Political support continues to grow for “enhanced producer responsibility”—a rather grand-sounding term for the notion of making corporations deal with the fallout from the products and packaging they send out into the marketplace, and, eventually, into the trash stream. (See “Shifting the Trash Burden,” Feb. 18, 2010)
Earlier this month, at its annual meeting in Oklahoma City, the U.S. Conference of Mayors passed a resolution signaling members’ support for the idea. Specifically, the mayors’ group called for federal and state laws that give “producers the incentive to design products to make them less toxic and easier to reuse and recycle.” The resolution also calls for Congress to protect local governments’ ability to make their own enhanced producer responsibility, or EPR, laws.
In addition, the conference “encourages all manufacturers to share in the responsibility for eliminating waste through minimizing excess packaging, designing products for durability, reusability and the ability to be recycled; using recycled materials in the manufacture of new products; and providing financial support for collection, processing, recycling, or disposal of used materials,” and calls on municipalities to develop policies that require the companies with which they do business to follow such practices.
The resolution was submitted by Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon; its five co-sponsors included Cambridge Mayor David Maher.
Support for EPR has grown as local governments struggle with the costs associated with collecting and recycling tossed-out packaging and products—particularly products that contain toxic components, or are otherwise hard to recycle. That concern was reflected in the mayors’ resolution, which noted that, under the current system, “the costs to manage problematic products are currently borne by taxpayers and ratepayers and these costs are increasing substantially and will continue to do so unless policy changes are made.”
The mayors’ move was applauded by the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Product Policy Institute, which drafted a model of the resolution adopted by the USCM and almost 100 local governments. “Today the U.S. Conference of Mayors planted their flag in the waste pile and said, ‘no more,'” Bill Sheehan, PPI’s executive director, said in a statement after the vote. “They asked product manufacturers to take primary responsibility for their toxic and non-recyclable products. We’re proud of their leadership on this pressing issue.”
Earlier this year, the Springfield and Holyoke City Councils both passed their own EPR resolutions calling for producers to take responsibility for the end-life of their products. “[W]hen producers are responsible for ensuring their products are reused or recycled, there is an incentive to design products that are more durable, easier to repair, recycle, and are less toxic,” read the Springfield resolution, which was sponsored by Ward 3 Councilor Melvin Edwards.
The Holyoke and Springfield resolutions also urge the state Legislature to pass an “e-waste” bill, which would require electronics manufacturers to take responsibility for discarded products such as televisions and computers. In addition, they called for “framework” EPR legislation on the state level that would authorize state officials to add new product categories to the program, rather than wait for the passage of individual laws addressing individual products.
