Environmental

Under a regulation from the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act of 2016, which was recently approved, producers of packaging and printed paper in Ontario will be required to assume full financial and operational responsibility for collecting, managing and financing designated materials, which up until now only required producers to contribute 50% f...

This blog is part of a wider series from Lorax EPI, taking a deep dive into the current and future landscapes for packaging extended producer responsibility​ (EPR) regulations on a global scale.Due to the uneven social and economic development in the Asia Pacific region (APAC), the EPR legislation progress in APAC presents a large variety. This post will ...

​This blog is part of a wider series from Lorax EPI, taking a deep-dive into the current and future landscapes for packaging extended producer responsibility (EPR) regulations on a global scale.At this time, minimal mandatory packaging EPR exists in Africa, though some countries are now entering the early stages of implementing such regulations. With Sout...

This article was updated on 16th July.​On 12th July, Maine's governor signed a bill to establish a statewide packaging EPR program into law, and a similar bill in Oregon passed through both the House and Senate and is just one step away from being signed into law. This means that the first packaging EPR schemes will soon come into force in the USA. So, wh...

​This blog is part of a wider series from Lorax EPI, taking a deep dive into the current and future landscapes for packaging extended producer responsibility​ (EPR) regulations on a global scale.Due to the uneven social and economic developments​​, the EPR legislation progress in the Asia Pacific region (APAC) presents a large variety. This post will give...

This blog is part of a wider series from Lorax EPI, taking a deep-dive into the current and future landscapes for packaging extended producer responsibility (EPR) regulations on a global scale.When it comes to packaging EPR in North America, legislation tends to be regionally focused rather than nationally captured. In Canada, several provinces have varyi...

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) was first introduced ​in the 1990s.​ The main objectives of EPR legislation are typically to ensure that the cost of waste management is covered by the businesses that are producing the waste, and to incentivise good environmental design decisions.​ Packaging EPR is becoming ​increasingly common​ around the world, w...

​Virtually every EPR compliance scheme in the world requires some form of regular reporting - maybe only once a year, but potentially every month. Some reports are relatively simple, but others can be significantly more complicated. So what information do schemes want?At the most basic level, schemes need the same information:Number/type of product plac...

Lorax EPI is pleased to be involved in endorsing the position statement released by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation today (15th June) for packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).It has become clear that we need a circular economy for packaging materials in which they never become waste or litter in our environment. Packaging that cannot be elimina...

The EU Single-Use Plastics Directive, which was passed by the EU Commission in May 2019, enacts bans on certain single-use products, recycled content targets for some plastics and measures to reduce plastic food and beverage containers. It also requires Member States to ensure that national laws mandate new labels for sanitary towels, wet wipes, tobacco f...

​PCR Content and Its BenefitsPost-consumer recycled content (PCR) refers to material that is made from items recycled by consumers. Usually, recyclable items such as plastics, metals and cardboards/paper are collected by the local recycling program and transported to facilities for sorting based on material type. Recycled bales will then be purchased and ...

​Countries (and regions) around the world are considering how best to reduce packaging waste. Typically, they are applying one or more of three options: bans, EPR fees or taxes and ​levies. A ban is straight-forward enough, but what's the difference between EPR fees, taxes and the EU plastics levy?EPR feesA fee paid to cover the cost of waste management...

​On 17 May 2021, the Governor of Washington State signed a bill into law which bans several expanded polystyrene items, mandates post-consumer recycled content in certain packaging and requires some producer reporting.By 1 April 2022 and annually thereafter, producers of plastic trash bags, plastic beverage containers and household cleaning and personal c...

​Per the Act on the Promotion and Saving and Recycling Resources, after the packaging recyclability evaluation, all packaging in South Korea needs to be labelled appropriately by December 2021. Here comes the question: What are the requirements of labelling?Separate Discharge Mark RequirementThe use of a separate discharge mark is mandatory for a list of ...

​Like many topics, the concept of extended producer responsibility comes with an often confusing range of acronyms and highly specific terminology. But what does it all mean? In this post, we look at some of the most frequently used terms and phrases.​Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)The concept of producers being responsible for the waste generate...

Last week, the Lorax EPI team gave a workshop on global packaging EPR developments as part of the Sustainability in Packaging US 2021 Conference. Our presenters took some time to investigate the true costs of packaging extended producer responsibility on a per-capita and per-product basis as well as discuss major changes in worldwide EPR programs that wil...