A Better Way
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), or Product Stewardship, means whoever designs, produces, sells or uses a product takes responsibility for minimizing its environmental impact through all stages of the product’s life cycle. And the producer, having the greatest ability to minimize impacts, has the most responsibility. Product recycling should be an extension of the marketing system, mirroring the production and distribution process in a kind of “reverse retail” process; and it should be managed through commercial arrangements — all as part of excellent customer service.
Cradle to Cradle
Producer Responsibility
We suggest that manufactured product discards be managed by producers or their agents, "cradle to cradle" — from product design to disposal. Local governments could then focus their limited resources on managing things that are grown, like yard trimmings and food scraps.
Support for Producer Responsibility Is Growing
- Some manufacturers, retailers and local governments in the U.S. have started to implement policies and programs that have EPR components. Manufacturers are already doing this in other countries... the same manufacturers that aren’t doing it here!
- Taxpayer groups like EPR because it relies on the market—not tax dollars—to solve the problem.
And there is still a role for government:
- Laws are needed to provide manufacturers with a level playing field; everyone should have to meet the same manufacturing standard — not just companies that voluntarily agree to do so.
- Local governments can also play a key role. They should help lead the transition to Producer Responsibility by helping develop private infrastructure by encouraging local businesses in take-back programs, sharing collection experience with producers and retailers, and educating consumers to use private infrastructure.
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