Extended Producer Responsibility Policies Research Articles

Mapping the path to sustainable accounting: a DEMATEL-based analysis of key factors influencing effective extended producer responsibility in the circular economy

Purpose This study aims to assess the factors influencing the effective implementation of extended producer responsibility (EPR) practices within the context of sustainable accounting goals and circular economy principles. It seeks to provide insights into the significance of EPR policies for manufacturing industries striving to enhance their environmental, social and governance performance while ensuring sustainable accounting of their business operations. Design/methodology/approach The methodology proposed in this article is based on the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) technique. This approach formulates a structural framework for evaluating influential elements among critical recognized factors. By using DEMATEL, the study examines the interconnectedness between assessed factors through a cause-and-effect diagram, facilitating the integration of EPR into sustainable accounting practices. Findings The research findings reveal that the most impactful contributors to sustainable accounting practices of EPR within the framework of sustainable development goals and circular economy are producers, consumers, eco-design, public awareness and the support of local authorities. These findings underscore the importance of considering these factors in implementing EPR and advancing sustainable accounting practices. Originality/value This paper contributes to the literature by proposing a DEMATEL-based model for evaluating the factors affecting the implementation of EPR within the context of sustainable accounting goals and circular economy principles.

Plastic Packaging Waste Management: A Case in Implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility Policies in Minnesota

The plastic pollution crisis is a global challenge affecting governments, private citizens, and the environment. Plastic packaging, which makes up approximately 40% of all plastic material produced globally, accounts for less than 10% of recycled material. This discrepancy highlights the rapid growth of various plastic types and difficulty for local governments to implement needed waste management practices or meet required capacities. Extended producer responsibility (EPR) is a model for multiple waste streams that places the post-consumer responsibility of a product on the producer. As governments seek to develop legislation to better manage plastic waste, EPR is a policy tool that will promote circularity. This paper discusses the successes and challenges of EPR policies in the European Union (EU), and in states that have enacted them, particularly in California. Many states have introduced or are seeking to introduce legislation on EPR for plastic packaging in the next few years. The Packaging Waste and Cost Reduction Act, a bill for a product stewardship program for plastic and paper packaging materials was recently introduced in the Minnesota state legislature in 2024. This policy paper discusses several EPR policy options and recommendations to improve transparency and success of future EPR bills in states seeking to enact legislation, including Minnesota.

Implementing the Green Economy: Avoiding the Middle Income Trap

stract The purpose of this essay is to outline methods for implementing a green economy in Palopo City in order to escape the middle income trap. Since the creation of Palopo City in 2002, the per capita income of the residents of that city has fallen into the middle income range. The worst effect of this would be a lack of investor confidence in Palopo City, which could eventually lead to an increase in the poverty rate due to a lack of jobs. Therefore, Palopo City needs a plan to use the idea of a green economy to escape the middle class trap. The research design for this study is descriptive qualitative, and the methods for gathering data used are recording, interviews, and observation. The research results obtained are that currently the Palopo City government is building a city with the Business Traveler concept, but in this development, it is considered less than optimal, especially in the application of the green economy concept which has an impact on the accumulation of waste from business activities that pollutes the environment. Additionally, Palopo City's open unemployment rate is the second-highest in the country after Makassar City, necessitating increased job growth in the green economy industry. Strategies that can be applied in Palopo City to overcome the problem of the middle income trap by applying the green economy concept are: (1) waste management and circular economy, (2) application of extended producer responsibility policies as the role of producers who are ecologically literate, and (3) training programs green economy to prepare the human resources of Palopo City towards environmental-based economic development.

