Review of the Product Stewardship Act 2011 Consultation forum Agenda - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Review of the Product Stewardship Act 2011

Consultation forum

Agenda

• Welcome
• Overview of review
• Learnings from the

International Stewardship Forum

• Best practice examples

The Department of Environment and Energy is seeking input from industry, governments, community

• rganisations and the general public to

ensure the Product Stewardship Act 2011 is effective and delivering the best outcomes for business and the environment.

• Framework to effectively manage the environmental,

health and safety impacts of products

• Flexible and practical approach
• Includes voluntary, co-regulatory and mandatory

product stewardship

• Sets out governance arrangements and reporting and

auditing requirements

• Supports the National Television and Computer

Recycling Scheme (NTCRS), accreditation of voluntary arrangements and the Minister’s product list

Product Stewardship Act 2011

• Act required to be reviewed after five years following

its commencement

• First review of the Act
• To ensure ongoing effectiveness of the Act and

delivery of best outcomes

• Seeking input from industry, government, community
• rganisations and the general public

‒ Written submissions are strongly encouraged

Product Stewardship Act Review

• Department is undertaking a range of related activities

‒ Minor amendments to the NTCRS ‒ Developing a Product Impact Management Strategy ‒ Reinvigorating the scheme for accreditation of voluntary product stewardship arrangements

Product Stewardship Act Review

The Review will consider the degree to which the Act is enabling, and can enable, realisation of the benefits product stewardship can deliver to Australia’s towns, cities, the environment and economy. The review will address: 1. The extent to which the objects of the Act are being met and whether they remain appropriate. 2. The effectiveness of the accreditation of voluntary product stewardship schemes and the Minister’s annual product list in supporting product stewardship outcomes. 3. The operation and scope of the NTCRS. 4. The interaction of the Act with other Commonwealth, state and territory and local government legislation, policy and programs. 5. International and domestic experience in the use of product stewardship to deliver enhanced environmental, social and economic outcomes through product design, dissemination of new technologies and research and development.

Review Terms of Reference

The extent to which the objects of the Act are being met and whether they remain appropriate

• Reducing the impact that products and substances contained in them have
• n the environment and people
• This should be achieved by encouraging or requiring manufacturers,

importers, distributors and other persons to take responsibility for those products throughout their lifecycle, including by taking action that relates to the following: ‒ avoiding generating waste from products ‒ reducing or eliminating waste from products ‒ reducing or eliminating hazardous substances in products and in waste from products ‒ managing waste from products as a resource ‒ ensuring that products and waste from products are reused, recycled, recovered, treated and disposed of in a safe, scientific and environmentally sound way.

• To contribute to Australia meeting its international obligations to reduce

impacts products have on the environment

• To contribute to reducing the amount of greenhouse gases emitted, energy

used and water consumed in connection with products and waste from products.

Objects of the Act

Questions for discussion

• Are the objects of the Act still relevant and appropriate?
• Are there significant gaps in the objects and the product stewardship

criteria, e.g. are there possible outcomes of product stewardship schemes that would be desirable but would not fit under the existing legislation?

• Are existing product stewardship schemes such as the National

Television and Computer Recycling Scheme, and Australian Government accredited voluntary arrangements such as MobileMuster and Fluorocycle effective in addressing the objects?

• Is the design of the Product Stewardship Act a significant determining

factor, either positive or negative, in the effectiveness of product stewardship, or are other factors more important?

The effectiveness of the accreditation of voluntary product stewardship schemes and the Minister’s annual product list in supporting product stewardship

• utcomes

• Accreditation process has been streamlined and simplified

– Existing arrangements with demonstrated outcomes and capability will be able to use existing reports, audits etc.

• Consider proposed outcomes in context

– Interactions and expectations of stakeholders – Consultation with state and territory and local governments

• Will consider greater use of conditions on accreditation
• Importance of demonstrating value in accreditation

Revamping voluntary product stewardship accreditation

Questions for discussion

• Has the accreditation of voluntary product stewardship arrangements

been beneficial to those arrangements, their participants and stakeholders?

• What would support the development of greater value in the

accreditation process?

• How can the accreditation process for voluntary product stewardship

schemes better support the development of successful product stewardship schemes?

• How can the development and use of the Minister’s annual product list

be enhanced?

