retail take-back : a bridge to product stewardship? san mateo county mary bell austin, p2 specialist...
TRANSCRIPT
Retail Take-Back :A Bridge to
Product Stewardship?
San Mateo CountyMary Bell Austin, P2 Specialist
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