Extended producer responsibility’s effect on producers’ electronic waste management practices in Japan and Canada: drivers, barriers, and potential of the urban mine

Electronic waste is the fastest-growing domestic waste stream globally, continuously outstripping projections. With increasing ubiquity of complex computing, many non-renewables are contained in end-of-life electronics, creating a vast urban mine, potentially hazardous, depending on treatment. The aim of this study is to compare how Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policy is applied in two case countries, Japan and Canada, the practical implications of EPR policy design on producer operations, and how EPR affects electronic waste management improvements in each case. These cases share international obligations for electronic waste management but employ contrasting EPR policies. These policies are widespread in both cases, yet are not presided over by larger, regional obligations. Therefore, country-level interviews with electronic waste management stakeholders focusing on how EPR regulation affects producer practice were conducted. The physical application of EPR, as seen in Japan, drives design changes by producers intending to simplify downstream treatment, while financial responsibility in Canada, creates greater concern with cost-savings for producers, complicating end-of-life processing. EPR implementation, along with specific geographical factors, also create contrasting resource recovery results between countries. Regulation primarily drives EPR implementation in both countries, which is consistent with the literature. This study presents new drivers and barriers, namely pre-emptive legislation, and no incentive to improve, classifying the Japanese and Canadian systems as suffering from externalities on an insular system, and lack of harmonization, respectively. This research addresses a gap in comparative studies across regions of physical and financial EPR effects on producer practice.

Extended producer responsibility policies: the nexus for the circular economy

Extended producer responsibility policies: the nexus for the circular economy

Linear to Circular Waste Policies: Breathing Life into the Polluter Pays Principle?

Recycling clothes is lauded as a sustainable textile waste management strategy. A significant percentage of recycled clothes are exported to the Global South as second-hand clothing. Increased exports result in the accumulation of second-hand clothing waste in these countries. The result is a shift in responsibility for textile waste from consuming nations in the Global North to ‘recycling’ nations in the Global South. However, this ‘recycling fallacy’ perpetuates a form of fashion injustice. Waste laws, founded on the ‘polluter pays principle’, are ineffective at addressing the second-hand clothing waste problem in receiving countries. Therefore, the circular economy framework is influencing the redesign of waste laws. The circular economy could redress the problem by revitalising the polluter pays principle and extended producer responsibility policies and embedding life cycle approaches. This paper explores this possibility, using examples from Kenya (a major importer of second-hand clothing) and the European Union (a key exporter of reused clothing with emerging circular economy regulatory frameworks).

Extended Producer Responsibility in the Australian Construction Industry

With the COVID-19 outbreak across the world, policymakers and authorities have realised that they cannot solve the emerging issues using conventional policies and practices. COVID-19 has severely affected many industries, including construction and demolition (C&D) waste management and C&D waste resource recovery sector. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and schemes alike are policy instruments that prevent waste generation and promote a circular economy in the construction industry. These schemes are long adopted in various countries for different waste streams. EPR policy development and implementation, particularly for C&D waste, is still at an early stage in Australia. This study aims to review the Australian regulatory environment and practice to identify barriers and enablers towards successful policy development and implementation of C&D waste-related EPR. This study is based on secondary data that are publicly available. The document analysis was conducted to identify the level of regulatory and other stakeholders support in Australia. Following three rounds of examination of sources and applying multiple selection criteria, 59 different sources were reviewed in total. The results showed that there is widespread support among different stakeholders to develop EPR and expand the existing regulation to other materials. The barriers were cost and time implications for EPR policy establishment and enforcement, diversity of stakeholders involved, construction product lifecycle, responsibility of manufacturers, complexity in implantation of EPR regulations, modification inbuilt facilities and health and safety issues. Recommendations are made to alleviate these challenges. The outcome of this study could serve as a guideline for designing effective EPR policies.

Strategic take-back programs when consumers have heterogeneous environmental preferences

We look at the strategic introduction of take-back programs (TBPs) which offer consumers a discount on their next purchase (reward) when they drop off previous purchases. In a Hotelling duopoly, consumers are heterogeneous not only in terms of their location on the Hotelling line but also in terms of their recycling preferences. Firms introduce TBPs to obtain a market share advantage (reward effect) and/or to recover the intrinsic value of the recycled units (recycling effect); their choice of the optimal reward balances these two effects: for instance, a firm might be willing to introduce a TBP, even if this means losing money on each recycled unit, in order to prevent the competitor from gaining a too large market share advantage. Comparing the level of TBP uptake at the market equilibrium to the one that maximizes social welfare, we show that a lower or higher TBP uptake can be socially desirable, depending, among other, on the weight that is given to the environmental benefits of TBPs. Several extended producer responsibility policies are discussed in terms of their potential to encourage TBP uptake and their overall impact on social welfare.

