Development of Guidance on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) FINAL REPORT European Commission – DG Environment 2014 In collaboration with: Document information CLIENT European Commission – DG Environment CONTRACT NUMBER No 07.0307/2012/63260/ETU/C2 REPORT TITLE Final Report PROJECT NAME Development of Guidance on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) PROJECT TEAM BIO by Deloitte; in collaboration with Arcadis, Ecologic, Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP), Umweltbundesamt (UBA) PROJECT OFFICER Mr. Michel Sponar, DG Environment, Directorate A, Unit A2 Mr. Olivier De Clercq, DG Environment, Directorate A, Unit A2 DATE 2014 AUTHORS Mrs. Véronique Monier, BIO by Deloitte Mr. Shailendra Mudgal, BIO by Deloitte Mr. Mathieu Hestin, BIO by Deloitte Mr. Jérémie Cavé, BIO by Deloitte Mrs. Manuela Gheoldus, BIO by Deloitte Mr Mike Van Acoleyen, Arcadis Mrs. Ilse Laureysens, Arcadis Mrs. Emma Watkins, IEEP Mrs. Doreen Fedrigo-Fazio, IEEP Mr. Hubert Reisinger, UBA Mr. Thomas Weissenbach, UBA Mrs. Judith Oliva, UBA Mr. Lucas Porsch, Ecologic KEY CONTACTS Véronique Monier [email protected] Or Mathieu Hestin [email protected] DISCLAIMER The project team does not accept any liability for any direct or indirect damage resulting from the use of this report or its content. This report contains the results of research by the authors and is not to be perceived as the opinion of the European Commission. Photo credit: cover @ Per Ola Wiberg 2 | Development of Guidance on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Development of Guidance on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) | 3 Table of contents Table of Contents DOCUMENT INFORMATION 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 GLOSSARY 7 SYMBOLS 10 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 11 CHAPTER 1. CONTEXT, OBJECTIVES AND APPROACH 29 1.1 Context and objectives 29 1.2 Methodological approach 32 1.2.1 Panorama of EPR schemes in EU-28 33 1.2.2 Selection of waste streams and case studies 34 1.2.3 In-depth analysis of 36 case studies 36 1.2.4 Exploration of four main issues related to EPR design and implementation 38 1.2.5 Guiding principles 39 1.2.6 Stakeholder consultation 39 CHAPTER 2. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF EPR SCHEMES IN THE EU 41 2.1 Existing EPR schemes in EU-28 41 2.2 Performance of EPR schemes in the EU 46 2.2.1 Batteries 48 2.2.2 ELVs 49 2.2.3 Oils 50 2.2.4 Packaging 51 2.2.5 WEEE 54 2.3 Focus on 36 case studies 56 2.3.1 EPR systems functioning 56 2.3.2 Systems performance 64 2.4 Is there such thing as a ‘best performing’ EPR model? 76 CHAPTER 3. MAIN TOPICS CONSIDERED FOR GUIDANCE 79 3.1 Share of responsibilities and dialogue between stakeholders 80 3.1.1 Issues under consideration 80 3.1.2 Findings from the case studies 82 3.1.3 Taking stakeholders' expertise into account 88 4 | Development of Guidance on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Table of contents 3.1.4 Towards guiding principles 90 3.2 Cost coverage and true cost principle 91 3.2.1 Issues under consideration 91 3.2.2 Findings from the case studies 92 3.2.3 Taking stakeholders’ expertise into account 96 3.2.4 Towards possible guiding principles 99 3.3 Fair competition 100 3.3.1 Issues under consideration 100 3.3.2 Findings from the case studies 101 3.3.3 Taking stakeholders’ expertise into account 107 3.3.4 Towards possible guiding principles 108 3.4 Transparency and surveillance 109 3.4.1 Issues under consideration for transparency 109 3.4.2 Issues under consideration for surveillance 109 3.4.3 Findings from the case studies 110 3.4.4 Taking stakeholders’ expertise into account 117 3.4.5 Concluding remarks 118 3.4.6 Towards possible guiding principles 121 CHAPTER 4. GUIDING PRINCIPLES AND RECOMMENDATIONS 122 4.1 Statement n°1: Clarification of the definition and objectives of EPR 122 4.1.1 Guiding principle 122 4.1.2 Policy options 124 4.2 Statement n°2: The shared responsibilities principle 124 4.2.1 Guiding principle 124 4.2.2 Policy options 125 4.3 Statement n°3: The full net cost coverage principle 126 4.3.1 Guiding principle 126 4.3.2 Policy options 126 4.4 Statement n°4: The true end-of-life costs principle 127 4.4.1 Guiding principle 127 4.4.2 Policy options 128 4.5 Statement n°5: The fair competition principle 129 4.5.1 Guiding principle 129 4.5.2 Policy options 130 4.6 Statement n°6: The transparency principle 131 4.6.1 Guiding principle 131 Development of Guidance on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) | 5 Table of contents 4.6.2 Policy options 132 4.7 Statement n°7: The reporting harmonisation principle 132 4.7.1 Guiding principle 132 4.7.2 Policy options 132 4.8 Statement n°8: The monitoring and surveillance principle 133 4.8.1 Guiding principle 133 4.8.2 Policy options 134 CHAPTER 5. ANNEX 135 5.1 Preliminary analysis of EPR in the EU 135 5.2 Organisational aspects and share of responsibilities between actors 154 5.2.1 Type of PRO responsibility 154 5.2.2 What exactly does the PRO do? 158 5.2.3 Role of Local Authorities 160 5.3 True cost principle and cost coverage 161 5.3.1 Organisational costs coverage 161 5.3.2 Which kind of costs are taken into account? 