Peter Thermos (Northwest Products Stewardship Council) addressed the Nisqually River Council at the December meeting. He spoke about the need for product stewardship in Washington for environmental and public health.

1. Producer Responsibility
A Tool To Manage Toxic Garbage

2. Garbage Has Fundamentally
Changed
Products lasted years
Then:
New models come out frequently
& products become obsolete
Now:

3. Waste Management System
3
Product is manufactured
and sold to retailers
• Government and ratepayers pay for
recycling/disposal.
• No incentive for manufacturers to design
less toxic, more recyclable products.
Product delivered to
store or sold online
Consumer buys product Recycle Bins
Garbage Bins
Consumer disposes
or recycles product
Local governments
responsible for product
recycling or disposal
Ratepayers pay for disposal
Recycling Processes
Landfill Processes

4. Producer Responsibility Programs
A Tool To Help

5. Cost of program is funded
by producers & consumers
that purchase the product
How Does Producer Responsibility Work?
5

6. WHATCOM
SAN JUAN
ISLAND
SKAGIT
SNOHOMISH
OKANOGAN
FERRY
STEVENS
PEND
OREILLE
CLALLAM
JEFFERSON
GRAYS
HARBOR
MASON
PACIFIC
WAHKIAKUM
COWLITZ
CLARK
LEWIS
THURSTON
PIERCE
KITTITAS
KLICKITAT
SKAMANIA
BENTON
FRANKLIN
WALLA WALLA
DOUGLAS
GRANT
LINCOLN
SPOKANE
ADAMS WHITMAN
GARFIELD
ASOTIN
CHELAN
YAKIMA
KING

7. Producer
Responsibility
Works!
• More than 350 no-cost collection sites
• Recycled over 320 million lbs since January 2009
• Created more than 125 private-sector jobs

8. 8
Approx. 2 million lights
recycled since Jan. 2015

9. Paint Stewardship
• Paint industry (ACA) initiated
producer responsibility
legislation in WA
• Statewide program to recycle
and safely dispose of latex &
oil-based paint
• PaintCare operational in: OR,
CA, CO, VT, MN, CT, RI, ME,
DC

10. Paint
• Businesses & residents
can bring leftover paint to
collection sites
• Sites can choose to
participate. In other states,
the collectors are: HHWs,
transfer stations,
collection events, paint
retailers, paint stores

11. Paint & Water Quality
• Paint is sometimes discarded in
waterways
• Oregon paint stewardship processed
618,971 gallons in 2015
– Population ~ 4 million
– 0.15 gallons per resident
• Washington Population ~7 million
– 7 million x 0.15 = 1,083,199 gallons
– How much paint enters WA waterways?

12. Paint Stewardship in WA
• Paint bill has failed in WA legislature
every year starting in 2013
• Will come up again in 2017
• NWPSC met with 14 legislators
– Gather support from businesses
and residents
– Call, email, and meet with
legislators in support of paint
stewardship

13. Pharmaceutical Stewardship
• Prescription drugs are often thrown away in
garbage or flushed
• Prozac and other drugs have been detected
in fish
• Kids are taking drugs that were not
prescribed for them
– Oxycontin leads to heroin use
– Drug overdose is the leading cause of
accidental death in the US (47K in 2014)

14. • Currently at county level (health ordinances)
• Collection network: Secure pharmacy receptacles
• King County program begins in 2017
• Snohomish, Kitsap and Pierce counties passed
ordinances in 2016
• Bill for a statewide program in 2017

15. JOIN US
www.productstewardship.net/JOIN
Associate Membership
Community Membership

16. Thank You!
Peter Thermos
NWPSC Coordinator
pthermos@prrbiz.com
(206) 850-7383