Extended responsibility or continued dis/articulation? Critical perspectives on electronic waste policies from the Israeli-Palestinian case

Extended producer responsibility policies and interventions propose a template for electronic waste management with considerable and growing discursive and policy traction worldwide. Originating in the global North, they increasingly implicate countries and sites in the global South, in particular, people working in informal electronic waste hubs that process Northern electronic waste. This paper examines the implications of extended producer responsibility in one such place through the lenses of critical waste studies and the dis/articulations approach to global commodity chains, which can usefully be extended to analyze the afterlife of commodities. From Israel and the Palestinian Authority's perspectives, recently activated extended producer responsibility legislation is a common-sense way to rationalize the management of electronic waste. But from the cluster of Palestinian villages that has processed the bulk of Israel's electronic waste for more than a decade, extended producer responsibility constitutes the most recent in a series of external driving forces that have disarticulated and rearticulated their landscapes and livelihoods from external economies over the last half century. The restricted scope of reformist extended producer responsibility policies notion of “responsibility” combined with the asymmetrical terms of dis/articulation between North and South is likely to result in outcomes that not only downgrade the informal sector's position in the value chain, but also undermine their ability to upgrade the electronic waste sector in a way that could avoid further pollution. We consider the options at this junction using the heuristic of suggesting what a more temporally, geographically, and sectorally conceived “extension of responsibility” might mean for extended producer responsibility.

Effectiveness of extended producer responsibility policies implementation: The case of Portuguese and Spanish packaging waste systems

European countries are attempting to promote sustainable development by transitioning from a linear to a circular economy, where waste is to be prevented and recycling activities are promoted. This paper studies the implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policies for the packaging waste in two later European adopter countries of waste management policies: Portugal and Spain. The main goal is to evaluate whether EPR policies in both countries have achieved their basic two goals: 1) reduction of waste, and 2) increase recycling activities. Two case-studies were built based on interviews made to main waste management stakeholders. The analysis shows that the implementation of the EPR policies have had a positive impact throughout the years in both countries. Regarding the waste reduction goal, the systems have still not been completely able to detach packaging waste production from economic growth, but they have been able to promote material usage reduction directly through the Green dot fee model adopted. Regarding the increasing of recycling activities, both countries have been able to increase such rates throughout the years, in the direction of the EU targets.

Extended producer responsibility: The impact of organizational dimensions on WEEE collection from households

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) has been the backbone of product life cycle management in Europe since the 2000s. Unfortunately, EPR implementation has multiple impacts on the supply chain and, thus, its consequences are not always easily manageable. Although several studies have explored various examples within the EU, the determinants of the effectiveness of EPR management are still not fully understood. This research seeks to bridge this gap by making use of quantitative analyses to investigate how key issues related to: WEEE Directive transposition and organizational settings adopted by each Member State, influenced the results achieved in those Member States in terms of collection from households. In details, a latent class analysis (LCA) has been used to analyse different EPR management strategies based on the policy set, the supply chain structure, and the performance of the household collection of electronic waste. Results highlight the strong connection between allocation of responsibility and organizational model adopted in Member States and performance related to small households equipment’s. Conclusions shows the need for stronger coordination of EPR and waste policies in order to achieve adequate levels of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) collection, the need of a clear delineation of the responsibilities of each subject of the supply chain and also the importance of “clearing houses” in moderating the impacts of short-sighted competition between collective schemes.

Effect of product recovery and sustainability enhancing indicators on the location selection of manufacturing facility