The operation and scope of the NTCRS

National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme

• Currently the scheme

accounts for export of products for reuse through lower scaling factors for IT products

• Benefit of reuse is therefore

spread across all IT importers, so does not incentivise design or management of products for longer life

• Unlike recycling, there is no

requirement to report on reuse

Improving accounting of export of products for reuse

National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme

• Uneven distribution of

recycling around the country

• Different costs of collection

and recycling

• Regional and rural areas can

be difficult to service

• How can we improve access

and requirements?

– minimum collection volumes? – minimum communication/ advertising requirements? – combination of both?

Equitable access to collection services

National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme

• Factors to consider:

– different collection, storage and transport needs – needs/expectations of public/local govts/service providers – cost/benefit and RIS – Health and safety

• Possible groupings of

products:

– TV peripherals and hi-fi – Other small domestic appliances – Batteries – Other products

• How do other countries

approach this? Eg WEEE in Europe?

Expansion of coverage to include other electrical and electronic products

National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme

• Update reporting, particularly

downstream processes and material flow

• Auditing

– Consistent audit standard – whole-of-scheme auditing across all co-regulatory arrangements

• Cost recovery
• Timeframes for reporting and

compliance

Improving administration of the scheme

Questions for discussion

• Are periodic updates to the scaling factors an adequate way of dealing with the export of

products for reuse, or should further consideration be given to direct reporting of export for reuse?

• Are periodic updates to product codes and conversion factors an adequate way of ensuring

the scheme remains accurate and fair for to liable parties, or should consideration be given to

• ther approaches to allocating liability?
• Is intervention needed to ensure equitable distribution of collection services around

Australia? If so, what should be done?

• Should co-regulatory arrangements be required to report on the amount material sent for

energy recovery?

• Should the amount of material able to be sent for energy recovery be increased beyond

the current, implied limit of 10 per cent?

• Should the scheme be expanded to include other products? If so, what criteria should be

used to determine what the products should to be included, and what factors would need to be considered in expanding the scheme?

• Are there improvements you would like to see to the scheme's administration, monitoring

and compliance processes? If so, what are the highest priorities?

• Would you support legislative changes to enable administration of the scheme to be

underpinned by cost recovery?

The interaction of the Act with other Commonwealth, state and territory and local government legislation, policy and programs

• Regulation and permitting of waste facilities, waste collection,

transport and stockpiling – barriers, performance management

• Standards affecting products and waste
• Complementary programs
• Supporting broader government objectives

Interaction with Commonwealth, state and territory and local governments

Questions for discussion

• Has the interaction between the Product Stewardship Act (including the

National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme, accredited voluntary product stewardship arrangements and work on products listed

• n the Minister's product stewardship list) and state, territory and local

government legislation, policy and programs been effective?

• How can interaction between the Product Stewardship Act and state,

territory and local government legislation, policy and programs be enhanced?

• To what extent can, or should, product stewardship schemes support

broader government objectives, and assist in adapting to changes in market conditions?

International and domestic experience in the use of product stewardship to deliver enhanced environmental, social and economic

• utcomes through product design,

dissemination of new technologies and research and development

• A systems approach: Product stewardship needs to be considered within a more

holistic, circular economy framework

• Priority materials: Achieving circularity requires a particular focus on plastics and

broader consideration of risks and hazards

• Principles not prescription: There is no single operating model that will be effective

and efficient in all circumstances, but common elements need to be included

• It’s not just about regulation: Governments can support product stewardship in

many different ways

• Working together: Shared responsibility requires clarity around the role,

responsibilities and business case for each stakeholder group

• Designing circularity: Design for environment is critically important, requires more

focus and has been elusive

• Innovation and entrepreneurship: Identify and support sustainable end markets
• Program management: Don’t just set and forget

International Stewardship Forum

• clarify the definition of product stewardship
• develop a single, strong, compelling brand for product stewardship
• focus on ‘circular economy’, product management, generating value and economic
• utcomes
• acknowledge other drivers e.g. health and safety, jobs, innovation
• integrate design for environment into schemes
• clarify what ‘shared’ responsibility means – who is involved and what are their
• bligations
• broaden the scope of liable parties to include other industry stakeholders
• allow for outcomes that cut across products or arrangements
• clarify when product stewardship is the best approach to apply
• allow for a wider range of regulatory and voluntary models
• allow for single producer responsibility organisation (single-PRO) models that ensure

competition at the service level (collection, sorting, recycling etc) rather than between PROs

Some stakeholder suggestions so far…

Email: wastepolicy@environment.gov.au Mail: The Director, Stewardship & Waste Section Department of the Environment & Energy GPO Box 787 Canberra ACT 2601 *Include submission cover sheet