Producer Responsibility
Producer responsibility is the idea that manufacturers are responsible for the end-of-life disposal of the products they make and sell. Consumer behavior and societal responsibility have evolved over time to support this concept, as have tendencies to purchase sustainable products, reusable packaging and reduce product waste. Consumers increasingly expect companies to meet their products’ end-of-life responsibilities and now corporate sustainability strategies are expected to address the effect on social and environmental resources.
Producer responsibility is a proactive approach to waste management, because it shifts some of the responsibility for waste disposal and product life cycle to the companies that make and sell the products. It creates an onus to produce environmentally friendly products, particularly those that use sustainable materials and packaging. Companies that do not take on the responsibility to manage their products’ end-of-life can face legal action, bad publicity and customer backlash.
Under a producer responsibility system, companies are incentivized to create products that last longer, reduce materials and re-design packaging to enable recyclability. It also encourages companies to expand upon existing resources for product recycling and reuse and design new reuse and recovery mechanisms for their products. The introduction of producer responsibility has had a great effect on consumer purchasing habits. Consumers now look for product responsibility statements and try to purchase products with more sustainable packaging and materials.
Some companies have taken on the responsibility to monitor and manage their products’ end-of-life themselves. For example, Dell Computers has a take-back program that enables customers to return Dell products at the end-of-life. The company takes responsibility for the recycling of these products and ensures that the materials are reused or disposed of in an environmentally sound manner.
However, for companies further down the chain of production, this approach can be costly and inefficient. Thus, many governments have implemented policies on extended producer responsibility that mandate a proportion of the responsibility for product recycling and disposal to the producer. This policy can provide financial incentives for producers to adopt more ecologically-friendly product designs and materials. In some countries, the government sets producer responsibility at a specific cost, while in others, there is a broad range of fees depending on the product and recycling responsibility.
The main benefit of extended producer responsibility lies in the potential to increase conservation and sustainability. But the policies can also create a whole new system of resource management and employment opportunities. For example, producers may have to hire new people to monitor and manage their products’ end-of-life, which can expand local job markets. Producer responsibility can also expand waste management systems that may include collection, transport and disposal that create additional job opportunities. Lastly, with the additional resources required to meet product responsibility requirements, oftentimes producers invest in environmental technology and research that may further the waste management and sustainability sectors.
Implementing a producer responsibility program can produce numerous benefits and can be part of any companys effort towards sustainability. It can create a greater level of transparency in product end-of-life management, foster relationships with local and environmental communities, and increase the commitment to sustainability. Producer responsibility also provides an incentive to use materials more efficiently, reduce packaging, design products that last longer, and in the end, reduce waste.
