Green Ambassadors

Thank you to theProduct Stewardship Institute

for their assistance increating this presentation

www.productstewardship.us

Every day we each use

hundreds of products

Under the current system there is a lack of incentive to design better products

there is no cost to business to continue to throw away more and more material there are no incentives to create products that

last longer or are

more easily recycled

Currently many goods are designed to be obsolete in just a few years.

We dispose of a lot of stuff……each year Americans throw away about

1,600 pounds of trash, much of it products and packaging!

4.4 lbs/day

29 lbs/week1,600 lbs/year

That means by age 25 you’ve thrown

away …

40,000 pounds

Photo courtesy: George Hall

By the time you’re 50 you’ve thrown away 80,000 pounds – or the weight of a Boeing 737

And that’s just one person!

Many of the products we use,

and their packaging, impact the

environment and our health in unintended ways

Some products contain toxic substances that can be released into the environment in the waste stream…

Today, we look to local

governments to manage this

increasingly complex waste stream.

The amount of waste generated has continued to rise & the costs of waste management continue to rise with it!

Source: US EPA

Local governments are responsible for dealing with any and all waste that comes

their way.

They have no control over:

- the quantity of waste

- or the materials

Taxpayer dollars are spent to clean up the mess

Either picking up goods that have been illegally discarded

Or through environmental remediation needed to remove the toxic substances from our drinking water and soils

Our current system is wasting valuable

resources & and it is

EXPENSIVE!

Where do we go from here?

Product Stewardship directs all those involved in the life cycle of a product to take responsibility for the impacts to our health and the natural environment that result from the production, use, and end-of-life management of the product.

Product Stewardshiplooks to those who

Design Make Sell

the products to take the greatest responsibility

Product Stewardship means looking at the impact of a product:

from the time it is raw materials

until it is discarded

Raw Materials

Manufacturing Transportation Retail Use Disposal

…everyone has a role to playfrom those who make it

to those who sell it

to thosewho buy it

Producers

Distributors

Retailers

Consumers

Waste Management

Responsibility:To produce goods that are safe for their customers & the environment

…everyone has a role to playfrom those who make it

to those who sell it

to thosewho buy it

Producers

Distributors

Retailers

Consumers

Waste Management

Retailers and other businesses have a unique ability to educate their customers and their suppliers about opportunities to reduce unintended environmental and health impacts from their products, and to help provide solutions for collection and recycling.

…everyone has a role to playfrom those who make it

to those who sell it to

thosewho buy it

Producers

Distributors

Retailers

Consumers Waste Management

Responsibility:- Buy and use the best product - Dispose or recycle all goods

responsibly

How do we start?BatteriesCarpet

ElectronicsFluorescent Lighting

Gas CylindersMedical Sharps

Mercury ProductsThermostats

PackagingPaint

PesticidesPharmaceuticals

Phone booksRadioactive Devices

Tires

ThermostatsPROBLEM: Toxic Mercury

Average thermostat contains 4 grams of mercury

In 1994, there were approximately 63 million mercury thermostats in use within the residential sector alone, equal to about 277 tons of mercury.

Expansion of Thermostat Recycling Corp. program to:• chain wholesalers, heating and cooling contractors,

HHW facilities, retailers

15 states now have laws that ban or restrict the sale of mercury thermostats.

Potential Benefit: More than $267,000 PER YEAR in direct savings or service benefit for Nebraska.

PROBLEM: Toxic metals, pollute soil & water

3 Billion sold annually

Only 10-12% of rechargeable batteries are recycled.

Even fewer single use batteries are recycled.

Potential Benefit: More than $1.8 million PER YEAR in direct savings or service benefit for Nebraska.

Batteries

PROBLEM: Excessive Waste

10% of paint sales becomes leftover(2006 = 75 million gallons in the U.S.)

$640 million dollars/yr mgt cost (avg. cost: $8/liquid gallon)

Potential Benefit: More than $3.5 million PER YEAR in direct savings or service benefit for Nebraska.

Paint

 

PROBLEM: Toxic Mercury

Environmentally sound in that they last longer and use just a fraction of the energy of incandescent bulbs.

More than ½ billion fluorescent bulbs sold annually.

Potential Benefit: Nearly $500,000 PER YEAR in direct savings or service benefit for Nebraska.

Fluorescent Lamps

 

PesticidesPROBLEM: Environmental Impacts

Risk to human health.

High cost to collect.

U.S. pesticide expenditures totaled more than $11 billion in 2000 and 2001

Potential Benefit: More than $2.2 million PER YEAR in direct savings or service benefit for Nebraska.

PROBLEM: Injury during disposal, transmission of disease.

Estimated that over 3 billion disposable needles and syringes, and an additional 900 million lancets enter the municipal solid waste stream each year in the U.S.

Sources: Those managing their own healthcare. Intravenous drug users.

Potential Benefit: More than $1.1 million PER YEAR in direct savings or service benefit for Nebraska.

