Extended Producer Responsibility Systems Research Articles

Developing an extended producer responsibility system for solid waste management in Jordan using multi-criteria decision-making approach.

To move from a traditional end of pipe approach into a more sustainable solid waste management system, the Jordanian Government has recently passed a set of new regulations The National Solid Waste Management Strategy has put a road map to encourage circular economy practices. One of the considered policy instruments is the adoption of the extended producer responsibility (EPR). The current study aimed to adopt a multi-criteria decision-making method to select the most convenient EPR structure within the Jordanian context. The study used analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy AHP (FAHP) techniques to select the suitable type of producer responsibility organization (PRO) structure. A four-level hierarchy model was constructed with 4 criteria, 10 sub-criteria and 3 PRO alternatives. The analysis revealed that the legal and administrative criteria is the most important one (0.47) followed by environmental criteria (0.22), whereas the least important ones were socio-economic (0.17) and technical criteria (0.13). The most preferable PRO alternative was found to be PRO with profit. There were slight differences between all weight values under AHP and FAHP. Despite the availability of several laws, there is a need to develop the legal and administrative framework to enable the adoption of EPR in Jordan. Research should be the first step in the process of EPR system design. None of the previous studies conducted used the AHP and FAHP in assessing and selecting the EPR systems.

Suggestions on extended producer responsibility mechanism in Vietnam from international experiences

Extended producer responsibility (EPR) serves as a policy instrument, ensuring that manufacturers and importers of specific products bear responsibility for their collection, recycling, and disposal once consumed, thereby alleviating the public financial burden of waste management whilst enhancing recycling rates. Registration, an integral component of EPR systems, denotes the identification of obliged manufacturers and importers, and the accumulation of sales data for products subject to EPR. The principal functions of the registry encompass: delineating manufacturers and importers with EPR obligations; reporting aggregated data; and overseeing the adherence of manufacturers and importers in executing their extended responsibilities. This paper encapsulates the experiences of several countries with respect to the organisation and administration of registration agencies for manufacturers and importers of packaging, proffering potential recommendations for Vietnam.

Broadening the Perspective on Reducing Pharmaceutical Residues in the Environment.

The present study reviews options for reducing harm from pharmaceuticals that are known to cause adverse impacts by their presence in the environment. It reviews recent global and European Union policy development, which could go further in recognizing and addressing the issue in a global context. It considers green chemistry, which can help clean up production processes but holds only long-term promise for creating "green" alternatives. It explores the potential of health promotion and disease prevention, which can contribute significantly to a reduction of the disease burden and thus the need for medicines, both for infectious and for noncommunicable disease. Eco-directed sustainable prescribing practices are reviewed, which have been adopted successfully to reduce the use of harmful pharmaceuticals. We note recent developments in medicines optimization and precision medicine, which hold promise for improving patient outcomes, saving costs, and reducing pharmaceutical use, through individually tailored prescribing whereby the patient codecides their therapy. Waste prevention through reuse or redistribution is beginning to find public support and "take-back" waste disposal schemes set up via extended producer responsibility systems have achieved high returns. Finally, the paper summarizes preferred advanced wastewater technologies, including innovative low-cost, low-energy options. In summary, although end-of-pipe options have a role to play, particularly for highly concentrated wastewaters, solutions further up the medicinal chain and disease prevention interventions, informed by a broad view of health and health care, are needed to pursue a much greater potential reduction of pharmaceuticals in the environment than can be achieved by end-of-pipe solutions alone. Environ Toxicol Chem 2024;43:653-663. © 2023 The Authors. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of SETAC.

Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior Approach in the Sustainability of Electronic Waste Management: Critical Success Factors for Extended Producer Responsibility in Uganda

Governments and its citizens contribute enormously to the electronic waste problem in relation to the consumption and its generation posing serious threat to the management of wastes. Uganda government is yet to enact an Extended Producer Responsibility related laws within their national legislations to manage E-waste effectively. The paper aims to examine the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system critical success factors based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and consider ecological design concept as a potential extension of the TPB in promoting sustainable electronic waste management. The survey questionnaires were administered to expert environmental-oriented government employees. Data was analysed by means of the Partial-LeastSquares Structural-Equation-Modelling. The findings demonstrate that the developed conceptual framework explain 52.4% variance in the intentions to participate and practice EPR systems, thus reflecting a good explanatory power while confirming the model robustness. The results illustrate all TPB constructs of attitude, intentions, perceived behavioral control and subjective norm, towards EPR schemes have significant positive effect on the outcome of sustainable E-waste management. Exceptionally, it indicates ecological design is the most influential predictor of sustainable E-waste management for implementation of EPR systems. Building on the study results, for proper electronic waste management programs deployment, and successful implementation of EPR systems, developing countries should target the TPB constructs, and ecological design as an extension factor. As policy implication, government should emphasize the nurturing of good ecological design behavior of organizations and also encourage effort toward green actions taken through penalties and incentives and by laws and regulations.

