retail take-back : a bridge to product stewardship? san mateo county mary bell austin, p2 specialist...

Retail Take-Back :A Bridge to

Product Stewardship?

San Mateo CountyMary Bell Austin, P2 Specialist

maustin@co.sanmateo.ca.us

Today’s Discussion

County’s role in product management

Why we must play a role

Take-back as an interim response

Bigger picture solutions

County Roles

Waste Diversion Share with cities Recycling a key Private haulers

Toxics Reduction Inspections Education HHW operation

Agent of the State No direct authority No independent $

Bottomline = community health

HHW = ‘Take-It’ System

Historical rolesStarted out manageableGradually became overwhelming

Prevention v. Clean-up

Retail Take-Back Design Objectives

High recovery rate (P2)Easy for retail partnersEasy and low-cost for County

ChallengesLabor Disposal costsFear of success

Partner Roles

RETAILER

Post point-of sale signs

Screen out biz waste Accept bulbs Store bulbs safely Record volumes Make appt and drive

bulbs to HHW

COUNTY

Provide signage, some bins, paperwork

Train employees Advertise partners in

local news, online and events

Disposal at no cost to retail partners

PG &E Partnership

Adapting to Success

Household Hazardous Waste Program Stats

Time Frame CFLs Tubes

July - Dec, 2007 1056 20,066

Jan - June, 2008 2353 25,221

July - Dec, 2008 1879 23,477

Jan - June, 2009 5903 26,440

Shift = more mail-back, to reduce disposal costs

20 partners today

Future?

Lessons Learned

“You play, you win. You play, you lose. You play.” - Jeanette Winterson

Consumer convenience = recovery success Retailers can and will play

If we don’t ask too much of them Still spending public funds manage products

Changing the Game

Local governments can’t sustain even a streamlined ‘take-it’ system

TPO’s working for producers manage reverse distribution better

We still need states, Feds to set a level playing field with EPR laws

Discussion

Questions?

Contact:

maustin@co.sanmateo.ca.us