San Francisco Resolution is Strongest Yet from Local Government on Product Waste Responsibility

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San Francisco Resolution is Strongest Yet from Local Government on Product Waste

Responsibility

 

February 21, 2006 — By the Product Policy Institute

 

ATHENS, Ga. — The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on

February 14 to pass a resolution that supports statewide legislation and local

initiatives requiring manufacturers to take responsibility for collecting and

recycling their products at the end of their useful life.

 

The resolution signals a fundamental shift in thinking among local governments,

which have borne responsibility for collection and disposal of refuse since a

century ago.

 

“This is the strongest statement yet from a local government in the United

States,†says Bill Sheehan, director of the Athens, GA–based Product Policy

Institute. “San Francisco and other local governments are fed up with footing

the bill for picking up after producers of toxic and disposable consumer

products.â€

 

The Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) resolution, sponsored by Supervisor

Ross Mirkarimi, asks the state to take the financial burden of disposing toxic

products off of taxpayers and onto manufacturers.

 

“Producer responsibility legislation makes sense. Taxpayers and local

governments shell out millions in dollars every year to handle toxic and other

products,†explains Supervisor Mirkarimi. “It’s time we push corporations

to take responsibility of their own actions and products.â€

 

As the San Francisco resolution puts it: By covering the costs of collection and

disposal, local governments are subsidizing the production of waste because

manufacturers know that whatever they produce, the local government will foot

the bill for recycling or disposal.

 

The resolution comes on the heels of a newly enacted state regulation that bans

a wide range of common household hazardous waste products from the trash.

 

“Government purchasing is a good place for municipalities to immediately start

implementing producer responsibility requirements,†said Alicia Culver,

director of EnviroSpec, a green purchasing organization based in Berkeley, CA.

“If companies want to secure contracts with government agencies, they will

increasingly need to have plans in place to provide recycling for their products

once the products reach the end of their useful life,†Culver added.

 

Product Policy Institute has been assisting San Francisco and other California

communities develop policies and programs that conserve resources and reduce

local taxes by transferring responsibility for product discard management back

to the makers of products and their customers.

 

The Resolution and related items are posted at

http://www.productpolicy.org/resources/index.html

 

Product Policy Institute (www.productpolicy.org) is a nonpartisan research and

education organization promoting policies that advance sustainable production,

consumption and waste management in North America.

 

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