Producer responsibility for e-waste management: key issues for consideration - learning from the Swiss experience

E-waste, a relatively recent addition to the waste stream in the form of discarded electronic and electric equipment, is getting increasing attention from policy makers as the quantity being generated is rising rapidly. One of the most promising policy options to address this issue is to extend the producers responsibility for their products beyond the point of sale, until end-of-product-life. This paper briefly introduces the concept of extended producer responsibility (EPR) and its applicability in the area of the end-of-life management of electronic and electrical equipment (EEE). It then examines the decade-long experience of Switzerland in using EPR to manage its e-waste, elaborating on the experience of the Swiss system in overcoming specific issues, and finally wrapping up with a synopsis of the lessons for policy makers. We consider each issue as an enquiry of questions confronting a policy maker and the choices that may present themselves. The five issues discussed are: (i) the challenges in getting an EPR based system started; (ii) securing financing to ensure a self-sustaining and smooth functioning system; (iii) organising a logistics network for the take back and collection of the e-waste; (iv) ensuring compliance of the various actors involved; and finally (v) reducing the threat of monopolistic practices.     

The long and winding road to resource efficiency – An interdisciplinary perspective on extended producer responsibility

Extended producer responsibility is advocated for its capacity to spur resource efficiency through green innovation and closing loops downstream of consumption. Its rationale is the extension of the polluter-pays principle to the post-consumption phase. This paper analyze the underlying mechanisms that are supposed to work under the EPR approach, and proposes an alternative view. The main purpose of EPR is seen as the creation of the bases for legitimizing the involvement if industry taking over the task of diverting waste from landfill. Its success rests on the superior managerial capacity of industry and the need to organize post-consumption markets that transcend the local scale and have access to the economies of scale and scope. The emphasis on producers does not add anything special, but may reinforce the bases for legitimizing the implicit delegation of power to industry. Primary and above all, we have witnessed in the last 20 years a gigantic effort of market design, and this is the main demonstration of EPR's success.     

Two decades,three WEEE systems: How far did EPR evolve in Korea's resource circulation policy?

Extended producer responsibility (EPR) has become a dominant policy paradigm for the management of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) in the last two decades. In South Korea the principle has guided the evolution of the resource circulation policy even before its official introduction through a revision of the recycling law in 2002. Elements of producer responsibilities could be found in the producer-based deposit refund system (DRS) a decade earlier and they were strengthened through the enactment of a new resource circulation law in 2008. This article reviews the policy changes in South Korea for the management of WEEE during the past 20 years. The focus of the analysis is on the impacts of EPR and the producers’ responses that were expressed through the quantity and the quality of material flows in the society. The findings are discussed in light of international experiences in order to outline measures to improve the effectiveness of the EPR-based resource circulation policy that could have broader implications beyond the case study.     

Moral Responsibility for Environmental Problems—Individual or Institutional?

The actions performed by individuals, as consumers and citizens, have aggregate negative consequences for the environment. The question asked in this paper is to what extent it is reasonable to hold individuals and institutions responsible for environmental problems. A distinction is made between backward-looking and forward-looking responsibility. Previously, individuals were not seen as being responsible for environmental problems, but an idea that is now sometimes implicitly or explicitly embraced in the public debate on environmental problems is that individuals are appropriate targets for blame when they perform actions that are harmful to the environment. This idea is criticized in this paper. It is argued that instead of blaming individuals for performing actions that are not environmentally friendly we should ascribe forward-looking responsibility to individuals, a notion that focuses more on capacity and resources than causation and blameworthiness. Furthermore, it is important to emphasize that a great share of forward-looking responsibility should also be ascribed to institutional agents, primarily governments and corporations. The urge to ascribe forward-looking responsibility to institutional agents is motivated by the efficiency aim of responsibility distributions. Simply put, if responsibility is ascribed to governments and corporations there is a better chance of creating a society in which the opportunities to act in an environmentally friendly way increase.     

