Product Stewardship & Circular Economy

Extended Producer Responsibility Policies. Building a sustainable circular economy.

How Community Environmental Health Strategies works to build a Circular Economy

  • Working to enact effective extended producer responsibility policies, especially for toxic products that require special handling or disposal methods like pharmaceuticals, sharps, batteries, paint, and electronics.
  • Designing and implementing product stewardship policy campaigns at the state and local levels.
  • Providing expertise on model product stewardship policies that ensure consumer convenience and strong performance standards.
  • Explaining how to avoid potential policy pitfalls and anticipate common stakeholder positions.
  • Advocating for sustainable strategies and cradle-to-cradle systems.
Image of MED-Project drug drop box

Pharmaceutical Stewardship

Local and state laws requiring the pharmaceutical industry to provide safe and environmentally sound drug take-back programs.

Margaret Shield, Principal, has worked extensively on drug take-back programs, pharmaceutical waste regulatory issues, and pharmaceutical stewardship policies at the national, state, and local levels since 2008. Margaret consulted on successful passage of 4 county-level ordinances in Washington State from 2015-2018. She played a leading role in the policy and advocacy campaign to pass Washington’s Secure Drug Take-Back Act in 2018 and provided policy and subject matter expertise during passage of Oregon’s similar law in 2019.

Image of needles, syringes, and auto-injectors

Sharps Stewardship

Safe disposal of medical sharps used outside of healthcare settings.

Led policy development for 2020 sharps stewardship legislation in Washington State HB 2360) to create a comprehensive statewide take-back system for sharps generated by residents. Conducted stakeholder discussions. Compiled and presented evidence base supporting policy change.

Mercury Lights Stewardship

Producer responsibility for CFLs, fluorescent tubes, and other mercury-containing lights.

Margaret Shield, Principal, was one of the lead policy developers and lobbyists responsible for passage of the 2010 mercury-containing lights stewardship law that created WA’s LightRecycle program while a policy liaison for a local government program. She led efforts to develop the evidence base that convinced legislators that lighting manufacturers should finance local government recycling programs and provide convenient retail take-back locations. This initiative required extensive analysis and communications about different financing mechanisms and consumer impacts.

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