1. Extended Producer Responsibility

2. What is Extended Producer Responsibility? Extended Producer Responsibility or EPR is a central tenet of product stewardship. EPR means the companies who make a product have a responsibility for their goods at the “end of life”

3. Extended Producer Responsibility shifts the financial burden of these programs Government Businesses This public money can than be better spent on education or infrastructure rather than managing unused paint or old tires

5. Businesses responsible

6. Cost of safe management included in the product’s cost (like marketing costs)This public money could be better spent on education or infrastructure rather than managing unused paint or tires

7. How does it work? Here’s one example of a program in Nebraska as one model for how it can work: Call2Recycle In this program individual battery manufacturers pay a license fee to Call2Recycle (essentially splitting the costs between the different manufacturers) License fee

8. Then Call2Recycle handles all the administration & pays all costs associated with collecting & recycling batteries Call2Recycle reimburses collection sites Make same changes here as on the fact sheet. Call2Recycle

9. This is just one model and there are a number of models already operating in Nebraska & across the United States We can learn from programs that are already in place

10. Another take-back program operating in Nebraska: Compact Florescent Light (CFL) All Home Depot stores in Nebraska, and several other hardware stores accept used CFLs in kiosks the front of their stores

11. Here’s how it works: 4 3 5 1 2 Customer purchases CFL in a hardware store Hardware store collects returned bulbs & sends them to a recycling facility Recovered materials can make new bulbs Bulbs can be returned to any store that collects them Light bulb is used at home “We believe that The Home Depot is a true member of the communities where we live and work and we demonstrate our leadership by making the environment a core part of our business – from the products we offer to the programs we support and especially our commitment to saving energy with CFL bulbs,” Annette Verschuren, The Home Depot.

12. Isn’t this going to cost more? You are already paying for it. Current System EPR System EPR shifts waste management costs from the public to the private sector

13. EPR doesn’t necessarily change the way consumers handle their goods when they no longer need them and it doesn’t necessarily require an entirely new infrastructure. Many EPR programs continue to use existing collecting infrastructure and reimburse municipalities collecting their goods.

14. We are all both taxpayers and consumers, but with EPR, we shift the responsibility to the manufacturers to internalize the costs of managing their products. EPR shifts waste management costs from the public to the private sector

15. meaning that your tax dollars can go to meet other needs in the community – besides cleaning up after people’s consumer products.

16. EPR is already happening

18. to build customer loyalty by offering additional services

20. But what can we do now? Take advantage of voluntary programs already exist Urge major retailers who have take-back programs in other parts of the country to start one where you live