Leading Waste Prevention Efforts in the U.S. and Abroad

1. Leading Waste Prevention Efforts in the U.S. and Abroad Prepared by: James Goldstein Tellus Institute Boston, MA Vermont Forum on Preventing Waste Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation Montpelier, VT April 12, 2007

2. What is Waste Prevention and What is Not? The Vermont Solid Waste Management Plan defines waste prevention as “the design, manufacture, purchase, or use of materials (such as products or packaging) to reduce the amount and toxicity of waste generated.” • What it is: Product, building, packaging design; upstream of the user; pre-consumer, in-process waste; repair; direct reuse; smart purchasing decisions • What it isn’t: Recycling; off-site composting; beneficial use of materials (e.g., landfill cover, tire chips in septic systems); biodegradable; fuel for waste-to-energy plants (tires or wood chips) • What it may be: Materials exchange; on-site composting Vermont Forum on Preventing Waste

3. Waste Prevention vs. Recycling • Elimination of excess packaging versus collection and recycling of cardboard • Electronic communications versus recycling paper • Standardized and/or off-site building practices to minimize waste versus C&D recycling/reuse • Purchasing products with longer lifetimes versus recycling used products Vermont Forum on Preventing Waste

4. Four Stages of Material Flows Raw Materials Production Distribution Retail Consumption Waste prevention opportunities at all stages Vermont Forum on Preventing Waste

5. Waste Prevention Methods/Tools • How We Make Things: Productivity Improvements • P2, lean manufacturing, industrial ecology, green permits, and technological advances: light-weighting, miniaturization and dematerialization, micro- and nano-technology • How We Do Business: Alternative Models • Design for Environment (DfE) programs • Supply chain management • Leasing and “servicizing” • Public Awareness and Action • Consumer demand for more environmentally friendly products • Emerging sustainable lifestyle movement, including the simplicity movement • Community-Based Social Marketing • Economic Incentives • Packaging tax, pre-disposal fees, point-of-sale levies • Pay-As-You-Throw for municipal (residential) sector • Resource Management contracting for business sector • Regulatory Requirements • Product Stewardship / Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) • Waste bans • Government Leadership by Example • Environmentally Preferred Procurement/Purchasing (EPP) • Internal practices such as duplex copying, equipment reuse, green building Vermont Forum on Preventing Waste

6. Waste Prevention Methods for Each Stage of Material Flows Vermont Forum on Preventing Waste

7. Waste Prevention Best Practices Production • Resource Productivity Improvements • Pollution prevention (P2) • Lean manufacturing • Green permitting • Industrial ecology • Technological advances: light-weighting, miniaturization and dematerialization, micro- and nano-technology • Alternative Business Models • Promoting Design for Environment (DfE) • Supply chain management • Product stewardship • Leasing and “servicizing” Vermont Forum on Preventing Waste

8. Waste Prevention Best Practices Distribution • Packaging tax, pre-disposal fees, point-of-sale levies • Minimize packaging • Reusable packaging/shipping containers • Packaging ordinances • Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) • Supply chain management Vermont Forum on Preventing Waste

9. Waste Prevention Best Practices Retail • Minimize packaging • Leasing and “servicizing” • Product stewardship/ Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) • EPP and supply chain management • Resource Management contracting Vermont Forum on Preventing Waste

10. Waste Prevention Best Practices Consumption • Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) • Public Awareness and Action • Consumer education regarding waste prevention • Emerging sustainable lifestyle movement, including the simplicity movement • Community-Based Social Marketing • Pay-As-You-Throw for municipal (residential) sector Vermont Forum on Preventing Waste

11. Leading Waste Prevention Programs: United States, Europe and Canada VT WA OR NY British Columbia MA CA Europe Vermont Forum on Preventing Waste

12. Vermont Manufacturing Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Census Bureau and Commerce Department Vermont Forum on Preventing Waste

13. Production:Washington’s “Beyond Waste” Program • Adopts Materials Flow Framework • Identifies significant flows in terms of volume and/or toxicity • Minimize flows through efficient use of resources, recovering material for high-value reuse, or incorporating “cradle-to-cradle” design • Green Building Action Plan - Aims include: • Mainstream green building practices in Washington • Maximize reuse and recycling of C&D materials • Transform the way buildings and materials are designed Vermont Forum on Preventing Waste

14. Production:Vermont Builds Greener Project of VT Building for Social Responsibility & VT Energy Investment Corp. • Certifies residential buildings constructed to sustainability criteria • Points achieved through sustainability strategies and house size • Building products made from salvaged, recycled, or waste-stream content materials (rehab. used house rather than build new; used doors, cabinets and countertops; salvaged wood) • “Reduce, Re-Use and Recycle” section includes points for: • Optimize material use through use of standard design (ceiling height, wall length) • Optimal Value Engineering (OVE) framing • Providing space for occupant recycling and/or composting Vermont Forum on Preventing Waste

