On Tuesday, January 14, 2025, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a motion to explore the feasibility of an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) program for household hazardous waste (HHW) and electronic waste (E-Waste). The goal is to reduce the escalating cost of managing these waste streams and protect the safety of residents and workers who may interact with these materials from waste personnel to first responders exposed in the line of duty.
HHW and E-Waste include everyday household items, such as batteries, paints, pesticides, pool cleaners, compressed gas cylinders, and electronic vaping devices. Improper disposal of HHW can lead to toxic chemicals contaminating the environment or as seen this past week exposing first responders and residents when combusted in fires. It can also expose waste workers to dangerous reactions when mixed together in the trash. Waste management collection is the fourth deadliest job in the country based on data from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“Every day, HHW is thrown in trash and recycling bins due to a lack of convenient access to proper collection, endangering residents, our workers, and our environment. If HHW management in the U.S. were to be given a grade, we would get an F. At best we are collecting 10% of HHW properly. Now is the time to come together to provide clear programs with convenient collection options for hazardous product waste” said Heidi Sanborn, Executive Director of NSAC.
In 2023, Vermont became the first state to pass a law creating EPR for HHW, which requires the producers of covered HHW to fund and operate a convenient collection system to ensure proper management of HHW. In 2021, California’s Commission on Recycling Markets and Curbside Recycling, composed of 17 experts representing materials management companies, local governments, unions, and NGOs, unanimously recommended that the legislature establish EPR for HHW. In 2024, California State Senator Ben Allen of Santa Monica introduced the nation’s second HHW EPR bill, SB 1143 sponsored by NSAC, a comprehensive solution for HHW that would have moved California away from its existing product-by-product approach to producer responsibility. However, SB 1143 was ultimately narrowed to the PaintCare Expansion Act which added specialty paints such as furniture and marine paints to the existing program, which was signed into law in September 2024. California and several other states are looking to introduce EPR bills for HHW in 2025, and several local governments are considering and drafting local HHW EPR ordinances.