Extended Producer Responsibility


Book Description

This report updates the 2001 Guidance Manual for Governments on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), which provided a broad overview of the key issues, general considerations, and the potential benefits and costs associated with producer responsibility for managing the waste generated by their products put on the market. Since then, EPR policies to help improve recycling and reduce landfilling have been widely adopted in most OECD countries; product coverage has been expanded in key sectors such as packaging, electronics, batteries and vehicles; and EPR schemes are spreading in emerging economies in Asia, Africa and South America, making it relevant to address the differing policy contexts in developing countries. In light of all of the changes in the broader global context, this updated review of the guidelines looks at some of the new design and implementation challenges and opportunities of EPR policies, takes into account recent efforts undertaken by governments to better assess the cost and environmental effectiveness of EPR and its overall impact on the market, and addresses some of the specific issues in emerging market economies.







Economic Aspects of Extended Producer Responsibility


Book Description

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), a policy approach in which the responsibility of the waste from a consumer good is extended back up to the producer of the good, is developing and expanding in OECD countries. This conference proceedings presents various perspectives on EPR.




Recycling and Extended Producer Responsibility


Book Description

An overriding value of European legislation on waste management is the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) principle. For example, all economic operators placing packaging onto the EU market are responsible for its proper management and recovery. However, in general, the collection and treatment of urban waste is the responsibility of local authorities. It has therefore been necessary to establish a system of financial compensations between producers and waste management operators. Analysing the legal and institutional schemes of several member states and accounting for all the costs and benefits to their local authorities due to selective collection and sorting, this book provides an accurate illustration of how the EPR principle has been translated into practice.




Can I Recycle This?


Book Description

“If you’ve ever been perplexed by the byzantine rules of recycling, you’re not alone…you’ll want to read Can I Recycle This?... An extensive look at what you can and cannot chuck into your blue bin.” —The Washington Post The first illustrated guidebook that answers the age-old question: Can I Recycle This? Since the dawn of the recycling system, men and women the world over have stood by their bins, holding an everyday object, wondering, "can I recycle this?" This simple question reaches into our concern for the environment, the care we take to keep our homes and our communities clean, and how we interact with our local government. Recycling rules seem to differ in every municipality, with exceptions and caveats at every turn, leaving the average American scratching her head at the simple act of throwing something away. Taking readers on a quick but informative tour of how recycling actually works (setting aside the propaganda we were all taught as kids), Can I Recycle This gives straightforward answers to whether dozens of common household objects can or cannot be recycled, as well as the information you need to make that decision for anything else you encounter. Jennie Romer has been working for years to help cities and states across America better deal with the waste we produce, helping draft meaningful legislation to help communities better process their waste and produce less of it in the first place. She has distilled her years of experience into this non-judgmental, easy-to-use guide that will change the way you think about what you throw away and how you do it.




Perspectives on Product Stewardship


Book Description

The massive increase in consumer product waste, its toxicity, and the complexity of materials have created an unbearable financial and management burden for municipal officials—it has become untenable. We have outgrown the era of municipalities being solely responsible for recycling. A paradigm shift is needed. The concepts of Extended Producer Responsibility and Product Stewardship play a significant role in bringing our consumption of natural resources and emission of greenhouse gases back into balance with the earth’s ability to absorb these impacts. Perspectives on Product Stewardship provides an overview on managing products throughout their life cycles in order to conserve resources, decrease environmental impact, and share the burden of responsibility. It gives the reader a broad understanding of the origins and evolution of the rapidly expanding field of product stewardship and extended producer responsibility, while providing exemplary and precautionary case studies—on paint, batteries, and packaging. Informative and timely, this reference will be useful to anyone engaged in, or embarking on, efforts to reduce impacts from consumer products: producers, retailers, waste management professionals, recyclers, governments, environmental advocates, students, and the public.




Sustainable Waste Management: Policies and Case Studies


Book Description

The book presents high-quality research papers from the Seventh International Conference on Solid Waste Management (IconSWM 2017), held at Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University, Hyderabad on December 15–17, 2017. The conference, an official side event of the high-level Intergovernmental Eighth Regional 3R Forum in Asia and the Pacific, aimed to generate scientific inputs into the policy consultation of the Forum co-organized by the UNCRD/UNDESA, MoEFCC India, MOUD India and MOEJ, Japan. Presenting research on solid waste management from more than 30 countries, the book is divided into three volumes and addresses various issues related to innovation and implementation in sustainable waste management, segregation, collection, transportation of waste, treatment technology, policy and strategies, energy recovery, life cycle analysis, climate change, research and business opportunities.