Regulation and competition in the extended producer responsibility models: Results in the WEEE sector in Europe

The application of extended producer responsibility (EPR) in Europe has followed different patterns, with varying intensity of competition among producer organisations responsible for meeting take-back and recycling obligations. The literature has suggested possible reasons in favour or against the creation of dedicated compliance organisations, and arguments in support or against having many alternative recycling schemes competing on the market. However, little has been done on the empirical side to test these hypotheses. Our study contributes to filling this gap in the empirical literature by analysing the effect of competition and regulation in the field of waste from electric and electronic equipment (WEEE). We exploit an original database to provide an econometric assessment of the effects of competition and regulation on the cost of dealing with WEEE. The European case is interesting since all member country are subject to the same policy targets imposed by EU directives but enjoy significant degrees of freedom in choosing the policy mix and the industrial structure to which the achievement of policy targets is devoted. Our results are several. First, we provide valuable details on EPR models. Second, we present collection and economic results achieved by compliance organisations. Third, with a statistical analysis based on the panel data structure, we provide significant evidence that a more competitive market structure allows achieving the same collection outcomes at a lower cost. This result is potentially relevant for waste management policies since it encourages the search for a more articulated market architecture for the design of EPR systems.

Waste management and environmental impact of absorbent hygiene products: A review

Absorbent hygiene products (AHP) have received much interest due to the notion that their end-of-life (EoL) stage has high environmental impacts. Since the use of AHP will continue to rise in the foreseeable future, information that helps with a reduction in the environmental impacts of AHP through their life cycle is needed. This research presents an estimation of AHP in municipal waste, and it also reviews and discusses waste management options, available treatments at bench, pilot or full scale, and life cycle assessments (LCAs) available in the literature. Municipal waste of countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development contains on average 2.7% of baby nappies, 4.8% of adult nappies and 0.5% of sanitary pads (in weight), whereas that of Latin-American countries have 7.3%, 3.3%, and 0.9%, respectively. Management options for AHP waste in developed countries are landfilling and incineration, while in developing countries AHP are disposed of in dumpsites and landfills. Most LCAs identify significant environmental impacts in the production of raw materials, while EoL scenarios involving incineration and landfill were found to have a significant contribution to global warming potential. Substitution with alternative products has been suggested as a way of decreasing environmental impacts; however, their use frequently causes a trade-off on different impact categories. Municipalities could use a wide range of policy tools, such as extended producer responsibility systems, bans, levies, ecolabelling, or a combination of these, to reduce the environmental and economic burden of AHP waste.

Promoting the implementation of extended producer responsibility systems in China: A behavioral game perspective

Extended producer responsibility (EPR) is an important tool to develop a circular economy and construct the ecological civilization. An increasing amount of countries manage municipal solid waste through EPR systems to fight environmental pollution. It is of great significance to explore the EPR systems that are suitable for China’s situation, building on foreign advanced experiences. This paper presents a tripartite game model to explore the strategy selection of producers, recyclers, and the government, as well as the mechanisms of implementation of an EPR system in China, and its influencing factors. The results demonstrate that: (i) eight evolutionary stable strategies emerge in the implementation of the EPR system. (ii) the strategy selection of producers largely depends on the difference between payoffs and costs related to the EPR system. (iii) contract signature is a helpful way to limit the “free-riding” behavior of stakeholders. (iv) producers can cooperate with multiple recyclers to disperse the risk caused by their opportunity cost. All these factors need to be considered in the implementation of EPR regulation, and to construct a complete system of waste recycling and utilization.

Critical factors for environmental regulation change management: Evidences from an extended producer responsibility case study

