Virtual Event: History of Extended Producer Responsibility
With this public virtual event we want to take a look back to better understand the genesis of the EPR concept and its implementation. Thomas Lindqvist, together with his colleague Naoko Tojo will look back at the development of EPR over the past decades. Reid Lifset will join with an additional perspective. Afterwards, there will be the option for questions and discussions.
Keynote by
Thomas Lindhqvist
(Assoc. Prof. at the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics, Lund University)
and
Naoko Tojo
(Assoc. Prof. at the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics, Lund University)
Additional input by
Reid Lifset
(Research Scholar, Yale University School of the Environment)
In the context of the TES Academy collaboration process on
Promoting Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) in international law for a sustainability transformation towards a circular economy
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) has been increasingly discussed as a concept to solve the current waste problems for specific products. Thomas Lindhqvist first described it in 1990 as “an environmental protection strategy to reach an environmental objective of a decreased total environmental impact of a product, by making the manufacturer of the product responsible for the entire life-cycle of the product and especially for the take-back, recycling, and final disposal”. Proponents of EPR argue that by assigning the organizational responsibility for waste management to a producer, EPR could reduce the financial burden of municipalities and support the internalization of commonly externalized costs associated with waste. As such, EPR might also constitute a transformative framework for a shared responsibility for waste handling between producers and consumers, as the latter might contribute to a sustainable waste management through increased purchasing costs.
In summer 2023, The TES Academy started a joint collaboration process with actors working on and with EPR to discuss its transformative potential in the circular economy. The process started addressing different perspectives on this potential. This includes for example a broader application of EPR internationally, but also its future potential to achieve environmental goals where EPR systems are in place for quite some time, e.g. in Europe.
(More information on the TES Academy process on EPR)
Click on the registration link below to receive the WebEx Login Data:
https://uba-meeting.webex.com/weblink/register/r43749a0145f06ac31cdb34e83d76f0f3
RECORDING NOTICE: This online event enables an attendee to participate through a personal device's microphone and/or camera. An attendee may elect not to participate through use of a microphone and/or camera. The election of an attendee to use a microphone and/or camera constitutes a release and waiver of rights in the capture of the attendee's image, likeness, and/or voice for the exclusive use by German Environment Agency (UBA).
