EXTENDED PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 – Env and Eco)

Context: The Central Pollution Control Board has launched a national audit of nearly 800 plastic-waste recyclers after discovering that four firms in Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Gujarat issued approximately 600,000 fake certificates under the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programme.

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)

• About: It is based on the polluter-pays principle, which aims to include producers of material goods in the management and treatment of waste and keep raw materials and goods in the economic cycle.
• Foundation Principles of EPR

o The concept of EPR responsibility is based on three foundation principles:

o Pollution Prevention Approach

o Life Cycle Thinking

o Polluter Pays Principle

• The objectives of EPR are as follows:

o Integration of environmental costs

o Improved waste management

o Reduction of disposal 

o Reduction of burden on municipalities

o Design of environmentally sound products

• Responsibilities: EPR responsibility makes it the responsibility of the producers not only to take back products for recycling but also to design better and longer life products to minimize the amount of waste generated.

Achievements of the draft EPR Policy

• Brand owners and e-commerce players have been brought under the ambit of EPR
• EPR is now applicable to both pre-consumer and post-consumer plastic packaging waste
• Producers and brand owners (PIBO) have finally been assigned targets for collection of plastic waste that they put out in the market
• Provisions and targets for collection, re-use (by brand owners), recycling (by PIBOs) and use of recycled plastic (by PIBOs) have been laid out. 
• Bi-annual plastic characterisation studies.