EPR Implementation Plan Sets New Targets for Eco-Friendly Design

On January 3rd, the General Office of State Council issued Implementation Plan for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)(referred to as “the plan” hereafter),  a high-level push for EPR, to speed up ecological development, meet the needs for green and low carbon development, and promote supply side reform and manufacturing upgrade.

The plan defined EPR as extending producers’ environmental responsibility over their products from production to design, distribution, consumption, recycling, waste disposal and other stages in a full lifecycle to maximize the use of resources.
 
In recent years, China has been exploring EPR in certain electrical and electronic products, and is now copying and promoting the best practices from the experimentation. Electronic and electrical products, together with automobiles, lead acid battery and packages are among the first batches of products covered by the EPR plan.
 
In general, the plan aims to establish EPR related regulatory policies, make progress in product ecological design, have at least 40% waste recycle and reuse rate in key products by the year of 2020. By the year of 2025, the objective is to have a relatively established regulatory framework for EPR, widely adopted ecological design, the use of reprocessed raw material in key products reaching 20% and waste recycle and reuse rate reaching 50%.
 
For electrical and electronic products, the plan outlined that China will make EPR policy guide and evaluation criterion, guide producers to carry out ecological desgin,  prioritize the use of reprocessed raw material, and encourage producers to actively participate to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) program. Additionally, the plan calls for stricter WEEE fee levy and use to achieve self balanced fee and expenditures.