The polluter pays
Those who sell products cannot look away from what happens to their items when they are discarded. That is the idea behind Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). A good idea, but so far, the polluter only pays a fraction.
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) now exists for a large number of products, such as car tyres, packaging, electronic appliances and, since July 2023, also for textiles in the Netherlands. EPR is seen as an effective way to make producers responsible for the entire life cycle of the products they produce. Whereas the producer's responsibility normally ends after the product is sold, EPR ensures that producers also become responsible for the waste phase. The idea behind it is simple: the polluters pay for the environmental impact of their products. This should be an incentive to incorporate sustainability right from the design phase of the production chain. Unfortunately, this hardly happens in practice.
No optimal EPR without system change
One thing is clear: EPR is here to stay. Yet we have shown more than once (such as here and here) that much goes wrong within EPR systems, partly as a result of flawed governance. The role of the government is too limited, many stakeholders feel excluded, and enforcement is falling short. Due to the way EPR legislation is designed and its often flawed implementation, the potential of EPR is seriously underutilised, and producers are insufficiently held responsible for the environmental damage they cause. Fair Resource Foundation wants to tackle this.
European steps forward
Extended producer responsibility has been established at the European level in several dossiers. Firstly, the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR): among other things, this discusses the investments that producer responsibility organisations (PROs) should or should not make in, for example, reuse systems. It also looks at the mandatory eco-modulation (fee modulation based on sustainability criteria) for packaging. However, the most important provisions for EPR are laid down in the Waste Framework Directive (WFD). This directive determines, among other things, the waste hierarchy and the rules of the game for EPR systems and the associated PROs. An influential dossier indeed.
Overhauling the EPR system
The Ministry of I&W is working on proposals for improvement. In collaboration with Minderoo, Fair Resource Foundation has also analysed the functioning of EPR systems. The results of this have been included in a position paper published in October 2023.
