Extended Producer Responsibility

What is Extended Producer Responsibility?

Extended Producer Responsibility or EPR is a central

tenet of product stewardship. EPR means the

companies who make a product have a responsibility

for their goods at the “end of life”

Extended Producer Responsibility shifts the financial burden of these programs

Government Businesses

This public money can than be better spent on education or infrastructure rather than managing unused paint or old tires

Extended Producer Responsibility

The Old Way:Government- managed

programsGovernment responsibility

Visible ‘deposits’ customers saw on their receipts (ex. tires)

The New Way: Businesses manage

costs Businesses responsible

Cost of safe management included in the product’s cost (like marketing costs)

This public money could be better spent on education or infrastructure rather than managing unused paint or tires

How does it work? Here’s one example of a program in Nebraska as one model for how it can work: Call2Recycle

Call2Recycle

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In this program individual battery manufacturers pay a license fee to Call2Recycle(essentially splitting the costs between the different manufacturers)

License fee

Then Call2Recycle handles all the administration & pays all costs associated with collecting & recycling batteries

Municipals

• Existing collection sites serving as collection sites are reimbursed

• New sites are set up

retail• retail locations serve

as collection points at no cost to them

Call2Recycle

Call2Recycle reimburses collection sites

Make same changes here as on the fact sheet.

This is just one model and there are a number of models already operating in Nebraska & across the United States

We can learn from programs that are already in place

Another take-back program operating in

Nebraska: Compact Florescent Light (CFL)

All Home Depot stores in Nebraska, and several other hardware stores accept used

CFLs in kiosks the front of their stores

Here’s how it works:

Customer

purchases CFL in a hardware

store

Light bulb is used at home

Hardware store collects returned

bulbs & sends them to a

recycling facility

Recovered materials can

make new bulbs

“We believe that The Home Depot is a true member of the communities where we live and work

and we demonstrate our leadership by making the environment a core part of our business – from

the products we offer to the programs we support and especially our commitment to saving energy

with CFL bulbs,” Annette Verschuren, The Home Depot.

Bulbs can be returned to any

store that collects them

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Isn’t this going to cost more?

You are already paying for it.

Taxpayers pay all WM costs

Producers share WM

costs

Current System

EPR System

EPR shifts waste management costs from the public to the private sector

EPR doesn’t necessarily change the way consumers handle their goods when they no longer need them and it doesn’t necessarily require an entirely new infrastructure.

Many EPR programs continue to use existing collecting infrastructure and reimburse municipalities collecting their goods.

EPR shifts waste management costs from the public to the

private sector

We are all both taxpayers and consumers, but with EPR, we shift the responsibility to the manufacturers to internalize the costs of managing their products.

meaning that your tax dollars can go to

meet other needs in the community –

besides cleaning up after people’s consumer products.

EPR is already happening

Many major retailers are already taking back

goods they sell Reasons retailers have embraced these programs:

- to get more customers into the store

- to build customer loyalty by offering additional services

- because they recognize the environmental need to keep their products out of landfills

Take Advantage of Existing Programs

Another Bright Idea

Use these companies’ collection programs Use Nebraska’s Programs:

The Bucket ProjectNebraska Materials Exchange

National Programs:Call2RecycleThermostat Recycling Corp.End of Life Vehicle Solutions

But what can we do now?

1. Take advantage of voluntary programs

already exist

2. Urge major retailers who have take-back

programs in other parts of the country to

start one where you live