|
|
 |
PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) or manufacturers retaining responsibility for products after their sale, has become a hot topic internationally. EPR policies have been enacted from Europe to Japan to Canada and Latin America. With the exception of bottle bills, the U.S. has not followed suit. This fact sheet examines EPR policies in British Columbia (B.C.), Canada (1996 population: 3,724,500; land area: 925,186 square kilometers).
British Columbia's Ministry of Environment, Land and Parks (MELP, http://www.gov.bc.ca/elp/) refers to its EPR programs as "Industry Product Stewardship" and defines it as "a management system based on industry and consumers taking life-cycle responsibility for the products they produce and use." B.C. has enacted industry product stewardship programs for beverage containers and products that contribute to household hazardous waste (HHW).
The stewardship program for beverage containers is based on a deposit-refund
system. A key advantage of this system is that beverage container recycling
costs are borne largely by industry and consumers of packaged beverages
rather than by society at large. Unfortunately, container recycling fees
established in early 2000 send confusing price signals to consumers. For
example, consumers pay a one-cent fee for aluminum cans, but no fee for
drink boxes.(1) The fee does not reflect
lifecycle costs of the two container types. Rather, it reflects that drink
boxes are returned at a lower rate than aluminum cans allowing industry
to retain a greater share of deposits paid on boxes.
B.C.'s stewardship programs for HHW are based on networks of drop-off sites. The stewardship regulations prohibit charging consumers at the time of product returns. Such charges could act as a disincentive to proper disposal. Consumers either pay a non-refundable fee at the time of purchase to cover disposal costs or industry internalizes the costs. On the negative side, because fees are non-refundable, consumers do not have a financial incentive to deliver materials to a depot.
B.C.'s stewardship programs have successfully diverted materials from disposal. For example:
In 1999, MELP reported that the beverage industry has achieved a province-wide recovery rate of over 84% of containers covered by the program.
B.C. residents divert approximately 80% of the estimated 50 million liters of lubricating oil available for recovery each year.
From 1994 through June 1999, B.C.'s stewardship agencies collected nearly
12 million equivalent liter containers of paint.(2)
In 1998, B.C. residents delivered nearly 130,000 equivalent liter containers of other HHW to collection points.
Beverage Container Program Overview
Household Hazardous Waste Programs Overview
Environmental Benefits of Product Stewardship
Programs
Effects on Local Productive Capacity
Resources
Contacts
Endnotes
Figures and Tables:
Estimated 1998 Alcoholic Beverage Container
Recovery in B.C.
1999 Non-Alcoholic Beverage Container
Recovery in British Columbia
Encorp Pacific (Canada) Fee for Service
(Unit Charge), Effective March 1, 2000
Alcoholic Beverage Container Deposit and Service
and Handling Fee Levels
Paint Recovery in B.C.'s Stewardship Program
Click here to download a PDF version of
this entire document.
Return to EPR home page
|
