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The long and winding road to resource efficiency – An interdisciplinary perspective on extended producer responsibility

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  • Massarutto, Antonio

Abstract

Extended producer responsibility is advocated for its capacity to spur resource efficiency through green innovation and closing loops downstream of consumption. Its rationale is the extension of the polluter-pays principle to the post-consumption phase. This paper analyze the underlying mechanisms that are supposed to work under the EPR approach, and proposes an alternative view. The main purpose of EPR is seen as the creation of the bases for legitimizing the involvement if industry taking over the task of diverting waste from landfill. Its success rests on the superior managerial capacity of industry and the need to organize post-consumption markets that transcend the local scale and have access to the economies of scale and scope. The emphasis on producers does not add anything special, but may reinforce the bases for legitimizing the implicit delegation of power to industry. Primary and above all, we have witnessed in the last 20 years a gigantic effort of market design, and this is the main demonstration of EPR's success.

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  • Massarutto, Antonio, 2014. "The long and winding road to resource efficiency – An interdisciplinary perspective on extended producer responsibility," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 11-21.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:recore:v:85:y:2014:i:c:p:11-21
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2013.11.005
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    Cited by:

    1. Francesco Colelli & Edoardo Croci, 2021. "Assessment of environmental and economic benefits of packaging waste system in Italy," ECONOMICS AND POLICY OF ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2021(1), pages 37-58.
    2. Jakob T. Pruess, 2023. "Unraveling the complexity of extended producer responsibility policy mix design, implementation, and transfer dynamics in the European Union," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(6), pages 1500-1520, December.
    3. Karima AFIF & Bocar Samba BA & Eugénie JOLTREAU, 2024. "Tax-subsidy schemes for recycling when quantity and quality of waste matter," Working Papers 2024.02, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    4. Eugénie Joltreau, 2022. "Extended Producer Responsibility, Packaging Waste Reduction and Eco-design," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 83(3), pages 527-578, November.
    5. Hickle, Garth T., 2014. "An examination of governance within extended producer responsibility policy regimes in North America," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 55-65.
    6. Garth Hickle, 2017. "Extending the Boundaries: An Assessment of the Integration of Extended Producer Responsibility Within Corporate Social Responsibility," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(1), pages 112-124, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Waste recycling; Extended producer responsibility; Cheapest cost avoider;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K13 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Tort Law and Product Liability; Forensic Economics
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
    • Q57 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Ecological Economics

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