Extended Product Stewardship (EPS), A Rational Alternative to Producer's Sole Responsibiltiy, 1996 Environmental Conference Proceedings

The author reviews an emerging environmental policy impacting on the product system. extended producer responsibility. This approach places sole responsibility for the product system’s environmental and resources consequences, on the producer. It is an extension of the producer’s manufacturing responsibility. The trend for such type of policies is evident in the case of packaging and municipal waste disposal. The extended producer responsibility, EPR, is an expression of impatience and frustration. It results from the inadequacies of the present regulatory and policy-making paradigm. The author and others, has proposed an alternative based on an extended product stewardship concept. It gained support in recent deliberations of the President’s Council for Sustainable Development while preparing a document, “Sustaining the American Dream”. The alternative consists of a chain of shared responsibility, running through the product’s system and linking all actors in responsible action. Life cycle methodology would permit the identification of critical links in the chain of shared responsibility. Such identification will help in the establishment of priorities for project implementation wherever more useful. Another major element in EPS is the concept of a menu of policy options applicable in a temporal and spatial manner. This will replace the ‘one size tits all” approach. The author reports efforts in other countries to provide alternatives to the producer’s sole responsibility regulations. A model for experimental evaluation of EPS is also advanced with the reminder EPS is a process within a system. Shortcuts will not advance its cause.