An Introduction to Extended Producer Responsibility

Understanding and complying with EPR

Download the e-book to get a clear, practical roadmap for staying compliant with evolving global EPR rules.

You’ll learn how producer obligations are defined, what triggers reporting across packaging, batteries, and WEEE, and why requirements vary so widely by region. The guide also breaks down the full compliance workflow—from registration to fee calculation—and outlines the biggest challenges teams face when collecting supplier data, preparing reports, and tracking policy changes.

Introduction

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policies are rapidly being established as a standard practice worldwide, impacting producers with additional reporting requirements and many new challenges, especially those with operations in multiple countries. These challenges are compounded by the frequency of updates to EPR policies, which can occur as often as every quarter.  

As EPR grows worldwide, producers must have the right knowledge and tools to ensure ongoing compliance with evolving policies and obligations. The purpose of this e-book is to educate readers about Extended Producer Responsibility, explain how it impacts producers in the supply chain, and provide a guide to understanding compliance obligations.

While any type of product can fall within the scope of an EPR policy, this e-book focuses on three core areas: packaging, batteries, and Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) or e-waste. Legislators have identified these areas as the most voluminous and toxic waste streams.

This e-book explores EPR and its significance for producers, addresses the most common challenges in EPR compliance, and provides an in-depth look at how EPR compliance works in practice. Finally, it highlights how Source Intelligence’s EPR solution streamlines global reporting and simplifies the complexities of multi-regional EPR obligations. 

Extended Producer Responsibility and what it means for producers  

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is an environmental policy approach that makes producers responsible for the entire lifecycle of their products, including design, take-back, recycling, and final disposal. Rather than targeting a single point within the supply chain, EPR policies pertain to the environmental characteristics of products and production processes throughout the product chain.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines policies with the following attributes as EPR policies:

• The shifting of responsibility upstream toward the producer and away from municipalities  
• The provision of incentives for producers to consider environmental impacts when designing products

Any type of product can fall within the scope of EPR policies, but core areas (as identified by legislators) include WEEE or e-waste, packaging, and batteries due to the volume and toxicity of these waste streams. 

EPR policies around the globe  

While the European Union (EU) was the first to implement EPR legislation, there are now active EPR policies on every continent (excluding Antarctica). From North America to Australia, EPR policies continue to expand, impacting producers worldwide.

However, despite its global presence, EPR compliance varies not only by country but also between regions, states, provinces, etc., from tariffs and fee structures to schedules and reporting requirements. 

The common goal of EPR policies  

Despite variation throughout the world, EPR policies have a common goal of reducing waste, with a recent focus particularly on plastic waste, by increasing the recycling of new raw materials and, in turn, reducing the dependency on those materials.

This goal is based on the “polluter pays” principle, which is the concept that producers take responsibility for their products at their end-of-life stage. The concept encourages product design with reusability in mind and incentivizes product designs that boost recyclability and minimize environmental impact. 

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