Addressing EPR as part of solid waste management plans and policy development can help spur local action to encourage EPR.

Seattle’s 1998 new solid waste plan, On the Path to Sustainability, helped create the Northwest Product Stewardship Council. The plan adopts zero waste as a guiding principle, and includes product stewardship as one of the programs for achieving future goals. Support for product stewardship in the plan allowed city staff to justify work toward this goal. The city hired a consultant to focus, facilitate, and staff the efforts of the nascent council. The consultant, David Stitzhal at Full Circle Environmental, Inc., is now the Council Coordinator.

The City of Austin, Texas, circulated a draft policy statement on EPR. In response to it, the Greater Austin Waste Reduction Alliance was formed to address many of the same principles outlined in the policy statement. The Alliance is a voluntary partnership between the public and private sectors and is still in its formation stages.

For More Information: Seattle Solid Waste Plan, On the Path to Sustainability The city’s product stewardship goals City of Austin draft policy statement on EPR The mission and goals of the Greater Austin Waste Reduction Alliance

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Facts to Act On #40, Local Initiatives Leverage Extended Producer Responsibility (November 20, 2000)
Institute for Local Self-Reliance