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 Tour of British Columbia's Product Stewardship Programs
British Columbia, Canada hosts some of the most successful Product Stewardship programs in the world for managing difficult-to-handle products such as used paint, unwanted electronics, beverage containers and packaging. British Columbia's policies of Extended Producer Responsibility, also known as Product Stewardship, shift the burden of handling and disposal of products from local governments to the product manufacturers or producers. Producers are asked to implement programs to recover and responsibly recycle their products at no cost to taxpayers. The costs of these programs are borne by consumers and producers. Product stewardship policies are essentially market-based incentives to improve product design and to internalize the costs of the use of these products. Tour of BC Product Stewardship FacilitiesOn June 1, 2009, the NWPSC led a tour to several facilities to learn more about the industry-managed product stewardship programs. Product Care | Multi-Drop Recycling | Changes | Slide Presentations Product Care Paint Processing Facility - This facility receives unwanted paint that is collected at a combination of 50 Bottle Depots and 50 municipal collection sites throughout BC. This program is financed by paint manufacturers and managed by Product Care, a not-for-profit industry stewardship association. Once collected, the unwanted paint is transported to the Product Care paint processing facility where it is sorted, bulked and packaged for shipment to be further recycled or treated!
Multi-Drop Recycling Depot- The next stop on the tour was the privately run multi-materials collection depot where residents can return unwanted electronic equipment, all types of beverage containers and paint. The multi-materials depots are funded through a combination of container recycling fees, unredeemed deposit funds, and commodity values. The collection system is made up of a combination of depots and retail stores including 170 Return It™ Depots licensed by Encorp a not-for-profit stewardship association, 350 grocery stores and 200 government liquor stores.
Changes Recycling Centre - Changes Recycling Centre has the responsibility for handling product packaging and used bottles and containers on behalf of Save-On-Foods stores. The Changes Recycling Centre is located next door to Save-On-Foods store so that consumers have a convenient retail location where they can return their containers. The sites are designed to collect containers with no impact on the retail stores - they are clean, odor free and there are no storage issues. Changes also partners with manufacturers to voluntarily take back packaging for recycling. Customers that recycle their packaging receive Save-On Bonus Points good for discounts on products at the grocery store.
BC Tour Presentation
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