International Survey on Stakeholders' Perception of the Concept of Extended Producer Responsibility and Product Stewardship

Outline of the Report

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), as well as product stewardship (PS), has been one of the most important ideas for waste management policy in the world for the last two decades. However, different stakeholders perceive the concept and the role of producers in various ways. In order to identify how differently various stakeholders in different countries perceive the concept, the authors conducted an international survey on stakeholders' perception of EPR/PS in 2013 and received responses from 426 experts from all over the world.

The items surveyed includes that aims of EPR/PS, application and rationale of EPR/PS, type of responsibility, scope of "producer", opinions about statements relating to EPR/PS. The report presents these results and differences of the perception between different countries/regions, different product categories, and different types of stakeholders, as well as open answers from respondents.

This survey was conducted by researchers from International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE), Lund University, Sweden and Center for Material Cycles and Waste Management Research (CMW), National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), Japan.

(Published 2015.5.19)

Relevant Research Publications by the Authors

Tomohiro Tasaki
Head of Sustainable Material Cycle Systems Section,
Center for Material Cycles and Waste Management Research,
National Institute for Environmental Studies