Abstract Contemporary environmental challenges have led governments to seek innovative ways to overcome the limits of traditional regulatory models, demanding a “change management”. This article addresses a case study regarding innovations promoted in the extended-producer responsibility (EPR) implementation by Sao Paulo state, Brazil. After facing resistance from industry, local government changed its approach from traditional regulation to negotiated agreements. As one of the researchers was an active part of the process, the Active Research method was adopted, through the changing as three steps model, aiming to understand how change occurs and what its critical factors (facilitators, barriers and improvement opportunities). Results indicate that the incorporation of the principles of regulatory quality has made it possible to overcome the gridlock and reopen the dialog, leading to agreements between industry and government. The evidence also shows that the EPR strategy has been continued and expanded, with the renewal of commitments with more ambitious goals, besides the inclusion of retailers in some EPR systems. Regulation has also evolved, with the incorporation of EPR in the environmental permitting, intending to combat free riders. Facilitators for change included recognition of the government, a gradual approach, cultural changes in companies and the systematization of information. Among the barriers, the most crucial were the low adherence of retailers and importers, the considerable presence of free riders, difficulties with the participation of municipalities, the absence of tax incentives, the low adhesion of generators, high operating costs, and collection problems. Finally, among the opportunities for improvement, results show the expansion of participants, mainly municipalities and retailers, a tax review, inclusion in environmental education programs, incorporation in environmental permitting, increased surveillance to combat free riders, and incentives to the recycling chain. Finally, the conclusions emphasize the success in incorporating principles of environmental regulatory quality in the Sao Paulo EPR implementation strategy. This fact strengthens the conclusions of previous research and suggests that its incorporation in policy design has the potential to overcome implementation gridlocks in complex environmental regulations.

Extended producer responsibility for waste tyres in the EU: Lessons learnt from three case studies – Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands

The article compares the performance of three Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) systems for tyres and discusses the respective policy context that leads to these results. It aims to give insight into the varied implementation of EPR policy through the presentation of case studies. The EPR systems for tyres in Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands are described and common success factors as well as weaknesses are examined. The systems mainly differ in respect of scope and targets for material and energy recovery. The presented case studies assign physical (through a take-back obligation) as well as financial (through an advanced disposal fee) responsibility to the producers. EPR for tyres has been found to reduce flytipping and illegal stockpiling of tyres; increase resource efficiency by increased recycling; and move waste tyre management up the waste hierarchy. It is found that best results for recycling are achieved, if the legislation sets quantitative targets and clearly defines waste status of tyres to maximise local reuse/retread. It is argued however, that recycling is favourable over reuse/retread in the case of waste tyres. The case studies show that an EPR system is no guarantee for waste treatment in the most environmentally sound way. An EPR system will only achieve its objectives if properly designed, implemented and enforced. If legislation allows, Producer Responsibility Organisations will find the cheapest, not the environmentally most favourable, solution for waste management.

Pricing products' negative externalities at end-of-life using eco-modulation: Discussion from case studies

Does an efficient and flexible mechanism exist to address negative externalities of products, or are we doomed to grow the list of product standards? In this paper, I open the discussion whether eco-modulation in the framework of collective extended producer responsibility (EPR) could be able to spur the design of more environmentally sound products at end of life. In Europe, EPR for final products has mainly been implemented in the form of collective systems, where producers pay a fee per quantity of items placed on the market to a central organisation. This compliance fee represents the average cost of treating waste for a given product stream. Since waste management costs are averaged across producers, such collective EPR schemes have been criticised for hindering individual internalisation of products’ end-of-life externalities. To deal with these critiques, French public authorities have imposed eco-modulation to EPR collective systems. Eco-modulation consists in penalising or rewarding individual design choices of producers, using financial incentives. The European Commission is now planning to revise its directive Dir. 1994/62/EC to provide guiding principles on eco-modulation for packaging for all EPR organisations across Europe. In general, eco-modulation is becoming increasingly relevant on the European scene. Therefore, I aim at reflecting on the efficiency of eco-modulation in addressing products’ negative externalities at end-of-life, by analysing early feedbacks and data from French EPR systems.

The costs and benefits of packaging waste management systems in Europe: the perspective of local authorities

Local authorities are generally in charge of household packaging waste management operations, particularly in countries with Green Dot schemes or similar extended producer responsibility systems. This leads to the need of establishing a system of financial transfers between the packaging industry and the local authorities (regarding the costs involved in selective collection and sorting). In the present study, the costs and benefits of recycling, from the perspective of local authorities, are compared for Portugal, Belgium and Italy (in Lombardia region), adopting the same economic–financial methodology. The results show that the industry is not paying the net cost of packaging waste management. If the savings attained by diverting packaging waste from other treatment operations are not considered, it seems that the industry should increase the financial support to local authorities. However, if the avoided costs with other treatments are considered as a benefit for local authorities, the costs are generally outweighed by the benefits, and the financial support could, therefore, be reduced.

From collision to collaboration - Integrating informal recyclers and re-use operators in Europe: A review.

