How Extended Producer Responsibility is Changing the Face of Business

 

The buzz around Extended Producer Responsibility, or EPR, is definitely evident. Will you not agree? However, aren’t you curious to find out how the strategic policy approach is contributing to a paradigm shift in the face of business? Let’s read about it.

The story about plastics, electronics, and waste cropping up as a primary environmental concern is not unheard of. Industries dealing in consumer goods such as electronics, food packaging, plastic items, and more leave a burgeoning trail of waste behind. Now, with a multitude of organisations functioning across the globe, the collective waste output is overwhelming and threatening. If you are not aware already, even the tiniest bit of non-biodegradable plastic takes 400 -500 years to decompose naturally. Besides, the chemicals in the gigatonnes of trashed electronics affect the quality of the environment and health on earth.

Since recycling isn’t enough to remove waste from the face of the earth, environmentalists, in collaboration with governments and investors, have formulated EPR compliance rules.

But first, what is EPR?

EPR stands for Extended Producer Responsibility. It is strictly an environment protection strategy that compels and obligates manufacturers, entrepreneurs, producers, and recyclers to undertake the responsibility of a product’s lifecycle from start to finish. Gone are the days when manufacturers could truly create consumable products, sell the products, and shrug off thinking about the heaps of waste piling up as end-of-life products or trash. As an initiative to proceed with strategic waste management e-waste, the policy ensures that all businesses and manufacturers are liable for the waste that arises from the products they create.

The penalties for not adhering to the EPR compliance rules are quite serious. Hence, businesses have now been coerced to rethink the creation, designing, manufacturing, selling, reusing, and disposal of products that leave little to no waste. In addition to holding businesses accountable for their waste management practices, extended producer responsibility in India encourages manufacturers to design products using nature-friendly and recyclable raw resources that are also durable and serves longer in the consumption cycles. In short, EPR drives circular economy that is a complete switch from the linear take-make-waste model.

Why is EPR essential?

Before explaining more about EPR and how the policy envisions creating zero waste management in India, let’s understand why recycling couldn’t stand the test of the challenging times. Responsible recycling of products has always stood out as an effective environmental practice. However, the expenses and lack of infrastructure have done very less to subside the ratio of waste generated. EPR is certainly a more strategic and obligatory approach. It makes it mandatory for companies and businesses to rethink their production line, design ideas, and, of course, the way they collect and treat the products that have reached their end-of-life.

Since keeping up with the legal, financial, and physical details of EPR compliance regulations is a challenging affair, companies are happy to entrust the job to responsible PROs like Karo Sambhav or the listed waste management companies in India. The organisations collect, treat, and repurpose the spent products created by the manufacturer to stay clean and compliant with the EPR norms. Little do you realise that the benefits of EPR are far more than just environmental. With lesser stress on the mining of resources and more implementation of responsible recycling, businesses witness an economic boost.

In short, EPR compliance is the only way forward to a sustainable and economically valuable future.