Articles

Call2Recycle CEO and President, Carl Smith, recently published an article on Environmental Leader to discuss aspects of product stewardship legislation that must be kept in mind as more and more states consider such laws.

You may not know the meaning of “product stewardship” but you play a vital role in it and encouraging positive environmental change. It is up to stewardship organizations to continue awareness and educational efforts to keep the momentum of these movements headed in the right direction.

Many U.S. cities are diverting more than 30 percent of their solid waste to recycling. Most communities have the potential to do far more using a variety of approaches.

Check out this article from our partner, Earth911, on how we use mobile technology in the great outdoors and what to do with our batteries when they don’t power up anymore.

Proper disposal of wireless devices and the rechargeable batteries that power them is critical. The population is exploding. Not just the human population, but wireless devices. According to CTIA-The Wireless Association®, there are 331.6 million wireless subscriber connections in the U.S., which is more than the population.

Multiple surveys tell us that only half of all Americans claim to recycle every day, while 13 percent are willing to admit that they never do. Of those that recycle, their diligence and consistency is unknown. Moving everyone to recycle consistently will not happen quickly.

All the media hyperbole around being environmentally conscious might lead one to believe that everyone participates in recycling. While twice as many Americans recycle now as compared with 20 years ago, that is still only 58% who said they did so on a regular basis in 2011, according to a recent survey by GfK Custom Research North America for SC Johnson.

The U.S. EPA says there are more than 3,000 household hazardous waste (HHW) collection programs in the United States. Some communities provide permanent collection facilities. Others collect HHW on designated days at a central location to ensure safe management and disposal.

Single-stream recycling collection – combining different types of items such as cans, glass, plastic and paper together – is being credited with impressive volume increases like the 167% jump Westport, Conn., saw over the last nine months.

North American consumers have come to expect retailers will accept some used items for recycling that they cannot or should not throw away at home. Things like plastic and paper bags as well as Styrofoam trays and egg cartons can be returned to the grocery store, while hardware stores and home improvement centers take things such as compact fluorescent light bulbs and rechargeable batteries.

In our previous post we talked about recycling having been around before there was an environmental movement. When your thrifty grandmother saved everything knowing she would find another use for it, she was recycling. Last week’s return-for-deposit glass bottle example is another recycling effort motivated by economics.

Some of us are old enough to remember collecting glass bottles for the deposit no matter where in the U.S. we lived. Our recycling efforts, voluntary or imposed, might be interpreted as “product stewardship,” but this emerging concept goes beyond this simplistic view of recycling.

Increasing numbers of consumers are recycling their household waste and participating in local curbside pickup efforts. Even more impactful are the swelling numbers of sustainability initiatives by corporations and other organizations that, in addition to their major energy conservation and pollutant containment policies, include proper disposal of waste through recycling.

Read the latest feature by our partner, Earth911, on where you can find rechargeable batteries in your home. You may be surprised!

How does product stewardship fit in with the larger world of recycling? Where does the leadership to guide increased collection of managed materials come from? Our CEO, Carl Smith, covers these questions and more.

Read CEO & President, Carl Smith’s article in the latest edition of “MSW Management” regarding product stewardship as a viable policy option that should be embraced not just by municipalities, but manufacturers.

Read CEO & President, Carl Smith’s article in the latest edition of “Environmental Leader” regarding enabling product stewardship through a shared responsibility of industry and government.