New White Paper:
“Extended Producer Responsibility” Offers New Direction for US Waste Management Policy
December 15, 2010 – Berkeley, Calif. – The US can overcome thirty years of stagnation in waste management policy and divert more than 70% of solid waste from landfill, according to a White Paper just released by Natural Logic, Inc.
“Applying proven extended producer responsibility (EPR) principles would provide clear and compelling financial accountability,” according Natural Logic CEO Gil Friend, “and provide clear benefits to all stakeholders, from waste haulers and cash-strapped local governments to consumers and packaging manufacturers.”
Extended Producer Responsibility is a market-based approach that effectively assigns end-of-life responsibility to producers, requiring them to meet specific targets for material recycling and recovery, relative to the total amount of packaging that they have put into the marketplace.
The white paper, Product Stewardship & Extended Producer Responsibility: Towards a Comprehensive Packaging Recycling Strategy for the US, explores the benefits and barriers to implementing an EPR-based comprehensive product stewardship system in the US.
Based on an Innovation Charrette™ conducted by Natural Logic, of US experts on design, packaging and materials, waste management, environmental and waste policy convened by Natural Logic, and analysis of best practices in Europe, Japan and Canada, the White Paper found significant benefits in EPR. These include:
- shifting the responsibility for collecting packaging – and the incentives for recycling, waste reduction and design innovation – from local government to producers;
- recycling targets which are mandated by law; and
- recycling systems that are financed, and in some cases managed, by packaging producers rather than government for greater effectiveness and efficiency.
“When we see a thoughtful proposal to greatly increase the recycling of packaging,” said Heidi Sanborn, Executive Director of the California Product Stewardship Council (CPSC), “CPSC is excited. We look forward to the next step – a national discussion to design a packaging policy that will work across the US.”
Product Stewardship & Extended Producer Responsibility: Towards a Comprehensive Packaging Recycling Strategy for the US is available for download (at no cost) at Natural Logic’s web site: https://natlogic.com/EPR/
# # #
About Natural Logic, Inc.
Natural Logic is a leading strategic sustainability consulting firm, helping businesses and governments design, implement and measure profitable sustainability strategies. Recent clients have included Coca-Cola, eBay, Hewlett Packard, Levi Straus, and the US General Services Administration. The company is headquartered in Berkeley, California. For more information, visit www.natlogic.com
About Gil Friend
Gil Friend is President and CEO of Natural Logic, Inc, and the author of The Truth About Green Business (FT Press, 2009). With a 40-year career in business, government and civic sector, he has been hailed as one of the fathers of the sustainable business phenomenon, and named “one of the top 25 clean tech leaders” in the Bay Area. Friend was a founder of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, and is faculty at Presidio Graduate School.
Contact:
Gil Friend, CEO
510-435-6346 (cell)
gfriend at natlogic dot com
EPR at natlogic dot com