Retail groups have mixed reaction to updated waste management proposals

The leading retail associations — including the Retail Industry Leaders Association, the Food Marketing Institute, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores and the National Retail Federation — gave a mixed reaction to new waste management proposals by the Environmental Protection Agency.



While the associations called the proposed regulations a “step forward,” they also expressed concern about how the rules would impact the disposal of unsold consumer products and pharmaceuticals by stores.



According to the associations, the Hazardous Waste Generator Improvements proposal and the Management Standards for Hazardous Waste Pharmaceuticals could limit the ability of retailers to recycle or reuse products.



“Although portions of the proposals may offer some relief, the suggested frameworks fall short of easing the burden on retailers who want to manage unsold products in a more sustainable fashion, rather than discarding potentially useful or recyclable items,” stated Sue Pifer, VP of compliance at RILA. “The Retail Associations again emphasize in their comments that most unsold consumer products and pharmaceuticals are not ‘wastes’, due to the fact that many are suitable for re-shelving, donation, recycling, liquidation or shipment back to vendors for credit.”



The two proposals are designed to address compliance challenges that have arisen for retailers stemming from the Resource Recovery Act. While the legislation typically applies to large scale manufacturing plants that generate more significant quantities of hazardous wastes, the EPA also applies the regulation to the small percentage of unsold consumer products that may be recycled, reused or otherwise discarded from a retail store. Nearly all of these products are sold to customers and are either consumed or disposed of in their households, without additional regulation.



However, among other things, the proposed regulations would allow a waste generator to avoid the increased burdens of a higher generator status when generating large quantities of hazardous waste unexpectedly and infrequently as the result of broken or damaged customer returns, theft or damage within the store, public dumping in trash receptacles or recalls of unusable products.



The new regulations would also allow very small quantity generators to consolidate hazardous wastes from multiple locations at a “large quantity generator” site, such as a distribution center, thereby eliminating the disproportionate regulatory burdens of a higher generator status at store-level, provided certain conditions are met.



Reverse distribution involves the removal and consolidation of consumer products and pharmaceuticals that are not sold in retail stores and is a long-standing business practice that is friendly to the environment and good for consumers. The practice pre-dates the arcane application of RCRA to retailers’ reverse distribution operations.



In 2014, RILA led a coalition of retailers to explain the challenges of complying with RCRA, and some of the issues raised by the coalition were addressed in the proposed rules, released by the EPA in September 2015.