California Integrated Waste Management Board

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and Stewardship

Policy and Law

Implementing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) in California

In February 2007 the Board adopted a set of Strategic Directives that reflect the Board’s purpose, vision, and core values. Strategic Directive 5: Producer Responsibility states that it is a core value of the CIWMB that producers assume the responsibility for the safe stewardship of their materials in order to promote environmental sustainability. Further, sub-directive 5.2 states that the CIWMB will seek statutory authority to foster “cradle-to-cradle” producer responsibility.

To this end, the Board adopted the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Framework (Adobe PDF, 106 KB) as a policy priority in September 2007 and approved refinements in January 2008. The Framework sets out broad guidance to be used in the development of EPR legislation.

Derived from the EPR Framework, this checklist (Adobe PDF, 70 KB) can assist in the development of new legislation by ensuring a comprehensive evaluation of key components necessary to effectively implement EPR programs.

The EPR Framework, if enacted legislatively, would provide the Board with broad authority to establish overall product stewardship program requirements and procedures such as:

  • Establishing product selection procedures and selecting product categories;
  • Requiring producers of selected categories to work with retailers, haulers, local jurisdictions, and other stakeholders, as appropriate, to develop and implement Board-approved plans to address the targeted products;
  • Specifying what provisions must be addressed in each plan, such as goals, fee or cost structures, administration, reporting, etc.; and
  • Specifying enforcement mechanisms such as penalty procedures and provisions for non-compliance to create a level playing field for competitive markets.

Such requirements and procedures would be established through the public process of regulation development following the enactment of authorizing legislation.

Additionally, there are numerous existing California laws that apply to products. Some of these laws contain elements of product stewardship ranging from requirements to reduce harmful substances to requiring manufacturers or retailers to take back products after their use.

A guiding principle in the Board-adopted EPR Framework is that new EPR programs should not dismantle existing programs that the Board determines effective. Instead, efforts should be made to harmonize policies and programs. Likewise new EPR programs would not preclude the implementation or expansion of existing programs. Consequently, existing laws would continue to be enforced as written unless there is a desire to statutorily bring them under the proposed EPR Framework. Harmonization is commonly sought for key definitions and a measurement metrics to facilitate implementation for stakeholders and better allow comparisons and opportunities for improvement among EPR programs.

EPR Around the World

EPR is being implemented in many places throughout the world. Each program is slightly different, but with the common theme of requiring the producer of a product to assume greater responsibility for managing its product at the end of its useful life. Among EPR programs, there is a range in the degree that manufacturers assume responsibility for end-of-life product management as compared to others in the product chain such as retailers, consumers, local governments, haulers and recyclers. The information below refers to a few of the programs currently implementing some type of EPR program along with links to their legislation.

International

Canada

Description: Canada has years of experience implementing EPR at the national and provincial level utilizing a variety of approaches. There is no national EPR authorizing legislation in Canada; instead, each province or territory is able to implement or pass its own authorizing legislation and regulations. Nearly all provinces and territories have their own EPR programs and authorizing legislation. Additionally, there are some national programs that relate to packaging, rechargeable batteries, and pesticide containers, to name a few.

Examples from selected province--British Columbia

Resources

  • Environment Canada--Canada’s national agency responsible for environmental issues, has information about broad EPR topics throughout Canada.
  • Overview of Provincial and Territorial EPR Programs has a comprehensive listing of EPR programs throughout Canada, including details such as what products they target, their supporting framework, or legal basis, and key responsibilities by stakeholder group.
  • The Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) is comprised of Canada’s environment ministers from the federal, provincial, and territorial governments for the purpose of protecting Canada’s environment. CCME provides guidance on the development and implementation of EPR and product stewardship programs.

European Union

Description: EPR is widely used in Europe as a means of preventing pollution and minimizing waste. The European Union (EU) possesses the authority to issue legislative acts known as directives and each member state must “transpose” or create its own laws, if necessary, in order to implement these directives. The EU has issued a number of directives aimed at increasing producer responsibility across Europe Including:

Examples from selected member states

Resources

  • EU law provides free access to EU law, including treaties, legislation, case-law, and legislative proposals.
  • The European Union: A Guide for Americans (Adobe PDF, file size unknown) is provided by the Delegation of the European Commission to the United States.

Other Countries

United States

Description: There is no federal law governing EPR or product stewardship in the United States. In the absence of federal statute, each state may choose to implement its own policies and laws. Similarly, local government at the city and county level has, in some cases, taken steps to implement EPR by passing local resolutions and ordinances.

Examples from Across the United States

The Product Stewardship Institute maintains information on product stewardship efforts, which includes state policy and legislation (see “initiatives”), covering a variety of products including carpet, electronics, fluorescent lighting, gas cylinders, medical sharps, mercury products, paint, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, phone books, radioactive devices, thermostats, and tires.

Resources

Last updated: May 20, 2008
Extended Producer Responsibility and Stewardship http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/EPR/
Contact: EPR@ciwmb.ca.gov (916) 341-6449