VIDEO: Maine Product Stewardship Bill Signed Into Law

From youtube.com:
March 30, 2010 — Maine Governor John Baldacci signed a first-in-the-nation framework product stewardship law. The law creates a systematic approach for identifying troublesome products in the waste stream for new product stewardship programs which assign end-of-life recovery and recycling costs to product manufacturers. The approach will be similar to Maines electronic waste (e-waste) law, signed in 2004, which has resulted in the successful recycling of more than 25 million pounds of e-waste, keeping toxic materials out of land fills. Watch the video below, or check it out on youtube.com .

Producer Responsibility Tidbits

New York State now has three local product stewardship resolutions.

California Product Stewardship Council has reached 81 local govt resolutions. Congrats!

New Spanish translation of Product Stewardship Councils’ Framework principles [PDF]

Reusable Packaging Association: Product Stewardship Policy and Framework Principles [PDF]

Product Policy Institute Featured in Miller-McCune Article

Executive Director of PPI, Bill Sheehan was quoted in an article about the growing resistance of US cities and states to pay for waste disposal.

From the article: Because of industry opposition in California, it's fallen to Maine, the most sparsely populated state east of the Mississippi, to take the legislative lead. Maine faces a $400 million budget shortfall, and the bill, "An Act to Provide Leadership Regarding the Responsible Recycling of Consumer Products" stands a good chance, said Rep. Melissa Innes (http://www.maine.gov/legis/housedems/minnes/), D-Yarmouth, the author. A joint state House and Senate committee hearing on the legislation is set for Jan. 22. Democrats have a majority in both houses... Maine may be ahead, but California is giving it a push, said Bill Sheehan, executive director of the Product Policy Institute, an Athens, Ga.-based nonprofit group that advocates for a "zero-waste" society. "Maine is clearly a leader in being first and most prolific," Sheehan said. "They 'got it' early on. But a lot of the energy for extended producer responsibility is coming from local governments, and that movement is sweeping down the West Coast."...

Read the full article

Product Policy Institute founder attends the Post Carbon Institute Fellows Retreat

Product Policy Institute founder, Bill Sheehan will be participating in a retreat for fellows of the Post Carbon Institute this weekend (Jan 22-24).

Post Carbon Institute fellows are 28 of the world's leading minds in the areas of economic, social, and environmental sustainability. While their areas of expertise range far and wide, one shared question binds them:

How do we manage the transition to a more resilient,
equitable, and sustainable world?
Bill Sheehan co-founded the Product Policy Institute with Helen Spiegelman in 2003 and serves as its Executive Director. Bill advocates for public policy that protects public health and safety and slows climate change by encouraging waste prevention, clean production and reduced use of toxics in products. He developed, with Spiegelman, a historical analysis that showed how municipal recycling and waste management services enable product manufacturers to design and sell goods without considering disposal costs and impacts.

Hearing on Maine’s producer responsibility framework

The State of Maine has the most producer responsibility laws in the United States. Now Maine may become the first state to adopt comprehensive “framework” producer responsibility legislation that is, setting up a process to apply the principles of producer responsibility to numerous problem products. On Friday January 22nd the Maine Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing on LD 1631, An Act to Provide Leadership Regarding the Responsible Recycling of Consumer Products.

To see the map of all states with ERP policies, check out the framework map on PPI's website