The inclusion of economical, environmental, and societal issues in all stages of doing business helps to bring about sustainable development. A business begins or expands by establishing new facilities, so selecting a facility location is a strategic and crucial decision. In the context of sustainability, the selection of location for different facilities can be a critical problem, especially for manufacturing firms that endorse the wide footprint of Extended Producer Responsibility policies. This study aims at prioritizing alternative potential locations for manufacturing firms with respect to the three dimensions of sustainability identified above. The three dimensions are assessed by factors obtained through a factor analysis and are grouped by corresponding invariable sub criteria. These sub criteria are chosen from the extant literature review. Then, the preferred order of alternative potential location is obtained by Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) based on each location's overall performance. The performance of each alternative potential location is assessed on the basis of overall weights of alternatives, evaluating factors, and triple bottom line attributes, which were obtained by Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP). The multi criteria decision making technique, AHP, calculates the weights of the qualitative and quantitative criteria impacting the location selection problem. Then the approach of the study is validated by applying a case from real life; the results are justified by completing a sensitivity analysis on the relative importance weights of the three primary attributes (economical, environmental, and social). The results of the sensitivity analysis demonstrate an effective decision making technique for the optimal selection of sustainable manufacturing locations.

Disposition Choices Based on Energy Footprints Instead of Recovery Quota

This paper addresses the impact of disposition choices on the energy use of closed-loop supply chains. In a life cycle perspective, energy used in the forward chain which is locked up in the product is recaptured in recovery. High quality recovery replaces virgin production and thereby saves energy. This so called substitution effect is often ignored. Governments worldwide implement Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). Policies are based on recovery quota and not effective from an energy point of view. This in turn leads to unnecessary emissions of amongst others CO2. This research evaluates current EPR policies and presents six policy alternatives from an energy standpoint. The Pareto-frontier model used is generic and can be applied to other closed loops supply chains under EPR, exploiting the substitution effect. The measures modeled are applied to five WEEE cases. We discuss results, pros an cons of various alternatives and complementary measures that might be taken.

EPR policies for electronics in developing Asia: an adapted phase-in approach

The amount of e-waste is growing rapidly in developing countries, and the health and environmental problems resulting from poor management of this waste have become a concern for policy makers. In response to these challenges, a number of Asian developing countries have been inspired by policy developments in OECD countries, and have drafted legislations based on the principle of extended producer responsibility (EPR). However, the experiences from developed countries show that a successful implementation of EPR policies requires adequate institutions and sufficient administrative capacity. Even advanced countries are thus facing difficulties. This paper concludes from existing literature and from the authors' own observations that there seems to be a mismatch between the typical policy responses to e-waste problems in developing Asia and the capacity for successful implementation of such policies. It also notes that the e-waste situation in developing Asian countries is further complicated by a number of additional factors, such as difficulties in identifying producers, import of used electronic products and e-waste (sometimes illegal), and the existence of a strong informal waste sector. Given these challenges, the authors conclude that comprehensive EPR policy schemes of the kind that have been implemented in some advanced countries are not likely to be effective. The paper therefore proposes an alternative phase-in approach whereby developing Asian countries are able to move gradually towards EPR systems. It argues that this approach would be more feasible, and discusses what could be the key building blocks of each implementation stage.

How to successfully implement extended producer responsibility: considerations from an economic point of view

This paper investigates the concept of extended producer responsibility (EPR) from an economic point of view. Particular importance will be placed on the concept of 'economic feasibility' of an EPR policy, which should guide decision-making in this context. Moreover, the importance of the core EPR principle of 'integrating signals throughout the product chain' into the incentive structure will be demonstrated with experiences from Germany. These examples refer to sales packaging consumption, refillable drinks packages and waste electrical and electronic equipment collection. As a general conclusion, the interaction between economic principles and technological development needs to be observed carefully when designing incentive-compatible EPR policies.

Difficulties in applying extended producer responsibility policies in developing countries: case studies in e-waste recycling in China and Thailand

Developing Asian countries have started to apply the principle of extended producer responsibility (EPR) to electronics and electrical equipment waste (e-waste). This policy approach aims to give electronic appliance manufacturers and importers responsibility for the collection and recycling of discarded electronic equipment. China and Thailand have drafted regulations on the recycling of e-waste with common characteristics such as the financial responsibility of producers and subsidies for collection. Although the proposed system is sensible, taking into account the fact that e-waste is a market-traded commodity, there are two major difficulties in implementing EPR in developing countries. First, it may be difficult for governments to collect funds from producers or importers if smuggled, imitation, or small shop-assembled products have a large share in the market. Second, the system creates incentives for collectors and recyclers to over-report the amount of collected e-waste in order to gain extra subsidies from the fund. Other policy measures such as the enforcement of pollution control regulations on informal recyclers, the prevention of smuggling, and the protection of intellectual property rights should accompany EPR policies.