Perception of the environmental impacts of current and alternative modes of pig production by stakeholder groups

The current industrial pig production model is in crisis, due to its association with environmental pollution, doubtful product quality and lack of animal well-being. In Bretagne (France), a region of intensive pig production, a survey of seven stakeholder groups concerned with pig production was conducted, as part of a research programme dedicated to the assessment of the environmental impact of different modes of pig production. A very large majority of pig producers (93%) and their suppliers (100%) considers pig farms as an asset for the region, whereas a majority of scientists (58%), activists (78%) and consumers (54%) sees it as a handicap. Differences among stakeholder groups are minor with respect to the perceived importance of environmental and social issues. Stakeholders agree on the relative level of responsibility of pig farms with respect to specific problems. For all groups unpleasant odours and water quality come first with respect to responsibility, for most groups soil quality comes second, followed by product safety and air quality. For a future improved mode of pig production, 76% of pig producers and their suppliers prefer to adapt the current model, for all other groups the majority prefers an alternative model. While pig producers and their suppliers prefer a slurry-based housing system, all other groups prefer a straw-based system. Pig producers see the slurry-based system as technically superior and associate the straw-based system with poor working conditions, whereas consumers associate the slurry-based system in the first place with poor water quality and associate the straw-based system with less pollution. These results will be of use in the research programme on the environmental impact of modes of pig production, as they indicate the environmental impacts to be considered and their relative importance. The results will also help in deciding which options should be assessed. It is concluded that the poor image of the current pig production model and its production practices with consumers does not seem compatible with a sustainable demand for pork products.     

德国环境设备责任制度初探

德国《民法典》确定了一般环境侵权的规则——行为责任,再以《环境责任法》确立了特殊的环境侵权的规则——设备责任。设备侵权是危险责任的一种,其构成要件有两个:设备运营对环境产生不良影响进而导致损害;人身、财产受侵害。设备责任的承担不要求设备运营人的过错。设备责任归责采用因果关系推定原则。     

Recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST): Is there a limit for biotechnology in applied animal agriculture?

The intent of this article is to outline, integrate, and interpret relevant scientific, economic, and social issues of rbST technology that have contributed to the acceptance dilemma for this product. The public is divided into social groups, each with its own set of criteria on which they base rbSTs acceptability. Criteria for the scientific community may best be described as physiological. However, for consumers, criteria may be more practical, or procedural, including human health, animal welfare, environmental concerns, and overproduction. Because the business of dairy production depends on demand from the consuming public, the criteria for acceptance of rbST by producers largely reflects those of the consumers. Of necessity, producers are also critical of rbST from a business and animal improvement standpoint. Although this article demonstrates that rbST has met most physiological criteria for acceptance, the consuming public has treated the acceptance issue with forceful skepticism. The question this article addresses is, why? The authors comment that with rbST and other biotechnologies applied to agricultural animal production, it will be the responsibility of government health agencies, scientists, and manufacturers of the products to provide early, adequate, and honest public education. Attention to the concerns of the public may be the only means to prevent hysteria over this and future agricultural products of biotechnology and will, therefore, allow the public to form logical and thoughtful criteria assessments with respect to acceptance or rejection of each product.     

碳责任账户的目标原则、分配逻辑与框架构建：账户建立

随着全球环境问题日趋严重,企业和消费者日益认识到减缓气候变化的紧迫性。作为经济活动的主要参与者,减少温室气体排放已经成为任何单个企业及其供应链的巨大挑战。供应链的所有参与者都需要为气候减缓做出努力。现有的碳排放责任核算大多从企业的生产方面入手。最终消费者作为供应链的重要参与者,是所有生产者的最终服务对象,同样具有不可忽视的碳减排作用以及应承担的碳减排责任。本文提出以产品为导向,考虑产品生产过程中的直接碳排放和间接碳排放,建立产品碳排放基准值,对基于供应链的所有参与主体进行责任分配,进而建立基于供应链的碳责任账户。本文构建的责任体系框架具有更广泛、更有前景的应用潜力。     

The science of corporate social responsibility (CSR): Contamination and conflict in a mining project in the southern Ecuadorian Andes

In this article, I explain the role that scientific studies play in shaping collaboration and conflict over mining exploration in the Ecuadorian highlands. Toronto-based IAMGOLD conducted water quality studies to simultaneously fulfill legal obligations and secure support for drilling in an environmentally sensitive zone. With these studies, IAMGOLD generated collaborative relations with local authorities and university scientists. However, water quality studies were also used by dairy farmers to establish new connections for an opposition movement. The scientific studies enabled IAMGOLD and the dairy farmers to make competing claims about the responsibility for contamination of an important watershed. This article analyzes the conflict that resulted and challenges conventional wisdom that distinguishes a corporation's legal obligations from its voluntary CSR programs.     

