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From Legal Transplants to Sustainable Transition

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  • Xin Tong
  • Lin Yan

Abstract

Extended producer responsibility (EPR), which assigns significant responsibility to producers to take back their end‐of‐life products to create incentives for redesign of products with lower life cycle environmental impacts, has come to a crossroad facing a trade‐off between the original innovation‐oriented regime design and the cost‐efficiency challenges in practice. This is particularly true in its implementation in non‐Organization for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) countries as they are trying to transplant the “best practices” from OECD countries, for there is increasing skepticism as to whether EPR is suitable for developing countries at all. As an important producer of electronic products and destination of electronic waste (e‐waste) flows in the world, China has been expected to play a vital role in the evolution of global governance based on the idea of EPR, either to create new ways for producers to perform their end‐of‐life strategies, or to reshape the mode of production and consumption with its fast‐growing market. However, the establishment of EPR in China has been long and full of difficulties. This article reviews the status and trends in the establishment of an EPR system for waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) management in China. We use the framework of a multilevel perspective of transition theory in our analysis to characterize the complex interactions among various agents in the evolution of the Chinese system from initial innovation‐oriented design to the current efficiency‐oriented version. An ongoing research framework for evaluation of the EPR program in China is outlined as the research agenda in coming years.

Suggested Citation

  • Xin Tong & Lin Yan, 2013. "From Legal Transplants to Sustainable Transition," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 17(2), pages 199-212, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:inecol:v:17:y:2013:i:2:p:199-212
    DOI: 10.1111/jiec.12013
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    Cited by:

    1. Denise P. Lozano Lazo & Alexandros Gasparatos, 2019. "Sustainability Transitions in the Municipal Solid Waste Management Systems of Bolivian Cities: Evidence from La Paz and Santa Cruz de la Sierra," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-34, August.
    2. Wang, Huaidong & Gu, Yifan & Li, Liquan & Liu, Tingting & Wu, Yufeng & Zuo, Tieyong, 2017. "Operating models and development trends in the extended producer responsibility system for waste electrical and electronic equipment," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 159-167.
    3. Tong, Xin & Tao, Dongyan, 2016. "The rise and fall of a “waste city” in the construction of an “urban circular economic system”: The changing landscape of waste in Beijing," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 10-17.
    4. Zhou, Wenhui & Zheng, Yanfang & Huang, Weixiang, 2017. "Competitive advantage of qualified WEEE recyclers through EPR legislation," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 257(2), pages 641-655.
    5. Zeng, Xianlai & Li, Jinhui & Liu, Lili, 2015. "Solving spent lithium-ion battery problems in China: Opportunities and challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 1759-1767.
    6. Luyi Gui, 2020. "Recycling Infrastructure Development under Extended Producer Responsibility in Developing Economies," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 29(8), pages 1858-1877, August.

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