Product Design and Supply Chain Coordination Under Extended Producer Responsibility

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation focuses on the life‐cycle environmental performance of products and has significant implications for management theory and practice. In this paper, we examine the influence of EPR policy parameters on product design and coordination incentives in a durable product supply chain. We model a manufacturer supplying a remanufacturable product to a customer over multiple periods. The manufacturer invests in two design attributes of the product that impact costs incurred by the supply chain— performance, which affects the environmental impact of the product during use, and remanufacturability, which affects the environmental impact post‐use. Consistent with the goals of EPR policies, the manufacturer and the customer are required to share the environmental costs incurred over the product's life cycle. The customer has a continuing need for the services of the product and optimizes between the costs of product replacement and the costs incurred during use. We demonstrate how charges during use and post‐use can be used as levers to encourage environmentally favorable product design. We analyze the impact of supply chain coordination on design choices and profit and discuss contracts that can be used to achieve coordination, both under symmetric and asymmetric information about customer attributes.

Product Design and Supply Chain Coordination Under Extended Producer Responsibility

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation focuses on the life-cycle environmental performance of products and has significant implications for management theory and practice. In this paper, we examine the influence of EPR policy parameters on product design and coordination incentives in a durable product supply chain. We model a manufacturer supplying a remanufacturable product to a customer over multiple periods. The manufacturer invests in two design attributes of the product that impact costs incurred by the supply chain -- performance, which affects the environmental impact of the product during use, and remanufacturability, which affects the environmental impact post-use. Consistent with the goals of EPR policies, the manufacturer and the customer are required to share the environmental costs incurred over the product's life-cycle. The customer has a continuing need for the services of the product and optimizes between the costs of product replacement and the costs incurred during use. We demonstrate how charges during use and post-use can be used as levers to encourage environmentally favorable product design. We analyze the impact of supply chain coordination on design choices and profit and discuss contracts that can be used to achieve coordination, both under symmetric and asymmetric information about customer attributes.

Extended Producer Responsibility and Product Design: Economic Theory and Selected Case Studies

A core characteristic of extended producer responsibility (EPR) policies is that they place some responsibility for a product's end-of-life environmental impacts on the original producer and seller of that product. The intent is to provide incentives for producers to make design changes that reduce waste, such as improving product recyclability and reusability, reducing material usage, and downsizing products. This paper assesses whether the range of policies that fall under the EPR umbrella can spur this 'design for environment' (DfE). It summarizes the economics literature on the issue and describes conceptually how policies should affect design. It then analyzes three case studies in detail and two more case studies more briefly. The conclusion reached is that some DfE - especially reductions in material use and product downsizing - can be achieved with most EPR policies, including producer take-back mandates and combined fee/subsidy approaches. However, none of these alternative policies as they are currently implemented are likely to have a large impact on other aspects of DfE.

With a Little Help from EPR?: Technological Change and Innovation in the Norwegian Plastic Packaging and Electronics Sectors

In this article we discuss the interplay between extended producer responsibility (EPR) and technological change and innovation (TCI) in Norway. We ask whether Norwegian EPR policy has an effect on TCI and, if so, whether it makes any difference how the EPR policies are designed. By carrying out a comparative study between the plastic packaging (PP) sector and electrical and electronic (EE) sector in Norway, we conclude that there is a correlation between Norwegian EPR policy and TCI, but the causality is rather weak. EPR has an effect on downstream activities through increased recycling and indirectly through institutional innovation and learning. It does not, however, make a significant difference how the policies are designed, because they are considered similar by a majority of actors contributing financially to the EPR schemes. As for technological change and innovation upstream, the role of Norwegian EPR policies in the observed trends is not significant. Other factors such as the EPR‐based Restriction on Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive promulgated by the European Union (EE sector) and the need for competitiveness (PP sector) seem far more important. In order to make collective EPR policies more powerful in inducing technological change and innovation, decision‐makers should consider more specific measures that directly address the core businesses of the producers.