User:Gr33nman/Product Policy Institute

History and Programs
Product Policy Institute (PPI) was co-founded in 2003 to advocate for extended producer responsibility (EPR) - also known as product stewardship -- and other product- and material-centered policies in North America. Initial emphasis was to promote North American adaptation and implementation of producer responsibility policies being implemented in Europe, and expanding the EPR framework policy approach adopted in British Columbia, Canada, in 2004.

In 2005, PPI released a report that established the role of local government waste management system in enabling the production of disposable and toxic products and packaging. The report also highlighted the power of communities and their local governments to change the system by withdrawing this enabling support to producers and consumers. As a result, PPI set a strategy of assisting communities and local governments by providing them with information and tools and by organizing local government Product Stewardship Councils, patterned after the Northwest Product Stewardship Council (NWPSC).

With assistance from PPI, local governments in California launched the California Product Stewardship Council (CPSC) in 2006 and began developing EPR policy proposals, stakeholder processes and educational materials. PPI worked with CPSC and NWPSC to develop Framework Principles for Product Stewardship Policy - a document that has been adopted by six local government Product Stewardship Councils. The principles are intended to guide development of product stewardship policies and legislation. While primarily aimed at state legislation, they also serve as a guide for local and federal policy. PPI has advocated use of these principles by states, agencies and legislators for developing conceptual policy proposals as well as detailed legislative text. Starting in 2009, EPR framework policy legislation has been introduced in California, Oregon, Maine, Minnesota, Vermont, and Washington.

Based on the success of the California Product Stewardship Council, PPI assisted in the formation of Product Stewardship Councils in New York, Texas and Vermont. Start-up assistance for councils in other states continues. PPI assists with the coordination and transfer of information, materials, and strategies between the Councils.

PPI also works with citizen-based organizations to develop public understanding and support for producer responsibility policies. PPI helped draft the Zero Waste/Extended Producer Responsibility policy adopted by the Sierra Club board in February 2008.

In 2009, PPI commissioned a white paper by Joshua Stolaroff, Products, Packaging and US Greenhouse Gas Emissions. The paper builds on a report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that presented a new method of accounting for greenhouse gas emissions based on the end users, or consumers, of goods and materials. PPI's white paper extended the EPA analysis to include the greenhouse gas impacts of products produced abroad and consumed in the U.S. Using this consumption-based accounting approach, the paper shows that 44 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas impacts result from products and packaging (broadly defined) - more than from building heating and cooling, provision of food, or passenger transportation.

Issue Areas
Product Policy Institute advocates for public policy that protects public health and safety and slows climate change by encouraging waste prevention, clean production and reduced use of toxics in products. A key strategy is to organize local governments and communities to press for state-by-state extended producer responsibility policies that hold producers responsible for ensuring that their products and packaging do not become public liabilities. This has included providing assistance in the creation and adoption of EPR resolutions by local governments and by the National Association of Counties and the National League of Cities. PPI also works in support of zero waste and green chemistry initiatives. PPI provides assistance with product-by-product initiatives such as those addressing e-waste, mercury lighting, packaging and other hard-to-handle or toxic products, with the ultimate goal being EPR framework (comprehensive) policies.