Question

Product stewardship is often used interchangeably with Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), although EPR has a much greater focus on which of the following?

A) Consumer awareness
B) Waste reduction
C) Environmental sustainability
D) Producer profitability
Please select the correct option.

Answer 1

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) primarily focuses on environmental sustainability over consumer awareness, waste reduction, and producer profitability. It extends the responsibility of producers to include the environmental costs and impacts associated with products throughout their entire lifecycle.

Step-by-step explanation:

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) focuses greatly on environmental sustainability, meaning the correct answer to the student's question is C) Environmental sustainability. EPR is a strategy designed to promote the integration of environmental costs associated with products throughout their life cycles into the market price of the products. It extends the responsibility of producers to the post-consumer stage of a product's lifecycle.

The concept of stewardship in this context implies that producers should not only focus on the profitability, but also endeavour to reduce environmental impacts throughout their operations. This includes the adoption of practices such as choosing environmentally friendly production materials, utilizing renewable energy sources, and implementing take-back programs for product recycling or disposal.

Consumer awareness, waste reduction, and producer profitability are also important considerations in product stewardship, but it is the focus on environmental measures and sustainability that characterizes EPR and makes this its distinguishing feature.