Product stewardship updates were on the agenda this week at the joint meeting of House and Senate Environment committees. 

Palmer Mason of the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) testified that the agency has hired two full time employees to work on management of product stewardship programs.  The DEQ’s legislatively approved budget also included money for a stakeholder process to discuss issues related to product stewardship.  This stakeholder group is currently being formed, and will begin meetings in January 2010.  Eight to ten meetings are expected, and the group will provide a final report to the Legislature at the end of the process.

Paint Product Stewardship
The DEQ provided a progress report on Oregon’s pilot paint product stewardship law, which is still in the planning stages.  In accordance with the provisions of Oregon House Bill 3037, the paint manufacturing industry has created the requisite stewardship organization, named Paint Care.  Paint Care must submit a stewardship plan to DEQ for approval no later than March 1, 2010.  The plan must provide for convenient and available collection of used paint in both urban and rural areas, and must also include a paint stewardship assessment, which will be used to fund the program.

Timeline—Once the plan has been approved, Paint Care must implement strategies to reduce the generation of post-consumer paint and promote reuse, and must carry out all collection, transportation and processing of used paint necessary for end-of-life management.  In October 2011, DEQ must provide to the Legislature a report on the results of the program, as well as any recommended changes.

According to testimony on Wednesday, November 18, 2009, Paint Care and the pilot program are running slightly ahead of schedule because Oregon’s is the only paint stewardship program in the country.  Originally, paint manufacturers had expected to be implementing a pilot program in Minnesota at the same time as Oregon; however, Minnesota’s Governor vetoed that bill.  Thus, Paint Care has been able to focus its efforts on Oregon.

Assessment—DEQ testified that it expects the paint assessment to be approximately 50 cents per can.  The amount must be sufficient to recover, but may not exceed the costs of the program.  The assessment must be added to the cost of paint sold to Oregon retailers and distributors, and each retailer or distributor must add that assessment to the purchase price of each can.  Assessments must be paid upon purchase; they may not be paid when paint is returned.