Tour of Product Stewardship Programs in British Columbia, Canada

The Northwest Product Stewardship Council hosted a day-long tour on Tuesday, October 2, 2007 to experience British Columbia’s successful product stewardship programs for handling difficult to manage products such as used paint, electronics, beverage containers and pharmaceuticals. These products may contain toxic materials or are expensive to collect and recycle.

British Columbia's policies of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), also known as Product Stewardship, shift the burden of special handling and disposal of products from local governments to manufacturers of products. Manufacturers 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 who understand that these policies are essentially market-based incentives to improve product design and to internalize the costs of the use of these products.

Watch the Video! Get on the Product Stewardship Bus

The 27 minute video, Get on the Product Stewardship Bus, provides a virtual tour of British Columbia's product stewardship programs including paint, medicine and beverage containers as well as an overview of producer responsibility. Watch the 5 minute trailer below or view the full version in windows media player. (Also available in Real Media format).

Who Attended?

Seventy policy makers attended the tour from various organizations in Washington and Oregon. Legislators, elected officials, recycling managers, environmental agency directors and managers, solid waste and wastewater agency directors and managers, public and private hazardous waste management organizations, solid waste advisory committees, and environmental non-governmental organizations were all represented on the tour.

Product Stewardship Presentations

• British Columbia's Recycling Regulation provides the framework for all of BC’s product stewardship programs. Kris Ord, Manager of the Community Waste Section with the Ministry of Environment explained how this unique regulation requires brand owners to develop and submit Product Stewardship Plans to manage product categories identified in the law. Categories include beverage containers, solvents and flammable liquids, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, empty oil containers, paint, electronic products and tires. View Kris's presentation called Industry-Led Stewardship - BC's Approach.
  
• The Product Care Association is a not-for-profit industry sponsored association formed by businesses in the paint, flammable liquids, pesticides, and petroleum products sectors in response to provincial stewardship regulations. Under those regulations the brand owners of the regulated products must by provide a way for consumers to dispose of their leftover products in an environmentally responsible manner. Mark Kurschner, President, Product Care Association, explains how their organization is financed, how they establish the infrastructure to collect these products for residents in BC and how they process and market the recyclable commodities in his presentation Product Care Canadian Paint Stewardship Programs.
  
• The Medications Return Program allows consumers to return (at no charge) unused or expired medications and unwanted pharmaceuticals to over 90 percent of the pharmacies in the province. The program is funded by the Post Consumer Pharmaceutical Stewardship Association (PCPSA), an industry association. The program is managed by the Residual Management Group, Ltd. Paul Iverson, Director of the Residual Management Group, explains how the program is administered in his presentation on the Medications Return Program.
  
• Metro Vancouver (formerly the Greater Vancouver Regional District) provides oversight of these product stewardship schemes. Monica Kosmak, Policy Analyst with Metro Vancouver describes Metro Vancouver's involvement with the programs and how they support EPR. Monica shared information about the costs and savings that have been realized by local governments in the Vancouver area as a result of the industry-managed product stewardship programs in her presentation titled Product Stewardship in Metro Vancouver.

Facility Tours

The group toured the following facilities to learn more about how BC residents can take back their products for proper management.

Product Care Paint Processing Facility - This facility receives paint that was collected at Product Care collection depots throughout BC. Participants on the tour saw how the paint is sorted, bulked and packaged prior to shipment for recycling or other treatment processes.

Multi-Drop Recycling Depot- Participants visited a privately run collection depot where residents can return all types of beverage containers for reimbursement on their beverage container deposits. Many depots also accept other materials for recycling such as paint, pesticides, electronics and various flammable liquids for free.

Changes Recycling Centre - Changes Recycling Centre has the responsibility of handling used deposit containers and packaging on behalf of Save-On-Foods stores. Participants saw how the centers are located next door to Save-On-Foods stores 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 - the sites 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.

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