Gottberg Annika, Morris Joe, Pollard Simon, Mark-Herbert Cecilia, Cook Matthew
Institute of Water and Environment, Cranfield University, Bedfordshire, UK.
Sci Total Environ. 2006 Apr 15;359(1-3):38-56. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2005.07.001. Epub 2005 Sep 19.
The EU Directive on Waste Electrical and Electrical Equipment (WEEE) (2002/96/EC), to be implemented in stages from August 2004, attempts to tackle the growing quantity WEEE by making producers responsible for the costs of the collection and recycling of their products at the end of usable life. This is considered to give producers a financial incentive to reduce waste at source through eco-design. This link is, however, under-researched and little is known generally about the effectiveness of extended producer responsibility (EPR) and policies to promote it. This paper presents the findings of an exploratory study to address these important gaps in knowledge. Literature review was used to develop an analytical framework to explain the relationships between the drivers for eco-design and the role of policies to promote EPR. This was applied to eight case studies of firms from the European lighting sector. While quantitative data to confirm the link between EPR and eco-design were difficult to obtain, the case studies showed that EPR has had little effect on product development so far. Within the sector studied, most producers have been able to pass on incremental costs associated with EPR to customers with negligible effects on sales. This reflects perceptions in the lighting sector that, because demand for products is relatively price inelastic and the regulation affects all producers equally, EPR is unlikely to drive eco-design at least in the short run. The cases also showed that choice between individual and centrally provided waste recovery schemes rested on perceptions of relative costs and practicability. It was evident that other drivers, such as bans on hazardous substances, product declarations and supply chain pressures, were often more effective promoters of eco-design. Thus it seems a mix of policy measures is required rather than reliance on economic instruments alone.
欧盟《废弃电子电气设备指令》（WEEE）（2002/96/EC）于2004年8月开始分阶段实施，旨在通过让生产商承担其产品在使用寿命结束时的收集和回收成本，来应对日益增长的废弃电子电气设备数量。这被认为会给生产商提供一种经济激励，促使他们通过生态设计从源头减少浪费。然而，这种联系的研究还不够充分，人们对生产者延伸责任（EPR）及其促进政策的有效性普遍了解甚少。本文介绍了一项探索性研究的结果，以填补这些重要的知识空白。通过文献综述建立了一个分析框架，以解释生态设计驱动因素与促进生产者延伸责任政策的作用之间的关系。该框架应用于欧洲照明行业的八个公司案例研究。虽然难以获得证实生产者延伸责任与生态设计之间联系的定量数据，但案例研究表明，到目前为止，生产者延伸责任对产品开发几乎没有影响。在所研究的行业内，大多数生产商已能够将与生产者延伸责任相关的增量成本转嫁给客户，对销售的影响微乎其微。这反映了照明行业的一种看法，即由于产品需求相对缺乏价格弹性，且该法规对所有生产商的影响相同，生产者延伸责任至少在短期内不太可能推动生态设计。案例还表明，在个体提供和集中提供的废物回收方案之间的选择取决于对相对成本和实用性的看法。很明显，其他驱动因素，如有害物质禁令、产品声明和供应链压力，往往是生态设计更有效的推动者。因此，似乎需要多种政策措施相结合，而不是仅依赖经济手段。
