EPR to spur environmentally friendly design
Extended producer responsibility (EPR) is an environmental policy principle where the
producer’s responsibility for a product is extended to also cover the stage after the consumer
has stopped using it.1 Instead of letting local governments and tax payers take on all the
responsibility, the EPR principle argues that the producers should be more involved. The
EU WEEE Directive is based on this idea and producers and distributors of electronics are
responsible for financing the collection and treatment of e-waste, which provides incentives
to design products that are less toxic and easier to recycle. Different systems have been
designed in different EU countries where the directive has been implemented. However, the
EPR principle has not been included in India’s legislation. In China an e-waste fund has been
discussed, which would provide funding for formal recycling activities, but its implementation
is very uncertain.2
At the same time some companies have set up voluntary take back systems of their own or
in cooperation with different service providers. One example is Sony Ericsson that launched
an “environmental warranty” in 2008. By this warranty Sony Ericsson promises to recycle its
products in an environmentally sound way when they are taken to any designated collection
point globally, regardless of where the product was originally purchased. The information to
customers has, however, so far been limited. In Greenpeace’s latest ranking of 2008 Nokia
received the highest score on take-back by offering to take back old products in 124 countries
around the world, including Africa. HP, Sharp, Philips, Microsoft and Nintendo received the
lowest scores on this issue.3