The Outdoor Power Equipment Institute (OPEI) today announced that it has issued a Stewardship Plan for Outdoor Power Equipment to comply with the requirements of the British Columbia Ministry of Environment’s (MoE) Recycling Regulation.
To prepare for implementation in July 2012, outdoor power equipment manufacturers must immediately begin reporting estimates of their electrical-powered OPE delivered to Canada overall.
For a review of the current Stewardship Plan for Outdoor Power Equipment, go to: http://www.opei.org/library-documents/about-opei/OPEIStewardshipProgramOctoberFinal.pdf
For a list of common questions and answers, visit: http://opei.org/news/detail.dot?id=22466
Says Kris Kiser, President and CEO of OPEI, “We’ve been working hard to make this new government mandate as fair and non-onerous as possible for our members and non-members. To that end, we’ve selected a non-profit Canadian recycling and recovery vendor to help streamline this process for manufacturers.”
Background
The British Columbia Recycling Regulation mandating manufacturer responsibility for product recovery and recycling includes outdoor power equipment. On behalf of its members, OPEI submitted a Stewardship Plan for Outdoor Power Equipment on October 1, 2011 to the British Columbia Ministry of Environment for their consideration. The development of this plan began in March of last year with the participation of the Canadian Task Force (CTF), consisting of 14 OPEI member company representatives, along with consulting support specific to this type of activity in Canada.
OPEI has selected Product Care Association (PCA) as the Canadian recycling and recovery project vendor. PCA is a not-for-profit industry association that manages product stewardship programs for household hazardous and special waste on behalf of its members across Canada. PCA programs help protect the environment by diverting leftover and end of life products from landfills, waterways, and sewers. PCA provides consumers with a collection system network for the products it manages. The collected products are then reused or recycled where possible.
What do Manufacturers Need to Do?
A requirement of the regulations is to report Recovery Rates for each product category to the Regulation. This Recovery Rate will be calculated as the percentage of product recycled compared to the product introduced into the market place. This data must be collected periodically and reported to the Ministry of Environment annually as required by law.
1. OPE manufacturers should contact OPEI to get a product summary spreadsheet. Only one worksheet per company is required.
2. Manufacturers will need to report estimates on Canadian sales of electrical-powered equipment by January 31, 2012 to Hargrove & Associates.
3. Hargrove & Associates will also need the name, email and phone number of the company representative who will be the official contact for data. Monthly data will be collected after this initial submittal of requested information.
4. Companies that do not participate in the OPEI Stewardship Plan for electric outdoor power equipment will have to interact directly with the Ministry of Environment to provide a compliant recycling program.
Further information can be found at the URLs above, by contacting OPEI at 703-549-7600 or by emailing Gerry Coons at gcoons@opei.org or Kristen Reamy at kristen@opei.org.
Hargrove & Associates is an independent third party contractor that properly manages sensitive information to protect the interests of the individual companies reporting this information.
About OPEI
The Outdoor Power Equipment Institute (OPEI) is an international trade association representing more than 80 engine and equipment manufacturers worldwide in the utility, forestry, landscape, and lawn and garden industry. OPEI is a recognized Standards Development Organization for the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and active internationally through the International Standards Organization (ISO) in the development of safety standards. For more information, visit www.OPEI.org.
