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WASHINGTON ENACTS
LIGHTING EPR LAW AMENDMENT
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On March 28, Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed into law HB 1185, a lighting EPR bill that extends the existing statewide stewardship program for mercury-containing lights by another 10 years. The law will also ban the sale of most mercury-containing fluorescent lights in the state by 2029. Read more in our news alert. | |
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MARYLAND LEGISLATURE
PASSES PAINT STEWARDSHIP BILL
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Maryland’s paint stewardship bill passed the legislature on Friday, March 29, and is now awaiting Governor Wes Moore’s signature. HB0001 establishes a post-consumer paint stewardship program to be managed by, PaintCare, a PSI Partner and nonprofit organization created by the paint industry through the American Coatings Association (ACA). Currently, 11 states and the District of Columbia have enacted extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws based on a model bill that PSI mediated with numerous stakeholders, including ACA, state and local governments, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, recyclers, and others. | |
FRANCE PROPOSES ANTI-FAST FASHION BILL | |
The textile industry is increasingly becoming a focal point for EPR initiatives, both in the US and globally. France's recent legislative proposal, the Anti-fast Fashion Bill, is complementary to EPR, highlighting the growing recognition of the environmental impact of textiles and the need for producer responsibility. This bill intends to tax low-cost clothing, require fast fashion retailers to publish environmental impact data, and prohibit advertising for fast-fashion companies and products. Read more. | |
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OREGON DEQ PUBLISHES 2025 E-CYCLES
COLLECTIONS DETERMINATION
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The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (OR DEQ) recently published its annual “collections determination” regarding the total weight of electronic devices that are required to be collected by obligated producers under the E-Cycles program in 2025. Starting on January 1, 2026, the state’s updated recycling program, HB 3220, will become operational and will no longer require this process to provide a convenient and high performing e-cycles program for Oregon. PSI assisted OR DEQ with an amendment in 2023 to modernize Oregon E-cycles and remove the administrative burden of the annual collections determination along with other improvements including the expansion of the scope of covered devices. | |
Last month, PSI and the Northeast Recycling Council (NERC) co-hosted a webinar on EPR for tires, focusing on lessons learned and insights on best practices for scrap tire management. Attracting over 650 registrants and eliciting over 100 Q&A questions, the webinar demonstrates the growing interest in, and need for, tires EPR in the US. The webinar recording and presentation are now available on PSI’s website. | |
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“Very well done, interesting, and informative.”
“A well-rounded analysis of the subject with presentations from different perspectives and diverse areas.”
“Excellent insight into what EPR would look like for waste tires.”
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PARTNER SPOTLIGHT - PAINTCARE | |
For more than a decade, PaintCare, a PSI Partner, has operated manufacturer-led paint stewardship programs in states across the country to make paint recycling more convenient. The organization has collected 70 million gallons of paint to date and offers a network of over 2,400 drop-off sites to make it easy to responsibly recover leftover paint. Read PaintCare’s recent post on PSI's blog to learn more about how they have successfully built a program that offers convenient, year-round recycling for households and businesses. Read blog. | |
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Are you a PSI Member? Consider renewing your membership early.
July 1 membership renewals are around the corner – but you don’t have to wait until July to renew! If you have extra money in this year’s budget, or want to maximize next year’s budget, you can renew your PSI Membership early. You can also add consulting services of any amount to your annual membership invoice.
Watch for our renewal appeal email in early April (it comes from psi@wildapricot.org) and renew online today! Contact susan@productstewardship.us with any questions or to add a consulting project to your membership invoice.
Interested in PSI Membership? Join us!
PSI Members are state, local, and tribal government leaders who work closely with PSI to develop product stewardship policy and EPR legislation through shared intelligence and strategic collaborations. Membership provides your entire agency staff with access to research, policy models, webinar recordings, educational materials, networking, and other resources across 20+ product categories that can save your agency time and money while advancing your product stewardship and EPR goals. If you’re interested in becoming a PSI Member, or would like to learn more, contact info@productstewardship.us!
Consulting for PSI Members and Partners
Did you know that PSI offers custom consulting services for our Members and Partners? Our EPR experts can meet your needs for research, policy facilitation and/or mediation, stakeholder engagement and consensus building, legislative analysis and policy development, regulatory and compliance information, and EPR education. Contact info@productstewardship.us to get started.
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A MUST-READ FOR ALL EPR PROFESSIONALS! | |
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PERSPECTIVES ON PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP:
Navigating an extended producer
responsibility path to a circular economy
by Scott Cassel, CEO and Founder of PSI
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New York State Pollution Prevention Institute
The New York State Pollution Prevention Institute (NYSP2I) is seeking a Director to lead its statewide technology development, transfer, and assistance center whose mission is to make New York State more environmentally sustainable for businesses, workers, and the public through more efficient use of raw materials, energy and water, and reductions in toxic chemical use, emissions to the environment and waste generation. Learn more and apply here.
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Waste Advantage Magazine covered PSI’s work with the Boulder County Public Health Department on developing county-level policy options for vapes in Colorado.
Times-Call article on the benefits of Colorado’s packaging EPR law cites PSI research about how EPR programs do not lead to significant consumer price increases.
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SPC IMPACT
April 2-4, New Orleans – This week Scott Cassel, PSI's CEO and Founder, partnered with the Sustainable Packaging Coalition to execute four key sessions at the IMPACT 2024 Conference. At the event, Scott moderated a panel on the implementation of packaging EPR in the U.S. and a producer townhall session on packaging EPR. He also led an exclusive stakeholder meeting focused on fostering a national dialogue on packaging EPR legislation. Lastly, at a book signing event sponsored by NielsenIQ, Scott gave out over 150 copies of his book Perspectives on Product Stewardship: Navigating an extended producer responsibility path to a circular economy.
ASTSWMO MID-YEAR MEETING
April 23-24, Boston, MA – Megan Mabin, Policy and Programs Manager for PSI, will present about PSI and the state of the EPR movement to national solid waste leaders at the Mid-Year meeting of The Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials (ASTSWMO).
NCSL WEBINAR
April 25, Virtual Webinar –Scott Cassel, PSI’s CEO and Founder, will present on the National Conference of State Legislature’s webinar Unpacking the Elements of Extended Producer Responsibility. Register here.
CANADIAN EPR FORUM
September 24-25, Toronto, Canada – The Canadian Stewardship Conference is pleased to host the 2024 EPR Forum. Learn more and register here.
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The Mercury Lamp Recyclers Association (MLRA) will now be the stewardship organization responsible for managing the collection of mercury lights in Vermont. Read more.
Starting in May 2024, Greentec will be providing battery sorting services to Call2Recycle in Ontario, Canada, expanding the province’s sorting capacity. Read more.
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The Product Stewardship Institute is a policy expert and consulting nonprofit that pioneered product stewardship in the United States. Since 2000, PSI has helped enact 136 extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws across 18 product categories in 33 states — the bedrock on which the circular economy is built. We work with businesses, nonprofits, academia, and governments to ensure that products are responsibly managed from design to end of life. | |
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The Product Stewardship Institute, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer and provider. Persons with disabilities who require alternatively formatted materials to ensure effective communication should contact Amanda Nicholson at info@productstewardship.us or 617.236.4855.
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