Contours of ‘hybrid’ financial model to deal with burgeoning CE w...

meeting, compared with earlier sessions that dealt with procedural matters, said Scott Cassel, dir. of Mass.-based Product Stewardship Institute. Three working subgroups -- financing, infrastructure and regulatory -- will get down to business to ensure that agreement on financing model was in place by Sept. as targeted in “road map” drawn up at Nov. meeting of stakeholders, including CE industry, local govts., environmental groups and academics, he said. Financing group, which deals with difficult issue of who should bear costs of collection, recycling and reuse of CE waste, will look at 15 product stewardship models that include systems for other products such as used oil, Cassel said. Many international models, including those in operation in Australia, Japan, Netherlands and Sweden will be studied in effort to evolve hybrid system that addresses concerns of all stakeholders. Industry has expressed preference for end-of-life fees model under which consumers bear most of the costs, while local govts., which bear brunt of collection and recycling, want system that doesn’t burden taxpayers. At Nov. meeting, stakeholders reached consensus on removing taxpayer or ratepayer model and extended producer responsibility (mostly industry-financed) model. Other issues that will be dealt with include ideal infrastructure for collection, reuse and recycling and changes in existing regulations.