New York Flirts With Product Stewardship As Long-Term Solution

Date: March 23, 2010

Source: News Room

The New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has issued a draft report that calls for increased use of product stewardship in funding waste disposal programs. Product stewardship laws require product manufacturers to bear disposal costs for excess packaging or difficult-to-recycle items. Resa Dimino, a special assistant to DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis, who helped prepare the report, told the Albany Times Union that "Product stewardship is a trend that is sweeping the globe, in Europe, Canada and Asia." The state report identifies several products as potential targets for the initiative, including electronics, automobiles, household hazardous waste, paint, carpets, office furniture, batteries, pharmaceuticals, mercury-containing thermostats, and roofing shingles. States including California, Washington, Oregon and Minnesota introduced product stewardship legislation last year, but have not yet adopted it. The DEC draft calls for the state to consider such legislation by 2011 and adopt it by 2012. "The unanticipated increase in waste from consumer products and packaging . . . is undermining and has essentially nullified all waste reduction efforts to date," according to the DEC report. "The problem must be confronted head on by engaging product manufacturers."

The New York Department of Environmental Conservation, www.dec.ny.gov.

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