News

"Three years after California, Connecticut and Rhode Island passed mattress-recycling laws, statewide programs are flourishing under the management of the Mattress Recycling Council," says Sleep Savvy magazine. The new programs in California, Connecticut and Rhode Island have "recycled 1 million mattresses and box springs since the first program in Connecticut got underway just 18 months ago...

Following Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) reform legislation, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on Nov. 29, 2016 that it will evaluate 10 chemicals "for potential risks to human health and the environment." The ten include 1,4-Dioxane, Asbestos, and Tetrachloroethylene, also known as perchloroethylene (or "perc").

A new book by Dr. Helen Lewis, Product Stewardship in Action: The Business Case for Life-cycle Thinking, "describes how and why leading companies are taking responsibility for the environmental impact of their products and packaging... Unlike other resources on product stewardship and EPR, which tend to focus on the design or evaluation of public policy, this book highlights the business case for action.

As of October, the Washington Poison Center (WAPC) became the owner and steward of the statewide medication take back location website TakeBackYourMeds.org, which includes a new interactive map of take back locations to properly dispose of unused medicine.

In a Resource Recycling piece titled "Why deposit return is EPR", Clarissa Morawski asked, "If I described to you a consumer product system that spurred green design, established a take-back channel, increased recycling, and was all paid for by the producers of products, would you call that extended producer responsibility [EPR]?" In looking at deposit return systems internationally as well as O

The Washington Department of Ecology Waste 2 Resources (W2R) program is looking to fill an E-Cycle Washington Specialist (Environmental Specialist 3) position in Lacey, WA. The position is open until filled.

From the Product Stewardship Institute (PSI) November newsletter: Reid Lifset from the Yale University Center for Industrial Ecology is compiling a web-based bibliographic database that will catalogue 25+ years of studies, reports, and articles on EPR. The database currently contains more than 600 references. Lifset is seeking sponsors to fund some of the software development needed to make the database functional and widely-accessible, and to support maintenance.

Watch recordings of or browse slidedecks and summaries from recent product stewardship related webinars:

"The story of Oregon’s landmark environmental legislation of the late 1960s and early '70s has been told many times but a new book offers a fresh perspective from a man who was at the front line of crafting these first-in-the-nation laws." Paul Hanneman, the original author of Oregon's 1971 Bottle Bill, wrote a new book, The Inside Story: Oregon’s Beach and Bottle Bills, his firsthand account of crafting these groundbreaking laws.

Kitsap and Pierce counties joined King and Snohomish counties in passing secure medicine return ordinances.