British Columbia's (B.C.'s) household hazardous waste (HHW) stewardship program covers four main product types: (1) used motor oil; (2) unwanted industrial and post-consumer paints; (3) solvents, flammable liquids, domestic pesticides, and gasoline; and (4) pharmaceuticals.
The B.C. Municipal Solid Waste Management Task Force's 1989 report, A Solid Waste Management Strategy for British Columbia, identified HHW as an area of critical concern for the province. Consumers and local governments were also turning to the provincial government to address problems created by HHW in municipal waste. In response, in 1990, the province established eight HHW collection depots in the province. The depot program cost an average of Can$1.4 million per year but collected less than 8% of the HHW generated.
In July 1992, the B.C. government created a Waste Reduction Commission to make policy recommendations for the reduction and disposal of hazardous waste. To facilitate discussion among stakeholders, the Commission released a 43-page discussion paper in March 1993. The Commission also held open houses, roundtable discussions, think tank sessions, and stakeholder meetings throughout the province. As a result of this process, the Commission produced a 1994 report, Greener Homes - Cleaner Communities (http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/epd/epdpa/mpp/ipshhp/ghcc1.html), (21) outlining recommendations for the creation of a system to better handle the province's HHW. Key provisions include:
- It is recommended that the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks develop regulations under the Waste Management Act, which require retailers and wholesalers of paints, stains and wall coatings to either:
- accept for recycling or disposal all containers and contents; or
- designate a depot located within 4 km of point of purchase for the return of paints, stains and wall coatings.
- It is recommended that sellers, both retail and wholesale, be responsible for establishing these locations and for collecting the returned material for recycling or disposal.
- It is recommended that additional household hazardous wastes be subject to similar industry funded and operated (IFO) systems.
- If [sic] is further recommended that, as part of the sequential introduction
of different wastes, the priority for wastes following paint be solvents
and then pesticides. Other household hazardous wastes should be introduced
sequentially. (22)
Also in 1992, B.C. enacted the Return of Used Lubricating Oil Regulation (http://www.qp.gov.bc.ca/stat_reg/regs/elp/r64_92.htm) to provide consumers the opportunity to return used oil for recycling. The regulation requires all sellers of oil to take back used oil, at no charge to the consumer. Sellers of oil must either accept oil at the point of sale or arrange for a third party located near the seller to accept it.
Recommendations from Greener Homes - Cleaner Communities guided the legislature in creating its 1994 Post-Consumer Paint Stewardship Regulation (http://www.qp.gov.bc.ca/stat_reg/regs/elp/r200_94.htm) and its 1997 Post-Consumer Residual Stewardship Regulation (http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/epd/cpr/regs/pcrspr.html).
The 1994 Post-Consumer Paint Stewardship Regulation requires producers of consumer paint products to take full life-cycle responsibility for these products. The regulation was amended in 1997 to include paints in pressurized containers. Industry created two non-profit associations to collect and manage leftover paint, Paint and Product Care Association (PPC) and the Tree-Marking Paint Stewardship Association (TSA). PPC established over 100 collection depots throughout the province. TSA established drop-off sites for tree- and road-marking paints and regulated consumer paint products on location at 26 distributors of industrial aerosols.
B.C.'s stewardship programs for solvents, flammable liquids, pesticides, and gasoline; and pharmaceuticals were created under the 1997 Post-Consumer Residual Stewardship Regulation. Two non-profit associations of brand-owners of solvents, flammable liquids, domestic pesticides, and gasoline jointly sponsor the Consumer Product Stewardship Program (CPSP). The CPSP established and operates a network of 35 depots and collection points that accept residuals covered by the regulation.
In November 1996, before the enactment of the Post-Consumer Residual Stewardship Regulation, B.C.'s pharmaceutical industry had voluntarily established a stewardship program in which consumers could return unwanted pharmaceutical products to pharmacies for no fee. The Regulation made the program mandatory.
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