Climate Change & EPR

Climate change is one of the seminal issues of our time.  And there is data to show that implementing Extended Producer Responsibility policy will directly affect climate change, to the good!

PPI Asserts EPR Actions Address Climate Change

In 2010 PPI Executive Direction Bill Sheehan and Board of Directors President Helen Spiegelman wrote a compelling chapter for the book The Post Carbon Reader: Managing the 21st Century’s Sustainability Crises .

In the chapter titled “Climate Change, Peak Oil and the End of Waste”, authors Bill Sheehan and Helen Spiegelman lay out the case for Extended Producer Responsibility and its ability to fundamentally change our current predicament with climate change, oil dependence and abundant waste.

You can read the entire chapter here.
To order The Post Carbon Reader: Managing the 21st Century’s Sustainability Crises edited by Richard Heinberg and Daniel Lerch (Healdsburg, CA: Watershed Media, 2010), please go to http://www.postcarbon.org/reader.

PPI Research Makes Important Connection

This white paper issued by PPI builds on a report from the U.S. EPA which offers new insight into the impact of products and packaging on climate change.  Products and packaging make up 44% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions!  Read the paper:
Products, Packaging and US Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Product Policy Institute, September 2009)

By Joshuah Stolaroff, PhD

WHITE PAPER EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This paper builds on a new report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Opportunities to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions through Materials and Land Management Practices,” which offers new insight into the impact of products and packaging on climate change. Based on the report, non-food products are associated with 37 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. This paper extends the EPA analysis to include the impacts from producing products abroad that are consumed in the U.S.  This brings the share of products and packaging to 44 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Extended Producer Responsibility is discussed as a policy option to reduce the greenhouse gas impact of products.

Articles & Press

• Products and Packaging Contribute 44 Percent US Greenhouse Gas Emissions (PPI Press Release, September 18, 2009)
• Opportunities to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions through Materials and Land Management Practice (US EPA Report, September 2009)
• Recycling and Land Reuse Practices Can Help Fight Climate Change - (US EPA Press Release, September 18, 2009)
• EPA Report Suggests Waste Reduction and Recycling Reduces CO2 Emissions  (The New York Times, September 21, 2009)
• Everything You Know About Going Green Is Wrong  (The Daily Green, November 16, 2009)
• John DeCock: Want to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint? Reduce Your Trash Footprint!  (Huffington Post, October 28, 2009)
• The Missing Link in Climate Change: Product Policy  (Planetsave, October 18, 2009)
• Black Friday Tarnishes the Globe  (Product Policy Institute, November 23, 2009)

Taking Action on Climate Change

In 2008 the Governors Climate Action Team in Washington State proposed product stewardship and an EPR Framework policy as ways of addressing climate change. 

• Summary of EPR Famework policy in Climate Action Report (1 page; draft 10-Oct-2009)
• Proposed EPR framework legislation -- Pages 65-83 in the Climate Action Team's report, Beyond Waste.

Resources

• Greenhouse Gas Benefits of Product Stewardship  (SWANA Webinar presented by PPI - November 30, 2009)
• EPA Webinar on Climate Change  August 5, 2008
• Materials Management and Greenhouse Gas Emissions, presentation by Josh Stolaroff, PhD for California Resource Association Annual Conference – August 5, 2008
• Transcript of Josh Stolaroff’s webinar at the West Coast Forum on Climate Change, Waste Prevention, Recovery and Disposal - September 11-12, 2008
• Climate Change and Materials Management Introduction; State and Local Government Perspectives, presentation by David Allaway for West Coast Webinars on Climate Change, Waste Prevention, Recovery and Disposal 101 – June 26, 2008