Think Global,Buy National: CSR,Cooperatives and Consumer Concerns in the Norwegian Food Value Chain

In a world where issues of food safety and food security are increasingly important, the social responsibility of central actors in the food chain—producers and the main grocery chains—becomes more pressing. As a response, these actors move from implicitly assuming social responsibilities implied in laws, regulations and ethical customs, towards explicitly expressing social responsibilities. In this paper, we discuss the ethical values relevant for the social responsibility of central food producers and retailers in Norway, one of the most subsidized and protected areas of food production in the world. How do the actors perceive and express their social responsibility, and—given their position in the local, national and global market—how should they handle these responsibilities? We analyze Tine and Nortura, two producers owned by farmer cooperatives with market regulator function, as well as Coop—a dominant grocery chain in Norway, with basis in the same public ownership model as the farmer-owned cooperative producers. While the complex roles of these key actors in the Norwegian food market have been criticized from several angles, we argue that these multifaceted roles put them in a good position to promote informed consumer choices in a globalized market.     

It’s All in the Numbers: Acreage Tallies and Environmental Program Evaluation

Increasingly, performance measurement is being used to hold federal agencies accountable, represent environmental progress, and evaluate the effectiveness of environmental programs. The need to track measurable outputs has created a tendency to present programmatic progress solely by quantifiable data, despite the inherent complexity of natural resource management. Wetlands and fire management programs are two specific environmental arenas that have come to overemphasize the tracking of acreage numbers to validate existing policy direction. In both of these arenas, we find the definition and categorization of "countable" acres to be inconsistent and unreliable. We explore this systemic flaw for both wetlands and fire programs and describe its implications for environmental policy and natural resource management more broadly. We conclude with recommendations for improved performance measurement in these arenas.     

环境保护目标责任制工作中存在问题与对策探讨

环境保护目标责任制执行工作中存在的主要问题:责任书的指标体系量化程度不高、责任人及责任不清、督查力度不够、考核奖惩难以落实等.对策:改任期责任书为年度责任书;任务指标定性与定量相结合,以定量为主;进步明确责任,建立政府协调和制约机制;加大督查力度,严肃考核、验收、认真兑现奖惩.     

论公司的环境责任

现代公司在以营利最大化为目标的前提下,必须承担一定的环境责任。公司承担环境责任与其营利性从长期看是互相促进的,但从短期看可能是相互冲突的。从公司的经济力量、公司作为社会之一员、环境问题的严重性、社区居民环境利益分析,承担环境责任是现代公司不可回避的义务。我国应建立健全公司承担环境责任的机制,强化公司的环境责任。     

Corporate Responsibility: The Stakeholder Paradox Reconsidered

Is it legitimate for a business to concentrate on profits under respect for the law and ethical custom? On the one hand, there seems to be good reasons for claiming that a corporation has a duty to act for the benefit of all its stakeholders. On the other hand, this seems to dissolve the notion of a private business; but then again, a private business would appear to be exempted from ethical responsibility. This is what Kenneth Goodpaster has called the stakeholder paradox: either we have ethics without business or we have business without ethics. Through a different route, I reach the same solution to this paradox as Goodpaster, namely that a corporation is the instrument of the shareholders only, but that shareholders still have an obligation to act ethically responsibly. To this, I add discussion of Friedman’s claim that this responsibility consists in increasing profits. I show that most of his arguments fail. Only pragmatic considerations allow to a certain extent that some of the ethical responsibility is left over to democratic regulation.     

环境民事公益诉讼中预防性责任适用规则的优化路径

"防患于未然"是环境民事公益诉讼预防性责任应对环境风险的价值诉求。预防性责任是在有危害之虞或损害已经发生且侵害处于持续状态时采取的积极预防性的救济措施，面向的是抽象不确定性。预防性责任的具体表现形式主要以停止侵害、排除妨碍、消除危险为主。但在环境司法实践中，预防性责任呈现出环境侵害标准不明和责任形式单调等问题，掣肘环境司法良序发展。鉴于此，需对环境民事公益诉讼预防性责任适用规则进行系统性优化，在遵循预防原则的前提下，明晰环境侵害标准，增设责任承担方式，建构举证责任转换规则以及设置预防性执行措施等，进而发挥预防性责任的前瞻性预防功能，以促进环境民事公益诉讼满足实践需求。     