15. Production: British Columbia Product Stewardship British Columbia Product Stewardship Programs • Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), places onus for end-of-life product management on producers and consumers rather than general taxpayers • Shifts responsibility (physically and/or economically, fully or partially) upstream to the producer • Provides incentives to producers to consider environmental impacts in the design of products • To support the development of new programs, Oct. 2004 Recycling Regulation includes core EPR requirements for beverage containers with plans to transform electronics (e-waste), tire and battery recycling programs into EPR programs Vermont Forum on Preventing Waste

16. Production: EU’s Restrictions on Hazardous Substances Directive EU’s Restrictions on Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive Requires manufacturers to replace mercury, lead, hexavalent chromium, and other heavy metals in a variety of products • Applies to: • Large household appliances • Small household appliances • Computing & communications equipment • Consumer electronics • Others • Other similar regulations: China, Japan Vermont Forum on Preventing Waste

17. Distribution/Retail: California’s Packaging Redesign Program CIWMB’s Packaging Redesign Program • California Shipping and Distribution Partnership - voluntary effort to encourage businesses to adopt more efficient packaging and distribution systems that save money while preventing waste • Promotes designing refillable or reusable packages, and producing recyclable packages and packages made of recyclable material • Focuses on preventing or reusing (or recycling) five key materials: • Composites • Paper • Plastic • Steel/Metal • Wood Vermont Forum on Preventing Waste

18. Distribution/Retail: Germany Packaging Ordinance and Green Dot Trademark • German Packaging Ordinance • Manufacturers and distributors must take back used, empty sales packaging from consumers free of charge • Does not apply to companies in the dual system whereby packaging is regularly collected from private households • License fees (for Green Dot Trademark) are calculated on the basis of the weight and type of materials used • Green Dot Trademark • Companies must contract in the dual system (Duales System Deutschland or DSD) • Register their packaging/articles • Send DSD regular statements of actual quantities sold Vermont Forum on Preventing Waste

19. Distribution/Retail: Netherlands Extended Producer Responsibility Netherlands Packaging Covenant • Voluntary approach to packaging reduction; aims to decouple GDP growth and packaging; agreement to cap packaging tons disposed • Achieved 6-15% per year reductions in packaging waste in the early years; declined to 1-2% annual reductions in later years (higher reductions than in Germany) • 2006 Packaging, Paper and Board Management Decree: requires producers to pay for separate collection of household packaging waste Vermont Forum on Preventing Waste

20. Consumption: Washington Beyond Waste • Program takes on “the substantial task of redefining American consumerism and culture;” views waste as inefficient resource use • Key elements include: • Make green building practices mainstream • Establish organics recovery cycle • Reduce mercury and PBDE in product manufacturing Vermont Forum on Preventing Waste

21. Consumption: Vermont Builds Greener • Strong emphasis on house size; significant points for smaller houses and penalties for larger homes Vermont Forum on Preventing Waste

22. Consumption:Seattle and King County, WA • Education and Technical Assistance • EcoConsumer (Gateway Program) • Home composting • “Use it again, Seattle!” • Waste prevention resources • Product stewardship Vermont Forum on Preventing Waste

23. Consumption: United Kingdom National Resource and Waste Forum • Established the UK Framework for Waste Prevention to address the link between increased wealth and waste • Started by addressing demand sidethrough a local action toolkit • Home and community composting of yard, food and other organic waste - potentially 25-30% of household waste • Smart shopping - how the consumer can reduce packaging waste and single use products • Paper waste - how householders and community groups can stop unwanted mailings • Product life - how the community can encourage repair and reuse of products including resale/redistribution • Service systems - how new businesses can be created which will reduce disposal such as diaper laundering and hire services Vermont Forum on Preventing Waste

24. Program Measurement & Evaluation Challenges • Difficult to measure direct waste prevention impacts of many programs (e.g., education) • Confounding factors limit reliability of measurements of program effectiveness • Dearth of evaluation and data collection efforts (many programs are relatively new); evaluation reports that do exist are frequently not publicized or made easily accessible Vermont Forum on Preventing Waste

25. Strategic Approach to Waste Prevention • Individual waste prevention programs should be integrated in a coherent overall strategy to maximize effectiveness • Sustainable consumption initiatives, such as those underway in Europe, offer significant waste prevention potential • Focus on priority materials and/or sectors • Economic instruments such as taxes or fees should be part of the mix • Measuring effectiveness of waste prevention programs is challenging but important • Government partnerships with the private sector, NGOs and other stakeholders are critical for success Vermont Forum on Preventing Waste

26. Key Sources of Information • Recent waste prevention research and consulting projects for: • OR Department of Environmental Quality • Solid Waste Prevention and Reuse: Research and Evaluation • WA Department of Ecology • Stimulating Waste Reduction, Pollution Prevention, and Increased Secondary Materials Use in Washington Industry • MA Department of Environmental Protection • Waste Reduction Program Assessment and Analysis for Massachusetts • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency • Resource Conservation Challenge – Benefits Associated with Solid Waste Management Programs Vermont Forum on Preventing Waste