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EPR and stewardship are far-reaching notions, encompassing a broad spectrum of initiatives that can potentially target all stages in the lifecycle of the products and packaging materials. As Figure 1 illustrates, EPR and stewardship objectives can be supported by a wide range of voluntary, negotiated and regulatory programs and activities. The actual design of EPR and stewardship programs varies widely, reflecting factors such as regional and local circumstances, the precise materials and products being addressed, and the overall objectives for the program (product redesign, waste diversion, etc.).
Figure 1: Example EPR & Stewardship Approaches
| Type of EPR or Stewardship Approach |
Examples |
| Product take-back programs |
- Mandatory take-back
- Voluntary or negotiated take-back programs
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| Procurement/consumer programs |
- Procurement guidelines and policies,
- Information disclosure programs
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| Regulatory approaches |
- Prohibitions of certain hazardous materials or products.
- Disposal bans
- Mandated recycling
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| Voluntary industry practices |
- Voluntary codes of practice,
- Public/private partnerships
- Leasing and "servicizing" (in which companies as diverse as photocopy manufacturers to carpet manufacturers lease their products or provide services, thereby retaining ownership of the product, including responsibility for its end-of-life disposal)
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| Economic instruments |
- Special taxes
- Product charges
- Advance disposal fees
- Deposit/refund schemes
- Subsidies and tax credits for the production and use of environmentally preferable products
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"There continues to be a debate around the applicability of EPR as an instrument that can explicitly reduce the amount of waste going to final disposal and implicitly drive upstream changes in product design. Part of the EPR debate concerns the concepts of shared responsibility – or more explicitly, whether a producer should have primary responsibility under EPR. Sharing responsibilities across the product chain is an inherent part of EPR. While the policy mechanism is called Extended Producer Responsibility, it should be borne in mind that all actors in the product chain and in society must participate in order to optimize its effects." 1
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