Letter - Producer Responsibility

Extended Producer Responsibility is the manufacturer taking responsibility for a given product from its cradle to its grave. Recycled Content is a related but separate issue. Labeling laws are another matter entirely.

Here in BC we have an excellent product stewardship program operated by a paint manufacturer's association, the Paint and Product Care Association. They have responsibility to operate a collection and recycling system, with accompanying educational programs, that deals with used paint containers.

And why shouldn't they take care of their own materials? We in the recycling industry have been working and volunteering to handle waste for years. Municipalities pay for the disposal or recycling of thousands of different types of waste products - a free service to manufacturers! We may have been less concerned with this when most products were made locally, but now most products aren't.

This free ride for manufacturers/brand owners has helped perpetuate the incredible diversity of materials we find in today's products, making recycling even tougher and sending more materials to the landfill.

Manufacturers pay for R & D, resource extraction, manufacture, marketing and distribution. If they insist on overseas manufacture and/or making their products difficult to recycle, they should also deal with their products after we're finished with them.

Andy Telfer
Executive Director
Coast Waste Management Association

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