1. Product Policy Institute 1 Helen Spiegelman Product Policy Institute www.ProductPolicy.org Coast Waste Management Association ~ Spring Conference ~ Victoria 29 March, 2007 Unintended Consequences ~ A short history of waste ~

2. Product Policy Institute 2 The Industrial Revolution

3. Product Policy Institute 3 Opening up the West

4. Product Policy Institute 4 Boom towns Hastings Street

5. Product Policy Institute 5 Back streets

6. Product Policy Institute 6 A public health crisis

7. Product Policy Institute 7 Citizens demanded action … The “municipal housekeeping” movement

8. Product Policy Institute 8 Waste collection a core service of local government … and government listened

9. Product Policy Institute 9 CARD OF INSTRUCTION FOR HOUSEHOLDERS Put into Garbage Receptacles Kitchen or Table Waste, Vegetables, Meats, Fish, Bones, Fat. Put into Ash Receptacles Ashes, Sawdust, Floor and Street Sweepings, Broken Glass, Broken Crockery, *Oyster and Clam Shells, Tin Cans. Put into Rubbish Bundles Bottles, Paper, Pasteboard, etc. Rags, Mattresses, Old Clothes, Old Shoes, Leather and Leather Scrap, Carpets, Tobacco Stems, Straw and Excelsior, (from households only) The Sanitary Code requires householders and occupants to provide separate receptacles for ashes and garbage and forbids mixing these in the same receptacle. This law will be strictly enforced. Municipal waste ca. 1905

10. Product Policy Institute 10 Unintended consequences…

11. Product Policy Institute 11 change ~ The change in waste ~ Waste generation in USA, Source: US EPA “Facts and Figures for 2003” Kg/cap/year

12. Product Policy Institute 12 Designed for disposal Too much of a good thing

13. Product Policy Institute 13 An environmental crisis

14. Product Policy Institute 14 Citizens demanded action …

15. Product Policy Institute 15 … and government listened Curbside recycling a core service of local government

16. Product Policy Institute 16 More unintended consequences …

17. Product Policy Institute 17 Throwaway Society Cleaning up after the Throwaway Society

18. Product Policy Institute 18 SOURCE: Franklin Associates 70% of MSW is buried or burned What most citizens don’t know

19. Product Policy Institute 19 A hundred years of progress Is this good enough?

20. Product Policy Institute 20 The root of the problem …

21. Product Policy Institute 21 The life-cycle of a product Waste begins here.

22. Product Policy Institute 22 … products end here!

23. Product Policy Institute 23 ~ THE PROBLEM ~ Public responsibility Production & Distribution Producer responsibility Collection & Disposal

24. Product Policy Institute 24 Welfare for waste! Subsidizing the Throw-Away Society

25. Product Policy Institute 25 Sustainability A Sustainability Crisis Economy outgrows Earth

26. Product Policy Institute 26 A new citizens’ movement? Let’s give our local governments permission to stop picking up after us.

27. Product Policy Institute 27 Production & Distribution Producers are responsible for products Reverse Distribution

28. Product Policy Institute 28 Extended Producer Responsibility ~ there goes 75% of the waste stream Packaging Food scraps Yard trimmings Miscellaneous inorganics Non-durable products Durable products SOURCE: US EPA, Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2003

29. Product Policy Institute 29 So what’s the municipal waste manager going to do?

30. Product Policy Institute 30 Courtesy of BioCycle, Feb. 2006 Core competence

31. Product Policy Institute 31 The future of municipal waste management

32. Product Policy Institute 32 Municipal Doing what they do best EPR

33. Product Policy Institute 33 Holistic view of EPR Zoning & Land Use Zoning & Land Use ~ “discard malls”? Business Licensing Business Licensing ~ who provides on-street recycle bins? Purchasing Purchasing ~ specify end-of-life take-back? What can your other departments do to support EPR?

34. Product Policy Institute 34 Helen Spiegelman Product Policy Institute www.productpolicy.org … sustainable production and consumption and good governance.