E-Scrap News Magazine: Individual producer responsibility key to DFR, says study

## Individual producer responsibility key to DFR, says study


_By Editorial Staff, Resource Recycling_

A new report in the U.K. outlines how manufacturer end-of-life responsibility for electronic and electrical products can encourage these companies to design their wares for recycling and reuse.

The [report][1] was produced by the Independent Producer Responsibility Group. Comprised of industry executives, academics, advocacy groups and others, the group was organized by the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Advisory Body, which was recently discontinued by the U.K. Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

The group was formed in 2010 and charged with developing a policy recommendation for "individual producer responsibility" (IPR) that could work in the U.K. IPR differs from extended producer responsibility by making individual companies responsible, either financially or physically, for their own end-of-life products. This differs from EPR, where an industry is collectively responsible for its products.

According to the report, under an IPR system, producers can still use collective recovery schemes. However, in an IPR system, the costs incurred by the producer should reflect the actual costs of handling its end-of-life products. The rationale behind IPR is that it creates and economic incentive for producers to design their products for easier repair, upgrading, reuse or recycling at their end-of-life.

Currently, the U.K. operates under the European Union's WEEE Directive, which [was recently updated][2]. According to the report, the WEEE Directive is flexible enough to advance an IPR framework.

Working within the directive's framework, according to the report, an IPR approach should require that producers pay costs relating to their own new household WEEE, while providing incentives or pay back to producers for designing their products with their end-of-life in mind and also providing producers with the option to manage their own WEEE compliance directly with appropriate regulatory safeguards.

Additionally, the report, which calls for a strategy of "evolution not revolution," also presented three options that could increase IPR. They include:

* Applying a weighting mechanism that increases or decreases obligated tonnage amounts producers are required to recover based on the actual treatment costs and the characteristics of the products.
* Allowing companies to pay to separate out their own products for recycling.
* Allowing companies to pay according to the current costs of collecting, treating and recycling their subcategory of products being put on the market.

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[1]: http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/business-sectors/docs/w/12-1007-waste-electrical-and-electronic-weee-regulations-individual-producer-ipr-responsibility
[2]: http://resource-recycling.com/node/2387
[3]: http://www.resource-recycling.com/images/e-newsletterimages/microsoft_banner.jpg (Microsoft Banner)
[4]: http://www.microsoft.com/refurbishedpcs/
[5]: http://www.resource-recycling.com/images/e-newsletterimages/ESNe-news081612.html

URL: http://resource-recycling.com/node/3020