2.3.5 Extended Producer Responsibility initiatives (2003)
The Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) initiative is based upon the principle that the
producers are responsible for the entire life-cycle of their products from the selection of materials and
product design to the treatment and disposal of the products [16]. In response to the international trend
of OECD countries, the Korean government in 2003 initiated the EPR to revise and expand on the
previous DRS. In this new system, although the manufacturers play the main role in the recycling of the
products and packaging materials after use through payments into a special account for environmental
improvement, the responsibility of the government and the consumers have been extended. While the
government carries out collecting recyclable wastes and putting them into the recycling process, it is up
to the consumer to separate and recycle their wastes [10, 12].
Under the EPR, the new items subject to the mandatory producer recycling program were added
on top of the existing ones from the DRS as stated in Table 4. Furthermore, specific design requirements
for restrictions on excessive packaging and disposable goods were applied to all goods. Free distribution
of disposable vinyl bags in markets was completely banned as were other disposables such as plastic
utensils, containers and toothpastes at specific business locations [13].