Title
Extended Producer Responsibility and Program Convenience
Author

Ashley Harley
American River College, Geography 350: Data Acquisition in GIS; Fall 2015
Contact Information: ashleyeharley@gmail.com
Abstract

Extended producer responsibility is a materials management method that requires producers to design, fund, and implement recycling programs for their products, instead of foisting the costs of end-of-life management on rate-payers. This project looks at the convenience of drop-off and collection locations of a used mattress recovery and recycling program, specifically for Sacramento, California. For this project, Census data at the block level from the city of Sacramento was intersected with a 1 mile buffer around drop-off locations, and the sum of the total population within the buffer was found. 22,004 people are within 1 mile of the two collection sites in Sacramento. It is clear from the results of the project, despite the data gaps, that the stewardship organization must bolster collection opportunities and drop-off locations.
Introduction

AB 341 (Chesbro, Chapter 476, Statutes of 2011) sets an ambitious statewide goal to decrease California’s reliance on landfills for solid waste via 75% recycling, composting, or source reduction by 2020. The Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) is charged with developing strategies to achieve this goal, and has done so by submitting a report to the legislature outlining the following; these strategies must augment the current statewide recycling rate of 50% by recycling and composting an additional 23 million tons:
  • move organics out of landfills,
  • expand recycling and remanufacturing infrastructure (through permitting and financing assistance),
  • explore new models for state and local funding of materials management programs,
  • promote state procurement of postconsumer recycled content products,
  • and promote extended producer responsibility (EPR).
The last strategy involves a materials management philosophy that assigns responsibility for product end-of-life management to producers, and all entities involved in the product chain, instead of the general public - who often bear the full brunt of disposal costs through tip fees and service rates (CalRecycle, 2015). This approach has been undertaken for problematic products such as paint [AB 1343 (Huffman, Chapter 420, Statutes of 2010)], carpet [AB 2398 (Perez, Chapter 681, Statutes of 2010)], and mattresses [SB 254 (Hancock, Chapter 388, Statutes of 2013)]. Such laws require producers to create a non-profit stewardship organization to plan and implement recycling programs for their respective products, with CalRecycle oversight.

This project assesses consumers’ proximity to recycling and drop-off locations for mattresses in the greater Sacramento area, and might inform program managers where gaps in convenience exist. It does not take into account retailer participation in the program - they must provide take-back with the purchase of a new mattress, with certain stipulations.
Background

Approximately 4.2 million mattresses and box springs reach the end of their lives in California per year (Geyer and Kuczenski, 2012). They are bulky, difficult to transport, and as such, have high tipping fees at landfills; in turn, this can lead to illegal dumping, which negatively impacts communities, and leaves the cost of cleanup to local governments. However, up to 85% of a used mattress or box spring’s mass can be readily recycled (Geyer and Kuczenski, 2012). For these reasons and more, the legislature enacted the Used Mattress Recovery and Recycling Act (Act). The Act requires industry to plan, develop, fund, and implement EPR for mattresses.

On July 1, 2015 the Mattress Recycling Council (MRC), a stewardship organization certified by CalRecycle, submitted a Plan and Budget describing an $11 recycling fee per unit (mattress or box spring). For this fee, consumers are able to drop-off their used units at participating solid waste facilities, recyclers, renovators, and events organized by the MRC for free.

Analyzing consumer convenience and access is an important aspect of measuring the success of EPR programs, but there are few studies and metrics to examine. One of the most developed EPR programs in California is the architectural paint stewardship program; the stewardship organization, PaintCare, used GIS consultants to conduct service level studies. Their methodology involved finding 90% of the population within 15 miles of a collection site (Zarrehparvar, 2012). Considering the heavy, bulky nature of mattresses, the author chose to limit these parameters to 1 mile buffers around collection sites.
Diagram right show the material flows for mattresses and boxsprings at the end-of-life, according to the Plan laid out by the Mattress Recycling Council.
material flows
Methods

For this project, Census data at the block level from the city of Sacramento was intersected with a 1 mile buffer around drop-off locations, and the sum of the total population within the buffer was found. Additional data for the areas outside city limits was not obtained.
Image right shows data gaps encountered during project.
datagaps
Results
Data downloaded for this project comes from the County and City of Sacramento, as well as from CalRecycle’s Solid Waste Information System (SWIS) database. There is one solid waste facility within city limits: L and D Landfill Company. There is also one mattress renovator that will take used mattresses from consumers and the program: Sacramento Valley Mattress, Inc. After the 1 mile buffers and the intersection with Census data were completed, the field “TOTAL” in the attribute tables was summarized. 22,004 people are within 1 mile of these two sites.

summary pop
 Image left shows the summary of the "TOTAL" field.
Analysis
The results of the analysis were tempered by data gaps: Census block data was not obtained for Sacramento county level. Despite this, the author feels confident to assess the current state of collection and drop-off infrastructure to be insufficient for Sacramento residents, and suggests that the stewardship organization (MRC) create more opportunities for consumers to drop-off used mattresses for recycling.
Conclusions
It is clear from the results of the project, despite the data gaps, that the stewardship organization must bolster collection opportunities and drop-off locations. With approximately 5% of the city’s 479,686 residents being served by locations in the city, and few locations within 15 miles of the city, additional sites should be developed and maintained for enhanced consumer convenience.

The more rigorous study undertaken by the GIS consultants of the paint stewardship program would be a good project extension. Additional research into this topic could involve network analysis: routing the shortest distance from a consumer to a recycling or drop-off site, for example. In addition, more Census data could be acquired to expand the analysis. There is a recycling location in Woodland, but because it is 20 miles from the city of Sacramento, and did not meet the convenience threshold of the author, it was excluded from the analysis.
References
Geyer, Roland and Brandon Kuczenski. 2012. Mattress and Box Spring Case Study: The Potential Impacts of Extended Producer Responsibility in California on Global Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions. https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/publications/Documents/1430%255C20121430.pdf&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwjugvzM7ODJAhUI4WMKHQgTBw8QFggEMAA&client=internal-uds-cse&usg=AFQjCNGWJkAtMQdfR3-_htWiNqERHUp3Pw; Last accessed 2015.12.16

Zarrehparvar, Marjaneh. 2012. California Architectural Paint Stewardship Program Plan. http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/Paint/Plans/PaintCare/June4.pdf; Last accessed 2015.12.16