The Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI), Dalton, Ga., is among a national coalition of organizations that have founded the Product Management Alliance (PMA), an inter-industry partnership launched to support voluntary market-based solutions for product stewardship. The PMA — whose founding members represent the carpet, mattress, electronics, toy, paper, packaging and transportation materials, plastics, personal goods and pharmaceutical industries — states it "will work to address its members' concerns relating to government policies that mandate extended producer responsibility and programs that shift the costs of product collection solely to the manufacturer and will work with experts in industry and government in order to ensure a consistent policy for recovery, take-back programs and other extended producer responsibility models."

California's AB 2398 Carpet Stewardship Bill — the first extended producer responsibility legislation in the United States to specifically address carpet, as well as the first to regulate a non-hazardous product — became effective July 1, 2011. AB 2398 offers financial incentives for carpet recycling with funds collected through a 5-cents-per-square-yard assessment on all carpet sold or shipped into California. Several states including Massachusetts and Rhode Island have presented similar bills that are either pending or under consideration.

CRI Government Relations Director and PMA Treasurer Jennifer Mendez says she expects to see additional bills, as well as broad-based framework legislation addressing multiple industries and product classes, proposed during the 2012 state legislature sessions. "It's important for the carpet and other industries to join forces and have our voices heard on the vital issue of end-of life management for products before governments pass more mandates," Mendez said. "Business models for product recovery need to work for all the parties involved, for the sake of our economy as well as the environment."

October 4, 2011