The European Union hosts some of the world's most developed waste management systems and an ambitious policy commitment to the circular economy. The existence of informal recycling and re-use activities in Europe has been vigorously denied until quite recently, and remains a very challenging subject for the European solid waste management sector, as well as for European government and private institutions. In countries ranging from Malta to Macedonia and from France to Turkey, informal recyclers excluded from legal recycling niches increasingly collide with formalised and controlled European Union approaches to urban waste management, packaging recovery schemes, formal re-use enterprises, and extended producer responsibility systems.This review focuses on the period from 2004 through the first half of 2016. The 78 sources on European (and neighbouring) informal recycling and re-use are contextualised with global sources and experience. The articles focus on informal recovery in and at the borders of the European Union, document the conflicts and collisions, and elaborate some constructive approaches towards legalisation, integration, and reconciliation. The overarching recommendation, to locate the issue of informal recovery and integration in the framework of the European circular economy package, is supported by four specific pillars of an integration strategy: Documentation, legalisation, occupational and enterprise recognition, and preparation for structural integration.

An Input‐Output Model of Extended Producer Responsibility

SummaryUnder an extended producer responsibility (EPR) system, when a producer delivers a product to the market it must also pay a takeback fee, which is used to cover the costs of end‐of‐life disposal. EPR systems are currently used in Europe and beyond to manage a variety of products, including packaging and used tires. In this article we develop an input‐output (IO) model that is able to assess the impacts of an EPR system, and is based on the waste IO (WIO) model. The WIO model is itself a hybrid‐unit model extension of the Leontief model that is able to capture the substitution effect between recycled/recovered material/energy from waste treatment and their non‐waste cognates. The resulting EPRIO model, besides the conventional direct and indirect effects of the Leontief model and the substitution effects of the WIO model, is able to capture the opportunity costs of financing the EPR system, and additionally requires the specification of an alternative waste management policy, with its own opportunity costs. The impact of an EPR policy is thus the difference between the impacts of the reference EPR and the alternative waste treament policies. The resulting model is illustrated with a simple example of a used tire management EPR system.

Extended producer responsibility for lamps in Nordic countries: best practices and challenges in closing material loops

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes are adopted not only to promote collection and recycling of waste products but also to close material loops and incentivise ecodesign. These outcomes are also part of creating a more circular economy. Evaluations of best practices can inform how to further optimise systems towards more ambitious collection, recycling and recovery of both hazardous and critical materials. Gas discharge lamps in particular are a key product category in this regard, considering both the presence of mercury and of rare earth materials in this waste stream. Nordic countries in particular are known for advanced collection and recycling systems and this article compares the EPR systems for gas discharge lamps. The EPR systems for lamps are evaluated using theory-based evaluation approaches to analyse both the performance of lamp EPR systems and challenges perceived by key stakeholders. The cases were constructed based on primary and secondary literature, statistical data, and interviews with stakeholders. The findings indicate that the collection and recycling performance is generally still high for gas discharge lamps in the Nordic countries, despite some differences in approach and structure of the EPR systems, but there remain opportunities for further improvement. In terms of EPR goals, there is evidence of improved waste management of these products as a result of the systems; however, there also remain significant challenges, particularly in terms of ecodesign incentives. The key factors for best practice are discussed, including aspects of the rule base, infrastructure, and operations. The particular characteristics of this waste category, including the rapidly changing technology, also pose challenges for EPR systems in the future.

Packaging waste recycling in Europe: Is the industry paying for it?

This paper describes and examines the schemes established in five EU countries for the recycling of packaging waste. The changes in packaging waste management were mainly implemented since the Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste entered into force. The analysis of the five systems allowed the authors to identify very different approaches to cope with the same problem: meet the recovery and recycling targets imposed by EU law. Packaging waste is a responsibility of the industry. However, local governments are generally in charge of waste management, particularly in countries with Green Dot schemes or similar extended producer responsibility systems. This leads to the need of establishing a system of financial transfers between the industry and the local governments (particularly regarding the extra costs involved with selective collection and sorting). Using the same methodological approach, the authors also compare the costs and benefits of recycling from the perspective of local public authorities for France, Portugal and Romania. Since the purpose of the current paper is to take note of who is paying for the incremental costs of recycling and whether the industry (i.e. the consumer) is paying for the net financial costs of packaging waste management, environmental impacts are not included in the analysis. The work carried out in this paper highlights some aspects that are prone to be improved and raises several questions that will require further research. In the three countries analyzed more closely in this paper the industry is not paying the net financial cost of packaging waste management. In fact, if the savings attained by diverting packaging waste from other treatment (e.g. landfilling) and the public subsidies to the investment on the “recycling system” are not considered, it seems that the industry should increase the financial support to local authorities (by 125% in France, 50% in Portugal and 170% in Romania). However, in France and Portugal the industry is paying local authorities more than just the incremental costs of recycling (full costs of selective collection and sorting minus the avoided costs). To provide a more definitive judgment on the fairness of the systems it will be necessary to assess the cost efficiency of waste management operators (and judge whether operators are claiming costs or eliciting “prices”).

