Extended Producer Responsibility

Extended Producer Responsibility

Extended Producer Responsibility(EPR) is a program where by producer responsibility for their products is extended to the post-consumer stage. This program shifts a greater responsibility to the producer for managing end of life products when they become waste. As such, this gives producers an increased incentive to create products that are more environmentally friendly or easier to recycle at the end of their life. There are many forms of Extended Producer Responsibility including product take-back and financing of recycling initiatives and disposal.

Extended Producer Responsibility uses tools such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), to measure a product's environmental performance. This takes the product's life cycle into consideration by looking at all stages in the products life (from cradle to grave), including packaging materials. By understating LCA, producers can improve their environmental impact by Designing for the Environment (DfE), another program which systematically integrates environmental considerations into product and product design.

For detailed information on EPR programs in Canada please visit http://www.ec.gc.ca/epr/en/epr.cfm.