​This year has been groundbreaking for extended producer responsibility (EPR) legislation in the United States. On June 3rd this year, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed House Bill 22-1355 into law, joining California, Oregon and Maine as the first four US states to pass this form of legislation.Colorado's EPR law affects producers of packaging and cert...

​EPR legislation, SB54 or the Plastic Producer Responsibility Act, was signed by Governor Newsom into law on 30th June 2022. The bill requires that businesses in California take responsibility to pay for the cost associated with the recovery of materials they sell in the state.SB54 passing has kept the Plastic Pollution Reduction Act, a plastics fee ballo...

​We are now fast approaching the upcoming changes in Germany for anyone who places packaging onto the German market. If you are a producer/retailer who places packaging onto the German market then you will need to make sure you are compliant by 1 July 2022. If you are a producer/retailer who places electronic equipment or batteries onto the German market...

3R principles (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) have been brought up more regularly in countries' waste management policies. One of the key elements – 'Reuse', has been integrated into legislative requirements for packaging in some countries.There are three main types of requirements regarding reusable packaging:Mandatory targets for reusable packaging have been s...

​Extended producer responsibility (EPR) in Russia is governed by two main bodies: the Russian government and the Eurasian Economic Union, or EAEU. Member States of the EAEU include Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, and regulations made by this body affect all affiliated countries. The main EPR system in Russia is set by the Russian gove...

​In November 2020, South Africa passed new regulations to provide framework for implementing extended producer responsibility (EPR) regulations. According to the law, packaging producers must become financially responsible for the take-back of the packaging they place on the market.The regulations were then amended in January 2021 to extend the deadlines ...

​According to a draft bill that is expected to pass soon, Sweden will be introducing extended producer responsibility legislation for textiles from 1 January 2022. The EU Waste Framework Directive requires all Member States to set up separate waste collection for textiles by 2025. This is corroborated in the EU Circular Economy Action Plan, and Lorax EPI ...

​Like many topics, the concept of extended producer responsibility comes with an often confusing range of acronyms and highly specific terminology. But what does it all mean? In this post, we look at some of the most frequently used terms and phrases.​Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)The concept of producers being responsible for the waste generate...

​In many countries around the world, producers must pay levies on all product packaging and on the products they sell. These levies, or extended producer responsibility (EPR) funding, is to build infrastructure for collecting materials to be recycled.Packaging levies started in Germany in the early 1990s with der Grüne Punkt (or Green Dot) and quickly spr...

​Countries around the world either have, or are implementing producer responsibility regulations for products including packaging, batteries, tyres, antifreeze and electronics. Obligated producers need to register either with a government agency (most often the country's Environment Agency) or a producer responsibility scheme - or both! But what's invol...

Currently in India, a large quantity of e-waste is managed by the informal sector. The sector encompasses waste pickers, dismantlers, recyclers, etc. This work is unregulated and inefficient and can often cause damage to the environment. Furthermore, there can be major risks to human health as e-waste can contain toxic substances such as cadmium, lead, ar...