An International Lens on Extended Producer Responsibility
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a policy mechanism that is widely used around the world to make producers accountable for the environmental impacts of their products. In this forward-looking collaboration, Zero Waste Scotland partnered with five international organisations to explore how EPR could evolve – pushing beyond current practice to better address overconsumption as a root issue for climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss and social inequity.
Rethinking Producer Responsibility
In autumn 2021, two experienced circular economy leads at Zero Waste Scotland, David Barnes and Jamie Fry, began exploring a new idea: how could existing approaches to producer responsibility be transformed to fundamentally make a difference in how we deal with materials, products and waste as an economy?
They tested this early thinking with an internal ‘Red Team’ process, inviting challenge to strengthen their concept and assess its feasibility. It quickly became clear that advancing the idea would require a lot of creative thinking and deep knowledge of policy work. Therefore, to take it further, they broached their proposal with a group of international experts, selected for their shared interest in innovative policy work, their diverse regional and sector contexts and their influential voices. The aim was clear: to co-develop a new ‘outside-the-box’ approach to EPR and share it with a global audience.
The idea was immediately of interest to several collaborators who were motivated to explore EPR further but also to look at it from new angles, such as biodiversity, and bring in their own previous research and experiential work on the topic.
“This type of international collaboration is key to bringing together knowledge and ideas from different educational backgrounds, varied work experience and also diverse regions of the world. I would like to see and participate in more such work.” - Prof. Yamini Gupt
A Collaborative Approach
The team approached potential partners in multiple stages, forming a core group of five organisations that co-authored the final piece of work, while others contributed insights more informally throughout the process.
The collaboration came together as an informal working group that met regularly to refine ideas and develop a shared model. The diversity of expertise created space for lively and constructive discussion, a big part of which focused on developing consensus around what was both ambitious and achievable, particularly given the practical constraints faced by public bodies and policy-making environments.
“Some of those conversations were really exciting intellectual exercises because we had a bunch of people who really knew their stuff, they were really engaged and they had strong opinions. That made it tricky at points, but it made for some really dynamic, interesting conversations.” - Jamie Fry
Challenges and Considerations
Working across continents and on a topic that many partners actively apply in their day-to-day roles presented a unique context for this project. The time zone differences required flexibility and late-night meetings, but also intellectually the partnership had to navigate how to align the project with members’ organisational priorities and policy contexts.
At the same time, these challenges were central to the project’s value. Bringing together diverse international perspectives pushed the thinking further and strengthened the final output – a report on ‘Producer Responsibility for the Circular Economy’.
In its entirety, the project ran between autumn 2021 and autumn 2023: while the initial concept development only took a few months internally at Zero Waste Scotland, most of the activity was focused on the collaborative discussion and content development, consensus finding and, finally, the finalisation and approval of the work to be published with all partners.
“To me what was really exciting and scary in this collaboration was our ability to still get the project over the line by taking the time to think about it together. I think the report does a great job of actually articulating where the agreements are on where EPR is and where it isn’t and therefore creating the space for a new idea without it being a criticism of anything that’s currently going on.” - David Barnes
Benefits and Impacts
The benefits of the project have been felt at local, national and international levels, helping to inform policymaking, strengthen partnerships and encourage new approaches to tackling environmental challenges.
Influencing Circular Economy Policy
The Producer Responsibility for the Circular Economy report has had a significant, if often behind-the-scenes, influence on Zero Waste Scotland's strategic direction. Its recommendations informed subsequent work with the Scottish Government on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and helped shape a broader Product Stewardship approach to policymaking.
Driving Organisational Change
Beyond policy development, the project influenced Zero Waste Scotland's ongoing work with businesses. Insights from the research have informed approaches to measuring circularity, encouraging more sustainable business practices, and supporting the transition towards a circular economy within the private sector.
Creating International Impact
The project's influence extended well beyond Scotland. In New Zealand, the report helped broaden discussions around resource recovery by introducing a stronger focus on the life-cycle impacts of products placed on the market. This provided stakeholders with a clearer framework for considering future policy development and reform.
In India, the research was shared through academic seminars and workshops, contributing to knowledge exchange across institutions and supporting the development of a peer-reviewed research article.
Building Global Collaboration
The collaboration significantly increased both the reach of the research and the visibility of the organisations involved. Through partner networks, the findings were shared internationally across Europe, the Americas and beyond.
A series of webinars delivered through the Global Action Partnership for EPR and other international forums created opportunities to engage policymakers, researchers and practitioners on emerging approaches to producer responsibility and circular economy policy.
Opening New Conversations
One of the most valuable outcomes of the project was its ability to create space for forward-thinking discussions about the future of producer responsibility systems.
“The bit that I was really excited about was opening up those conversations with other organisations and realising that there was an appetite for collaboration on forward-looking policy. People recognised that they were quite embedded in the day-to-day of how we do it now. But there really was an appetite for them looking at: what next? If we get the basics in place, what do we do next?” - Jamie Fry
Key Legacy and Recommendations
Several recommendations from the report continue to resonate with policymakers and practitioners. Among the most notable was the call for targets to reduce the use of virgin materials, recognising the importance of reducing environmental impacts at source.
“I was proud of our recommendation to have a virgin material reduction target. This is what is needed to preserve wildlife habitat and biodiversity.” - Kelley Dennings
Lessons Learned
A key lesson for the team was on the complexity and value of collaboration:
- Bringing stakeholders on board and creating consensus on complex topics takes time but was ultimately worth it for the quality of the work.
- Collaborators contributed in different ways within the constraints of their own complex contexts; yet the passion and open-mindedness that the collaboration brought was a key success factor.
Together, these elements created a collaborative space for dialogue, constructive challenge and innovation that led to benefits not only for those directly involved but also the wider understanding of producer responsibility to support circular economies.
“Working with international peers led to an improved opportunity to establish consensus building as a core aspect of any co-design response to improved resource recovery.” - Dr Alec McNeil
Who was Involved
- David Barnes and Jamie Fry – Zero Waste Scotland (Stirling, UK)
- Scott Cassel – Product Stewardship Institute (Boston, USA)
- Prof. Yamini Gupt – Department of Finance & Business, University of Delhi (Delhi, India)
- Dr Alec McNeil – Waste sector knowledge and experience from a New Zealand perspective
- Kelley Dennings – Center for Biological Diversity (Tucson, USA)