雾霾污染、经营绩效与企业环境社会责任

本文采用我国沪深两市2010—2016年A股上市公司数据与哥伦比亚大学社会经济数据和应用中心发布的PM2.5浓度数据,基于固定效应模型研究了雾霾污染对企业环境社会责任履行情况的影响。实证分析结果表明:我国各地市的雾霾污染对企业环境社会责任具有正向影响,即本地雾霾污染越严重,企业承担环境社会责任就越多。进一步的分析发现:雾霾污染会削弱经营绩效对企业环境社会责任履行情况的正向影响,即雾霾污染越严重,经营绩效对企业环境社会责任的正向影响越弱。本文的研究结论不仅揭示了雾霾对企业环境社会责任的正向影响,也揭示了雾霾污染对经营绩效和企业环境责任之间关系的调节影响。该结论对于加强雾霾治理和推动企业良好履行环境社会责任具有积极的作用。     

论政府生态环境损害赔偿责任的承担

政府承担生态环境损害赔偿责任的理论基础是政府对环境质量负责,政府对环境质量负责的实质是政府作为公共环境的管理者和控制者对维护公共环境利益所负担的安全保障义务。根据政府的环境安全保障义务,政府承担生态环境损害赔偿责任应以过错推定为归责原则,责任构成的核心是政府负有其职责范围内特定的环境安全保障义务,因未尽环境安全保障义务间接引发生态环境损害。由于政府未尽环境安全保障义务的行为并非直接也并不必然导致生态环境损害,所以政府一般仅根据自身行为的可责性及其程度对生态环境损害承担补充性的赔偿责任,只有在特殊情况下才承担连带赔偿责任,在政府不负有特定环境安全保障义务的情况下政府不承担赔偿责任。     

Where Did the Agricultural Nonpoint Source Trades Go? Lessons from Virginia Water Quality Trading Programs

Governmental agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and agricultural organizations promote water quality trading programs as an innovative policy to engage agricultural producers in conservation activities. Cost analyses suggest regulated sources can reduce compliance costs by purchasing agricultural nonpoint source credits. Yet, such “point‐nonpoint” trades are rare. This article assesses the demand for agricultural nonpoint sources in well‐developed nutrient trading programs in Virginia for industrial and municipal wastewater treatment plants, municipal stormwater programs, and land developers. Evidence suggests nutrient trading programs in Virginia will not stimulate investments in pollutant reduction practices on working agricultural lands. The lack of demand for agricultural nonpoint source credits can be attributed to a substantial degree to the design features and incentives present in multiple overlapping regulatory programs. The legal setting that dampens regulated source demand for nonpoint source credits in Virginia is broadly representative of conditions found elsewhere in the United States.     

制度压力对企业环境责任的影响——来自中国上市公司的证据

环境问题是社会各界广泛关注的焦点,而企业是造成环境污染的主体之一,也是环境制度压力的主要调控对象,如何引导和控制企业履行环境责任已成为一个亟须研究的重大议题。根据制度理论,以中国上市公司7459个观测值为基础,采用固定效应模型系统评估了制度压力对企业环境责任的影响,还引入企业环境战略、内部控制作为调节变量进行分析。研究结果表明：制度压力能显著促进企业环境责任的提升;企业环境战略、内部控制等因素正向调节了制度压力与企业环境责任的关系,并且制度压力对企业环境责任的影响在非国有企业、地方国有企业中更强。以上结论在一系列的稳健性检验、反事实检验之后依然成立。这些结论启发了企业管理者运用企业环境战略、内部控制等企业自身因素强化企业环境责任,同时为政府根据企业不同情况有针对性地制定环境政策提供了理论依据。     

多视角下东北地区城市碳排放责任核算与分布特征研究

城市作为经济发展和人口聚集的中心,已经成为全球应对气候变化的核心区域,核算碳排放责任并分析其分布特征对于制定城市低碳发展路径至关重要。东北地区作为我国的老工业基地,其“能源结构偏煤,产业结构偏重”的区域发展特征严重制约了东北地区的减排进程,开展碳排放责任研究有助于引导东北地区城市低碳发展。本研究分别从“生产者责任原则”“消费者责任原则”“供应者责任原则”三个视角构建碳排放责任核算模型,计算了东北地区36个城市的碳排放,并分析城市碳排放的差异性分布特征。研究结果显示,不同类型的城市在多种责任原则下的碳排放存在差异,碳排放的分布特征与城市的资源禀赋、产业结构和经济发展水平相关。本研究将为东北地区城市的碳排放责任分配提供理论依据和数据支持,并为其他城市的节能减排提供参考。