Extended producer responsibility for consumer waste: the gap between economic theory and implementation

Although economic theory supports the use of extended producer responsibility (EPR) to stimulate prevention and recycling of waste, EPR systems implemented in Europe are often criticized as a result of weak incentives for prevention and green product design. Using a stylized economic model, this article evaluates the efficiency of European EPR systems. The model reveals that the introduction of static collection targets creates a gap between theory and implementation. Static targets lead to inefficient market outcomes and weak incentives for prevention and green product design. The minimum collection targets should be complemented with a tax on producers for the non-collected waste fraction. Because such a tax internalizes the cost of waste disposal, more efficient price signals will lead to better incentives for waste management in a complex and dynamic market.

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.

Review Article: Extended producer responsibility for packaging wastes and WEEE - a comparison of implementation and the role of local authorities across Europe

A comparison of the implementation of extended producer responsibility (EPR) to packaging waste and waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is presented for a representative sample of eleven European Union countries based on five indicators: stakeholders and responsibilities; compliance mechanisms; role of local authorities; financing mechanisms and merits and limitations, with four countries selected for more detailed case study analysis. Similarities, trends and differences in national systems are highlighted with particular focus on the role of local authorities and their relationship with obligated producers and the effect on the operation and success of each system. The national systems vary considerably in design, in terms of influence of pre-existing policy and systems, methods of achieving producer compliance (multiple or single collective schemes), fee structures, targets, waste stream prioritization and local authority involvement. Differing approaches are evident across all member states with respect to the role played by local authorities, responsibility apportioned to them, and the evolution of working relationships between obligated producers and municipalities. On the whole, EPR for packaging and WEEE has been successfully implemented throughout Europe in terms of Directive targets. It is, however, clear that the EPR systems currently in application across Europe differ primarily due to contrasting opinion on the legitimacy of local authorities as stakeholders and, in some cases, a fear on the part of industry of associated costs. Where local authorities have been engaged in the design and implementation of national systems, existing infrastructure used and defined roles established for producers and local authorities, results have been significantly more positive than in the cases where local authorities have had limited engagement.

New instruments – old practices? The implications of environmental management systems and extended producer responsibility for design for the environment

AbstractAs the focus of environmental policy and management is shifting from cleaner production at the process level towards greener products, there is a need for new kinds of policy instruments and initiatives. Environmental management systems (EMSs) and extended producer responsibility (EPR) systems are efforts to overcome the limitations of the traditional regulatory approach. In this paper, I illustrate how EMSs and EPR systems have influenced the emergence of greener products in three case companies. These case studies are complemented by results from a survey on design for the environment in the electrical and electronics industry. Both the case studies and the survey indicate that the linkage between EMSs and product development is weak or completely missing. Therefore, the mere existence of an EMS can hardly be used as a convincing indicator of the implementation of an environmentally friendly design process. The results regarding the EPR systems are more positive. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Finnish waste policy—effects and effectiveness

More than 20 ordinances on waste have been issued in Finland since the National Waste Act came into force in 1994. Effects and effectiveness of this regulation have recently been analysed in an R&D project called WAPO. The materials and methods used in WAPO were mainly based on case studies on regional and company scales. According to WAPO, the infrastructure of waste management and the recovery of wastes have greatly improved in Finland in the 1990s. By contrast, the waste policy has not been able to upgrade waste prevention, the primary objective in the hierarchy defined by the Finnish Waste Act and the EUs waste policy. To overcome this drawback, the use of economic policy instruments are recommended to be extended and directed towards enhancing efficient use of natural resources and materials. Self-regulation within industry, e.g. the use of environmental management systems (EMSs), is one solution that has been proposed as an alternative to more intensive use of economic instruments. Although the attitudes and experiences of enterprises with respect to EMSs are positive, their real influence on company behaviour needs to be further studied. Extended producer responsibility (EPR) systems in waste management appear to have great potential. However, their main effect hitherto has been intensified recovery of waste. This fact may have influenced the slightly dissatisfied general attitude towards the Finnish EPR systems. New initiatives are needed in waste policy because the amounts of waste in Finland, as well as in other parts of Europe, are continually growing. Simultaneously, the scope of policy should be drastically broadened from mere wastes to society's overall cycles of materials and products.