New York City has also passed a product stewardship electronics law. CA was the first state to pass an electronics law, but it is based on an advanced recycling fee.
The PSI National Dialogue Process
At the core of PSI’s work is an approach that brings together divergent parties that are often economically at conflict with one another, with the goal of jointly developing product stewardship solutions. What motivates companies to work with PSI is that it offers a national forum for the objective discussion of issues rather than risk piecemeal laws in multiple states that add business cost and complexity. What motivates government to participate is that they can save millions of dollars by shifting waste management costs from taxpayers to manufacturers, and by lowering overall costs by designing more efficient programs. PSI’s collaborative method entails helping groups negotiate each participant’s role within the context of an overall solution. It conducts research, facilitates meetings and calls, summarizes issues for decision, and forges multi-stakeholder agreements, which can take the form of a signed Memorandum of Understanding, model legislation, or other formal documentation of stakeholder commitments. PSI also conducts pilot projects, provides strategic advice, and lobbies for changes in laws, regulations, and policies. PSI designed and implemented the nation’s first retail take-back of computers with Staples in 2004; that program now operates nationally in all Staples stores. PSI also conducted pilot projects in Ace stores around the country for the collection of fluorescent lamps and mercury thermostats, leading to collection of those products in other retail stores.
Results
PSI initiated national discussions on electronics waste management in 2001 and represented more than 20 states in negotiations that eventually led to 21 state electronics stewardship laws. The organization initiated national discussions on mercury thermostats in 2004, expanded the industry’s voluntary program, mediated the nation’s first producer responsibility law for thermostats in 2006, and developed a model state producer responsibility law that is now in place in eight states. PSI initiated a national dialogue on leftover paint in 2002 that has led to model state producer responsibility legislation that was signed into law in Oregon with the support of paint manufacturers, retailers, government agencies, and other stakeholders. PSI’s paint dialogue process has become a model for other product dialogues because it will result in harmonized laws across the United States, reducing regulatory costs, increasing green jobs for recycled paint manufacturers, decreasing local waste management costs, and increasing program efficiency. PSI also assisted in the recent passage of producer responsibility laws for fluorescent lamps in Maine and Washington, and the framework legislation law in Maine. And it has conducted multi-stakeholder dialogues on pharmaceuticals, medical sharps, phone books, gas cylinders, and tires, and is starting another on batteries.
What Does the Future Hold?
With the appetite for federal environmental legislation looking weak, PSI’s approach allows states to be the laboratories for product stewardship innovation in a way that refines and harmonizes policies, which can later be further unified in federal legislation. State product stewardship legislation will continue to expand to include more products and a framework approach. It will also expand to the full lifecycle of a product and include procurement practices. If you are not on board already, it is definitely time!