E-waste


Book Description

E-waste management has become the top global issue in terms of environmental protection and resource recycling. Although many attempts have been carried out to address the issue, many problems remain. This book contains seven chapters that not only review the history of e-waste management and summarize the achievement of technology and regulation, but also present some of the latest research in these areas involving e-waste generation, extended producer responsibility, and recycling process. Finally, the book reveals the way to solve the global e-waste problem from academic research to national practices. At the research level, the way forward is proposed in three aspects; these include fundamental knowledge, recycling technology, and eco-design. At the practice level, four methods can be prospected for different types of countries and/or regions. Regarding most developed nations, EPR has been adopted to ensure the adequate collection of e-waste. With respect to most developing countries, legislation improving and collection channel strengthening will significantly contribute to e-waste recycling. Regarding small countries or regions ratifying the Basel Convention, mobile plants with efficient amounts of equipment can be promising candidates for e-waste recycling. And for some countries with little e-waste production, a feasible solution for e-waste recycling is that related countries can unite to establish some field facilities for a synergic management of their e-waste. This book is dedicated to solve the e-waste problem with some feasible solutions. It will provide some assistance for many stakeholders in e-waste areas. According to the obtained results and implications, academic researchers can find the future direction of unsolved subjects, and governments can make more reasonable decisions.




The Material Basis of Energy Transitions


Book Description

The Material Basis of Energy Transitions explores the intersection between critical raw material provision and the energy system. Chapters draw on examples and case studies involving energy technologies (e.g., electric power, transport) and raw material provision (e.g., mining, recycling), and consider these in their regional and global contexts. The book critically discusses issues such as the notion of criticality in the context of a circular economy, approaches for estimating the need for raw materials, certification schemes for raw materials, the role of consumers, and the impact of renewable energy development on resource conflicts. Each chapter deals with a specific issue that characterizes the interdependency between critical raw materials and renewable energies by examining case studies from a particular conceptual perspective. The book is a resource for students and researchers from the social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering, as well as interdisciplinary scholars interested in the field of renewable energies, the circular economy, recycling, transport, and mining. The book is also of interest to policymakers in the fields of renewable energy, recycling, and mining, professionals from the energy and resource industries, as well as energy experts and consultants looking for an interdisciplinary assessment of critical materials. - Provides a comprehensive overview of key issues related to the nexus between renewable energy and critical raw materials - Explores interdisciplinary perspectives from the natural sciences, engineering, and social sciences - Discusses critical strategies to address the nexus from a practitioner's perspective




Thicker Than Water


Book Description

Much of what you’ve heard about plastic pollution may be wrong. Instead of a great island of trash, the infamous Great Pacific Garbage Patch is made up of manmade debris spread over hundreds of miles of sea—more like a soup than a floating garbage dump. Recycling is more complicated than we were taught: less than nine percent of the plastic we create is reused, and the majority ends up in the ocean. And plastic pollution isn’t confined to the open ocean: it’s in much of the air we breathe and the food we eat. In Thicker Than Water: The Quest for Solutions to the Plastic Crisis, journalist Erica Cirino brings readers on a globe-hopping journey to meet the scientists and activists telling the real story of the plastic crisis. From the deck of a plastic-hunting sailboat with a disabled engine, to the labs doing cutting-edge research on microplastics and the chemicals we ingest, Cirino paints a full picture of how plastic pollution is threatening wildlife and human health. Thicker Than Water reveals that the plastic crisis is also a tale of environmental injustice, as poorer nations take in a larger share of the world’s trash, and manufacturing chemicals threaten predominantly Black and low-income communities. There is some hope on the horizon, with new laws banning single-use items and technological innovations to replace plastic in our lives. But Cirino shows that we can only fix the problem if we face its full scope and begin to repair our throwaway culture. Thicker Than Water is an eloquent call to reexamine the systems churning out waves of plastic waste.