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Update on SMM Strategic Plan
ASTSWMO Materials Management Roundtable
April 28, 20168:30 am – 10:00 am
Cheryl Coleman, Director
Resource Conservation & Sustainability Division
U.S. EPA Office of Resource Conservation & Recovery
Presentation Overview
• SMM Strategic Plan: Vision & Objectives
• EPA’s SMM Strategic Priorities
Built Environment
Update: Tire Crumb Research Action Plan
Update: EPA Tools to Support Beneficial Use
Sustainable Management of Food
Sustainable Packaging
• Transition Year Ahead & Opportunities for Engagement
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SMM Strategic Plan for FY 2017 – FY 2022
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SMM Program Vision & Objectives
Program Vision: Protect human health and the environment by advancing the sustainable use of materials throughout their lifecycle to minimize waste and environmental impacts.
Program Objectives: 1. Decrease the landfill disposal rate.2. Reduce the environmental impacts of materials.3. Increase socio-economic benefits.4. Increase capacity of state and local governments, communities and key
stakeholders to adopt and implement SMM policies, practices and incentives.
EPA’s SMM Strategic Plan FY 2017 – FY 2022
The Built Environment
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Sustainable Management
of Food
Sustainable Packaging
Strategic Priority Areas
The Built Environment
• Investment in repairing or replacing the nation’s aging public infrastructure is expected to continue to be a top U.S. priority, with billions of tons of concrete, steel, wallboard, and other materials needed to do so.
• The range of materials, goods, and services is complex, involving—directly or indirectly—almost every sector of the U.S. economy.
• Meanwhile, natural disasters will continue to strike the U.S. creating huge quantities of debris.
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The Built Environment
1. Incorporate life cycle SMM concepts into the built environment marketplace.
2. Support & advance climate adaptation and community resilience efforts.
3. Improve and enhance data and measurement of C&D and industrial byproduct materials.
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Critical Action Areas
Update: Federal Research Action Plan on Use of Tire Crumb on Playing Fields & Playgrounds
• Concerns raised by the public about safety of recycled rubber tire crumb used in artificial turf fields in the U.S.
• EPA, CDC/ATSDR, and the CPSC launched a multi-agency Federal Research Action Plan to fill important data and knowledge gaps with the following objectives:
• Determine key knowledge gaps;
• Identify and characterize constituents ;
• Characterize exposures; and
• Identify follow-up activities.
• EPA’s ORD is leading the overall research effort for the EPA
• OLEM’s role: engage key stakeholder groups to better understand tire and tire crumb manufacturing, processing and use parameters
• Visit EPA’s web site: www.epa.gov/tirecrumb
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Update: EPA Tools to Support Beneficial Use• EPA encourages the recyling beneficial use of non-
hazardous industrial secondary materials (coal ash, foundry sand, iron and steel slag, construction & demolition debris) when conducted in an environmentally responsible manner.
• Two key EPA documents are expected to be released soon:
• Methodology for Evaluating the Beneficial Use of Nonhazardous Industrial Secondary Materials
• Beneficial Use Compendium: A Collection of Resources and Tools to Support Beneficial Use Evaluations
• Webinar to provide detailed overview of the documents upon their release – early summer 2016
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• Food production uses a tremendous amount of energy and resources: 50% of land
use, 80-90% of freshwater consumption, and 10% of total energy use in the U.S.
• In the U.S. (in 2010), an estimated 31 percent or 133 billion pounds of the food
produced was lost or wasted, totaling an estimated $161.6 billion.
• Food is the largest component of MSW discards at 21.1 percent.
• 14.3 percent of U.S. households were food insecure at some time during the year.
• Food, when disposed, is a large contributor to the 25.7% of total methane
emissions that come from landfills each year.
• The UNEP’s goal: halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer
levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains.
• U.S. Domestic Goal: reduce good loss and waste by 50% by 2030
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Sustainable Management of Food
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Update: U.S. 2030 Food Loss & Waste Reduction Goal
• Goal: reduce wasted food by 50% by 2030
• 2015 Food Recovery Summit
• A Call to Action by Stakeholders
• Next steps leading to action Input on the “Call to Action,” gathering commitments for action,
measuring progress
Reduce and Recover: Save Food for People (June 28-29, Cambridge, MA
California Resource Recovery Association Annual Conference (August 7-10)
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Sustainable Management of Food
1. Convene and support partnerships around infrastructure development for alternatives to landfill disposal of wasted food.
2. Promote opportunities across food life cycle to reduce wasted food from landfills, with preference for approaches higher on EPA food recovery hierarchy.
3. Improve and standardize measurement of wasted food.
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Critical Action Areas
Packaging
Ron Vance, Chief Municipal Conservation and Recycling Branch Office of Resource Conservation & Recovery
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Sustainable Packaging
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Sustainable Packaging
1. Convene and foster partnerships around infrastructure development.
2. Work with Federal Agencies as Strategic Partners.
3. Research, Data and Policies for Packaging.
Critical Action Areas
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Additional Emphasis Areas
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Sustainable Electronics
Management
Measurement
Life Cycle Assessment
International Efforts
Materials Measurement 1. State Measurement Work2. SMM Facts & Figures
Report
Ron Vance, Chief Municipal Conservation and Recycling Branch Office of Resource Conservation & Recovery
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SMM Strategic Plan: Transition Year Ahead & Opportunities for Engagement
• SMM Strategic Plan Focuses on FY2017 – FY2022
• FY 2017 will be focused on obtaining stakeholder input on implementation of the Strategic Plan.
• We welcome your input and feedback on specific activities and areas where you see alignment and shared goals between your organizations and the EPA.
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Thank you!
Cheryl T. Coleman
U.S. EPA Office of Resource Conservation & Recovery
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