2 what is the problem (short version)

What is the Problem?

Contents:

These slides give a brief overview of the problems posed by the unintended impacts of consumer products and packaging.

Prepared by the Product Stewardship Institute

Every day we each use

hundreds of products

Prepared by the Product Stewardship Institute

Under the current system there is a lack of incentive to design better products

there is no cost to business to continue to throw away more and more material

there are no incentives to create products that

last longer or are

more easily recycled

Currently many goods are designed to be obsolete in just a few years.

Prepared by the Product Stewardship Institute

Many of these products – and their packaging

– impact the environment and health in unintended

waysPrepared by the Product Stewardship Institute

For one thing, this results in a lot of stuff…

…each American throws away about 1,600 pounds of trash every year, much of it products and packaging!

Prepared by the Product Stewardship Institute

When we dispose of materials, instead of recycling them, we need

to extract more virgin resources to make new products…which

consumes energy and can cause other environmental impacts.

Prepared by the Product Stewardship Institute

Some products contain toxic substances that can be released to the environment in the waste stream…

Prepared by the Product Stewardship Institute

.

Some products are associated with other unintended impacts…such as drug abuse or hazards to workers…

Prepared by the Product Stewardship Institute

Still other products may pose operational challenges in the waste stream.

Prepared by the Product Stewardship Institute

Today, we look to local

governments to manage this

increasingly complex waste stream…

Prepared by the Product Stewardship Institute

This costs money! In 2009, Nebraska spent an estimated $2 million tax dollars to manage household hazardous waste…

…and they weren’t able to collect all the problematic product & packaging waste that was out there.

Prepared by the Product Stewardship Institute

Government and

Prepared by the Product Stewardship Institute

taxpayers can’t solve this problem alone…