The ESRI in collaboration with RPS, Bio Intelligence Service and Philip Lee have been awarded a contract from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (DoECLG) to undertake a wide ranging review of existing producer responsibility compliance schemes and the scope for extending such schemes to other waste streams.
Under these schemes producers bear a significant responsibility for the environmental impacts of their products through, for example, the collection, sorting, reuse and recycling and disposal. Repak, for example, is the compliance scheme that deals with packaging; the Irish Farm Film Producers Group, farm plastics. Producers are typically charged by the weight of the products they place on the market.
The schemes, which are approved by the DoECLG, often are required to meet various environmental targets. The project will examine existing producer responsibility schemes in packaging, tyres, batteries, farm plastics, w! aste electrical and electronic equipment as well as their introduction in waste streams such as end of life vehicles and construction and demolition. In addition research will be conducted on cross-cutting issues such as the feasibility of a packaging tax, corporate governance, competition and the experience of compliance schemes in other Member States.
A final report is to be completed by the end of 2012