Dec 21 - Is California Ready for Comprehensive Producer Responsibility?

While California has lead this nation in the introduction and enactment of various policies to assign some level of extended producer responsibility for the environmental--including end-of-live--impacts for some products and packaging (i.e. the Bottle bill, Cell phones, computer monitors, mercury auto switches etc), the system to date is far from comprehensive, and more often than not still relies on under funded local governments to provide a collection safety net.

A new coalition of local government recycling and HHW coordinators--organized as the California Product Stewardship Council--has formed to press policy makers on substantially expanding that system. Their mission: To shift California's product waste management system from one focused on government funded and ratepayer financed waste diversion to one that relies on producer responsibility in order to reduce public costs and drive improvements in product design.

The local government based CPSC represents a new and welcome front in the effort advance producer responsibility policies on problem products in California.

To find out more, contact the group leaders:

Carol Misseldine, City of Oakland -

David Assmann, City of San Francisco -

Rob D'Arcy, Santa Clara County -