The Recycling and Waste Reduction Commission of Santa Clara County has asked the County and each of its 15 cities to:

1. Consider membership in the Product Stewardship Institute
2. Consider adopting the Principles of Product Stewardship
3. Consider adopting an Environmentally Preferable Procurement Policy

The Product Stewardship Institute (PSI) is a national organization created to coordinate state and local governments in developing a policy approach to product stewardship. The mission of PSI is to assist governments in establishing cooperative agreements with industry that increase manufacturer responsibility. PSI has initially selected five priority products for negotiations, based on criteria including waste volume, hazardous constituents and recycling potential. These priority product categories are:

• Electronic waste
• Carpet
• Pesticides
• Paint
• Mercury containing products

The Principles of Product Stewardship discuss the desired roles of governments, industries, environmental groups, and consumers in the following areas related to life cycle impacts of a product and its packaging:

• Shared Responsibility
• Internalized Costs
• Incentives for Cleaner Products and Sustainable Management Practices
• Flexible Management Strategies
• Roles and Relationships

Staff has reviewed the principles and has found them consistent with the City’s policies and its legislative positions on environmental issues. The City would also benefit from reduced refuse disposal costs if the Product Stewardship Institute were successful in placing greater responsibility for products on the manufacturers of those products. Therefore, staff is recommending that the City join the Product Stewardship Institute and adopt its principles by approving the resolution shown as Attachment C.

No action is necessary regarding an Environmentally Preferable Procurement Policy, as the City Council approved such a policy on July 20, 1999. Staff will forward a copy of the policy to the Recycling and Waste Reduction Commission when it prepares a response to the Commission’s letter.

In his letter (see Attachment A), Chairman McLemore asks the City to:

1. Consider membership in the Product Stewardship Institute
2. Consider adoption of the Principles of Product Stewardship
3. Consider adoption of an Environmentally Preferable Procurement Policy

As noted in Chair McLemore’s letter, these recommendations result in part from Commission discussions on electronic waste disposal and recycling issues. Particularly problematic is disposal of cathode ray tubes (CRTs) found in most computer monitors and televisions. CRTs are classified as hazardous waste and may not be collected or disposed with ordinary refuse. With the rapid obsolescence of computer systems, an accelerating number of CRTs are in need of special disposal, typically at government (i.e., City) expense. In California, more than 6,000 computers become obsolete every day.

The Product Stewardship Institute (PSI) is a national organization created to coordinate state and local governments in developing a policy approach to product stewardship. The mission of PSI is to assist governments in establishing cooperative agreements with industry that increase manufacturer responsibility. PSI has initially selected five priority products for negotiations, based on criteria including waste volume, hazardous constituents and recycling potential. These priority product categories are:

• Electronic waste
• Carpet
• Pesticides
• Paint
• Mercury containing products

PSI is currently facilitating national negotiations to create stewardship agreements for discarded electronics. Multi-stakeholder group discussions, called the National Electronics Product Stewardship Initiative (NEPSI), are focusing on the development of a system, including a viable finance mechanism, to maximize the collection, reuse, and recycling of used electronics. Concurrently, the Western Electronics Product Stewardship Initiative (WEPSI) is engaging manufacturers, government agencies, and other concerned parties in the development of voluntary end-of-life management strategies and contributing to the NEPSI process with solutions that meet unique needs of the Western states. Santa Clara County staff is participating in the WEPSI process, and the State of California is one of 13 states that have become PSI members.

Financial contributions are not required to become a PSI member. PSI is currently funded by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs and the University of Massachusetts, with continuing support from grants, foundations, and state government agencies.

Solid Waste Sub-Element – Policy 3.2E.3: Minimize illegal and inappropriate disposal of Household Hazardous Waste (HHW).

Legislative Action Policy 3.2.6 - Support advance disposal fees (ADFs) on the purchase of hazardous household products, with revenues to help support local household hazardous waste management programs.

Based at the University of Massachusetts in Lowell, PSI assists state and local government agencies in establishing cooperative agreements with industry to reduce the health and environmental impacts from consumer products. The goal is to increase manufacturer responsibility for the environmental impacts of products throughout all stages of the products’ life cycle, including disposal and recycling. City membership in PSI requires no financial commitment and would show support for incorporating end-of-life waste management costs into the purchase price of products, so that manufacturers, distributors, and consumers of those products pay such costs.

The Commission has endorsed this approach and is encouraging the 16 Santa Clara County jurisdictions to join the Product Stewardship Institute and adopt the principles of Product Stewardship, a copy of which is shown as Attachment B. The principles discuss the desired roles of governments, industries, environmental groups, and consumers in the following areas related to life cycle impacts of a product and its packaging:

• Shared Responsibility
• Internalized Costs
• Incentives for Cleaner Products and Sustainable Management Practices
• Flexible Management Strategies
• Roles and Relationships

Staff has reviewed the principles and has found them consistent with the City’s policies and its legislative positions on environmental issues. The City would also benefit from reduced refuse disposal costs if the Product Stewardship Institute were successful in placing greater responsibility for products on the manufacturers of those products.

The sample resolution shown as Attachment C outlines the scope of the electronics discard problem and the principles of product stewardship. Although a voluntary agreement for end-of-life management is the preferable outcome, the resolution offers support for state or local legislative action if agreements cannot be reached within the NEPSI stakeholder group’s one-year timeline.

Management of discarded electronics is an increasingly costly and complicated problem for the City, its residents and its businesses. Placing increased end-of-life responsibility on manufacturers of problem products would help in addressing this problem, and is consistent with City policies. Staff recommends that the City join the Product Stewardship Institute and adopt its principles by approving the resolution.

No Council action is required on this request from the Commission, as the City of Sunnyvale has been a leader in the area of procurement policy. On July 20, 1999 the City Council adopted an Environmentally Preferable Procurement Policy that requires City of Sunnyvale employees and contractors to consider a broad range of environmental factors when:

• Developing plans, drawings, work statements, and specifications
• Evaluating bids or proposals for the award of all contracts
• Purchasing all types of goods and services

When staff prepares a response to the Commission’s letter it will note the existence of this policy and attach a copy of it for the Commission’s reference. A copy of the policy (Attachment D) is also attached to this RTC for reference.

City membership in PSI requires no financial commitment. To the extent that manufacturers take on greater financial responsibility for the end-of-life disposal of products that they manufacture and/or sell, the City may realize a small decrease in future refuse and household hazardous waste disposal costs.

Public contact was made through posting of the Council agenda on the City’s official notice bulletin board, posting of the agenda and report on the City’s web page, and the availability of the report in the Library and the City Clerk’s Office.

1. Approve the Resolution (Attachment C), thus adopting the Principles of Product Stewardship and making the City a member of the Product Stewardship Institute.
2. Decline to adopt the resolution.

Staff recommends Alternative 1.

Prepared by:
Mark A. Bowers
Solid Waste Program Manager

Reviewed by:
Marvin A. Rose
Director, Department of Public Works

Approved by:
Robert S. LaSala
City Manager