Medical Sharps

Electronics

Cell phones, computers, music players (ipods), blue tooth, lap tops, etc.

23 state electronics laws

Manufacturer and retailer take-back programs in response to dialogue (e.g. Staples, Best Buy, HP, Dell, LG, etc.)

Potential Benefit: More than $3.7 million PER YEAR in direct savings or service benefit for Nebraska.

PROBLEM: Toxic Materials

PROBLEM: Unnecessary Waste

660,000 tons of waste/year

Voluntary industry guidelines developed• Opt out• Recycling• Sustainable production

90% of publishers now with opt out program

Potential Benefit: More than $230,000 PER YEAR in direct savings or service benefit for Nebraska.

Phone Books

Examples of Product

Stewardship in Nebraska:

Call2Recycle

In this program individual battery manufacturers pay a license fee to Call2Recycle

Then Call2Recycle handles all the administration & pays all costs associated with collecting & recycling batteries

MFG License fee

• retail locations serve as collection points at no cost to them

Batteries are recycled!

www.call2recycle.com

Customer

purchases CFL in a hardware

store

CFL bulb is used at home

Stores collects bulbs & sends

them to a recycling facility

Recovered materials can

make new bulbs

Used bulbs can be returned to any

store that collects them

1 2 43 5

Current CitiesBroken Bow Chadron Grand Island HastingsHebron Kearney La Vista LincolnNelson North Platte Omaha OgallalaRed Cloud Superior

Product Stewardship The Basic Concept.

• Shared responsibility. • The greater the ability, the greater the

responsibility. • All costs should be included. • The costs of product manufacture

should be minimized. • Financial incentive for manufacturers.

The Basic Concept.• Flexibility in determining how to

address impacts. • Performance measured by results.• Incentives for “cleaner” • Incentives for end-of-live system• In realizing these principles, industry

will need to provide leadership. • Government leadership • Industry and government education

Product Stewardship doesn’t necessarily change the way consumers handle their goods when they no longer need them and it doesn’t necessarily require an entirely new infrastructure.

Many Product Stewardship programs will continue to use existing collection infrastructure.

Product Stewardship shifts waste management costs from the public to the private sector

Nebraska’s Foundation

• Not full product stewardship • Financial burden on tax payers• Infrastructure for future product

stewardship programs• Nebraska is putting the pieces together• National voluntary product stewardship

programs

Nebraska’s Foundation

• Cooperative effort to build capacity

• Identify what is occurring

• Establish a baseline

Who makes product stewardship happen?

Businesses

Local governments

State governments

Environmental/health

organizations

Other institutions

What can you do now?

1. Take advantage of voluntary programs that

already exist

2. Urge major retailers who have take-back

programs in other parts of the country to

start one where you live

3. Be a responsible consumer

A. Buy Better Productso Buy goods that are durable o Buy used when possibleo Look for environmentally preferable goods

• That don’t contain toxins• Are made from recycled materials

B. When you are finished:oResell oReuseoRecycle oOr safely dispose of your goods

Providing Common SenseResource Conservation to Nebraska

CFL bulb recycling with partnerships at various hardware and home improvement stores throughout Nebraska.

Grant funding to communities & businesses to facility electronic waste collections.

Battery Recycling: Pre-paid and pre-addressed collection boxes for battery shipments to the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation.

Cell Phone Recycling: Collecting cell phones through a partnership with Wireless Alliance

Construction & Demolition Waste Management: Assist with construction waste management plans, tracking materials recycled, and identifying service providers. Research and development to achieve LEED status.

Finishing Technologies: Hands-on training system intended to instruct members of the surface coating industry using state-of-the-art virtual reality technology.

Waste Assessments: A non-regulatory overview of a business’ volume of waste produced. Sustainability planning services which would include a broader look at all aspects of the company.

Curb Side Recycling: Through Recycling Enterprises, members of WasteCap Nebraska can offer discounted home recycling services to their employees living within the service area.

Green Team Roundtables: Networking and educational opportunities for businesses interested in starting a green team, expanding the projects of the green teams or just have an interest in using green principles.

Green Ambassadors: Speakers bureau aimed at educating Nebraska’s business leaders on product stewardship and the services of WasteCap Nebraska.

Service Directory: A directory of recycling service providers and business/non-profits who reuse materials. Available in book form and on the WasteCap Nebraska website.

You are invited to become a member of WasteCap Nebraska today. As a member, you can enjoy all of the service benefits previously listed, plus numerous educational and networking opportunities throughout the year.

Plus you become a part of helping Nebraska businesses practice and develop product stewardship.

Ask for your membership application today!

www.wastecapne.org

How to Start Today!Call your local & state representatives Start small with your Product Stewardship

programBe an “Another Bright Idea” collection

pointBe a “Call to Recycle” collection point

Ask your local municipality to have a collection event (E-Scrap)

Ask your favorite retailers to start product stewardship programs

www.wastecapne.org