International Review of Waste Management Policy - Department of ...

policies focus on disposal outcomes with the most common policy being a landfill
ban.
32.8 Effect of the Policy on Pricing of Resources / Services
Section 32.6 highlights some issues related to social and distributional
consequences. There, it was noted that pricing might not necessarily be in line with
expected impacts. As with many policy measures, the pricing probably improves
matters relative to the ‘no policy’ situation, but the pricing is not efficient and few
studies have sought to understand what the externalities associated with the use of
different paints / the disposal of paints might be.
32.9 Evasion and Enforcement
Only anecdotal evidence has been provided on evasion and enforcement issues thus
far. Conversations with Product Care in Canada have highlighted only minimal
evasion of the scheme. According to Product Care, minimal enforcement is required
to operate the scheme.
32.10 Lessons Learned
Anecdotal evidence suggests that the use of enhanced producer responsibility
schemes in Canada have greatly aided the recycling of waste paints. Placing these
observations in context, one of the fundamental problems with recycling waste paints
in Canada has been the (in)ability of householders to access a collection point, which
is largely attributed to the sparsely distributed population of the country. The policies
have tended to enhance the prospects for proper collection of unused paints and
paint cans at their end of life.
32.11 Prerequisites for Introduction
As with other producer responsibility mechanisms, key pre-requisites appear to be:
� The political willingness to legislate to deal with the issue; and
� Working with industry to develop an agreed mechanism to ensure the
development of adequate infrastructure to address the problem being highlighted.
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