EPR shifts the costs of managing post consumer products and packaging from the public to the private sector. Internalizing the external costs through a combination of economic and physical responsibility provides an incentive to manufacturers to design products that have minimal environmental impact throughout their lifecycle, and maximum reuse, recycling and reduction opportunities. This can only be achieved if internalization of the externalities is accompanied by an obligation to reuse or recycle. Where there is an incentive, there is a way. Sustainability is what those who support producer responsibility and oppose wasting want to achieve.
Sustainability is both a goal and a process to achieve that goal.
Developing and designing products that minimize total environmental impact is one way of achieving sustainability. All too often, the pollution costs, resource and energy consumption costs, and disposal costs are subsidized by government, and are therefore, not reflected in the price of a product. EPR corrects that imbalance by internalizing these externalities, and in so doing, shifts these costs from government and taxpayers to producers and consumers. Responsible companies are disadvantaged, as they are not rewarded for good behavior. Thus the need for a common legislative framework, setting performance standards applicable to all producers.