Extended Producer Responsibilities - Essay Example

Extended Producer Responsibilities Assigning ERP Responsibilities between the Manufacturer and the Consumer for an AutomobileIn the United States there is no federal law governing EPR. The term that is commonly used in the United States on matters related to ERP is “product stewardship”- which involves all the parties involved in product’s life cycle (i.e., producers, manufacturers, retailers, consumers and disposers) to share the responsibility for reducing the products’ impact on the environment.

As a staff member in EPA it will be my duty to assign ERP responsibility between the manufacture and the consumer for an automobile.The best way I can enforce this is through the use of “shared responsibility” principle. The consumers can pay a fee when the y purchases a new vehicle. This fee will then be managed by a third party in this case the party can be EPA. On the part of the manufactures I would ensure that they have goals set in recycling the vehicles.This program can be modified on the condition that the manufacturer is located outside the U.S. to comply with the law.

This will involve setting a law that requires all imported cars in the United States should come from countries with rigorous disposal laws. Also, an extra import fee should be incorporated to aid the disposal of the vehicle.This program will definitely influence product designers in research & development group. Example plastic which comprise of the largest portion of currently non-recycled material will make the product designers & development group to replace it with materials which can be recycled.

Countries who also wish to export automobiles in United States will have to adapt to stringent vehicles recycling laws. References Bell, Victor. (1998). How Manufacturers Are Responding to Extended Producer Responsibility Programs and How These Programs Can Be Made More Effective. In OECD Workshop on Extended and Shared Responsibility for Products, 1-3 December 1998, Washington, D.C.Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IL EPA). (2012). Manufacturers Rankings by Pounds Recycled for 2010. Available at: http://www.epa.state.il.us/land/electronic-waste-recycling/manufacturer-rank-pounds .html. Retrieved 25th April, 2014.