164 5.3.3 Is there a minimal level of service and/or geographical coverage defined by legislation? 167 5.3.4 True cost: to which extent does the fee reflect the real ‘end-of-life’ cost of products? 169 5.3.5 Comparing technical performances 171 5.3.6 Comparing cost-effectiveness 175 5.4 Fair competition 178 5.4.1 Is there competition among PROs? 178 5.4.2 Is there competition among WM operators? 181 5.5 Transparency and surveillance 184 5.5.1 Transparency 184 5.5.2 Monitoring of free riding 188 5.5.3 Surveillance of collection and treatment operations 194 5.5.4 Surveillance of PROs 196 5.6 Recommendations 205 6 | Development of Guidance on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Glossary GLOSSARY Term Definition Civic amenity site A civic amenity site (or household waste recycling centre) is a facility where the public can dispose of sorted household waste. Civic amenity sites are generally run by the local authorities in a given municipality. Clearinghouse Third-party central agency or corporation acting as a regulator for a competitive market C&I Commercial and Industrial (waste) Deposit-refund scheme Recovery system that requires the collection of a monetary deposit on a product’s packaging (often beverage containers) at the point of sale. The deposit is refunded to the purchaser when they return the container to an authorised redemption centre. Non-recovered deposits may be used to finance waste collection and disposal facilities. EC European Commission Eco-design Any production process that takes into account environmental considerations (e.g. raw material use, recyclability, end-of-life waste management requirements) at the product design stage EEE Electrical and Electronic Equipment ELV End-of-Life Vehicle(s) EPR Extended producer responsibility, i.e. an environmental policy approach in which a producer’s responsibility for a product is extended to the post-consumer stage of a product’s life cycle EPR scheme Any system or scheme set up by one or several producers to implement the EPR principle. Synonyms: compliance scheme Fee Price paid by a producer to have its products dealt with through a PRO Free riders Producers who do not contribute financially to any compliance scheme, but still benefit from their existence and action Guiding Principle General rule to be followed in order to move towards more efficient, accountable and harmonised practices for EPR schemes HH Household (waste) Development of Guidance on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) | 7 Glossary Local authorities / Local public Elected and non-elected agents who manage a city or local authorities (LPAs) community. Synonym: Municipalities MS Member State(s) MSW Municipal solid waste Polluter Pays Principle (PPP) The polluter-pays principle is a guiding principle at European and international levels, which stipulates that the waste producer and the waste holder should bear the costs of waste management in a way that guarantees a high level of protection of the environment and human health. PRO Producer Responsibility Organisation, i.e. a collective entity set up by producers or through legislation, which becomes responsible for meeting the recovery and recycling obligations of the individual producers. Producers Product makers; they are expected to assume extended responsibility for the products they put on the market. In practice, the extended responsibility is frequently assumed by other actors, i.e.: importers, marketers, retailers, distributors. Recovery Any operation the principal result of which is waste serving a useful purpose by replacing other materials which would otherwise have been used to fulfil a particular function (or waste being prepared to fulfil that function) (definition from Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC, Article 3). Recycling Any recovery operation by which waste materials are reprocessed into products, materials or substances whether for the original or other purposes. It includes the reprocessing of organic material, but does not include energy recovery and the reprocessing into materials that are to be used as fuels or for backfilling operations. (Definition from Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC, Article 3.) Regeneration (of waste oils) Any recycling operation whereby base oils can be produced by refining waste oils, in particular by removing the contaminants, the oxidation products and the additives contained in such oils (definition from Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC, Article 3).