In December, PSI and the Oklahoma Meds and Sharps Disposal Committee launched a pilot program at five sites to increase the safe collection and disposal of used medical sharps. Now almost halfway through the pilot, collection rates at several sites have exceeded expectations — a testament to the need for more robust infrastructure to deal with used syringes, needles, and lancets. The program, made possible with grant support from the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, has garnered media attention and benefited from strong local outreach on the part of site partners. Read more about the pilot success so far. For more information on sharps stewardship, contact Lelande Rehard, PSI’s senior associate for policy and programs.

Facilitated by the California Product Stewardship Council, four new projects in California are doing their part to address the more 1.2 million tons of textiles that end up in the state’s landfills each year. The projects, in Los Angeles City, Los Angeles County, San Francisco, and Alameda County, include garment repair in collaboration with thrift stores, various forms of upcycling, and expanding a resource database to support textile recovery. PSI has worked on product stewardship and EPR for textiles for many years, including a 2017 multi-stakeholder textiles summit at the Fashion Institute of Technology. In September, Scott Cassel, PSI’s founder and CEO, spoke as part of Facilitating a Circular Economy for Textiles, a workshop hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Following on last year’s passage of packaging EPR laws in Maine and Oregon, states throughout the country are vying to be next. So far this legislative session, bills for new packaging stewardship programs have been introduced in 12 states: CA, CT, HI, IL, MA, MD, NH, NY, RI, VA, VT, and WA. Just last week, Scott Cassel, PSI’s founder and CEO, testified in support of the packaging EPR bill in Maryland. PSI has been facilitating multi-stakeholder dialogues, providing legislative testimony, and collaborating with coalitions in multiple states to move these bills forward. For more information on packaging EPR, contact Sydney Harris, PSI's policy and programs manager.

India Announces New Guidelines for Packaging EPR 

Last week, the India Union Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change announced new guidelines for EPR for plastic packaging. The new rules classify plastic packaging into four categories and include specifications for reuse, recycling, recycled content use, and disposal for nonrecyclable material. Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said in a tweet, “The guidelines not only provide a framework to strengthen the circular economy of plastic packaging waste, but also promote development of new alternatives to plastics. They provide a roadmap for businesses to move towards sustainable plastic packaging.”

“Ocean Plastic Is Bad, but Soil Plastic Pollution May Be Worse,” Civil Eats, February 23. Suna Bayrakal, PSI's director of policy and programs, comments on the benefits of EPR.

“Environmental Summit Day Two Sees Officials, Youth Participating In Change,” The Newtown Bee, February 23. Coverage of the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters' Environmental Summit highlights a presentation by Scott Cassel, PSI's founder and CEO, on EPR for packaging and gas cylinders.

“EPR remains top item in state recycling policy debate, but bottle bills and plastic bans also in play,” Waste Dive, February 9. Sydney Harris, PSI’s policy and programs manager, comments on the state of packaging EPR in the U.S.

California 2nd Annual Virtual Statewide Conference on Illegal Dumping 

MassRecycle Virtual Conference and Trade Show 

Questions? Contact Jessica Atkinson at jess@productstewardship.us or 617-236-4866.

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 amanda@productstewardship.us or 617.236.4833, TTY: use 711 or 800-439-2730; MassRelay.