Three decades ago, France was being overwhelmed by packaging waste from plastic packaging bottles to cardboard boxes when public and private sector leaders came up with a radical idea. What if they made companies that manufacture and market household products responsible for what happens with the packaging after the product has been used?
And so was born one of the worlds first extended producer responsibility programmes. Nearly 35 years later, the initiative has been credited with helping France achieve high recycling rates and fund other solutions to plastic pollution.
A growing number of countries are now considering extended producer responsibility programmes as a way to counter surging plastic pollution, which will be a focus of this years World Environment Day celebrated on 5 June.
We recently spoke with Jean Hornain, the CEO of Citeo. This non-profit group is helping companies in France reduce the environmental impact of packaging, including plastic containers, and graphic paper. Hornain talked about how Frances programme works, what makes it successful and why extended producer responsibility has come to transcend political divide. Here are edited excerpts of that conversation.
Can you tell us about how extended producer responsibility works?
Jean Hornain (JH): It is simple. Companies take environmental responsibility for the products theyve put on the market throughout their life cycle. Under extended producer responsibility legislation, companies gather into what are known as producer responsibility organizations (PROs). Citeo is a PRO for packaging. Each time companies sell a product with packaging, they pay a small fee to us based on unit sales and weight.
What happens with that money?
JH: This money which amounted to 1.6 billion euros last year for packaging and paper supports the reduction of packaging waste, the eco-design of packaging, reuse and recycling programmes, as well as anti-littering initiatives and public-awareness campaigns. The goal is to develop what we call a 100 per cent circular economy, which means using as little material as possible, using it as long as possible, and once its useful life has finished, recycling it.
Critics say extended producer responsibility programmes drive up prices for consumers. What do you say to that?
JH: Well, its true. I cannot say a transition like this is going to be free. For packaging, it represents, on average, 1 or 2 euro cents per piece of packaging. But the cost of doing this today is much, much, much lower than it will be in 30 years if we dont handle the negative externalities of plastic pollution and waste production.
So, youre saying right now in many countries, companies and consumers arent paying for the true cost of packaging, if you consider the damage that its doing to the environment?
JH: Exactly. All the services rendered by nature are considered free-of-charge and we say Go for it. Help yourself! But thats not a sustainable way to operate. Extended producer responsibility is a way to internalize environmental costs and engage companies to minimize their impact on resources while reducing their carbon dioxide emissions.
Frances extended producer responsibility system enjoys widespread support across the political spectrum. How has the country managed that?
JH: Companies have taken responsibility, alongside local authorities and industry players, to collectively strengthen public policy. This approach differs from that of a tax, which removes accountability. The money doesn't go to the state. It goes directly through the PROs to the stakeholders, usually the municipalities. Tax policies can fluctuate but this is really a permanent, reliable fund.
I have to say, there are questions about the efficiency of our system. Is every euro being used as efficiently as possible? But never, ever has the system been challenged in principle. I think everyone realizes that we have no choice we need to reduce our impact on the environment and the amount of resources we consume. The planet cannot give us more than it has.
In mid-2023, France hosted the second session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee developing a legally binding global instrument to end plastic pollution. The second part of the fifth session of the negotiations (INC 5.2) will take place in Geneva, Switzerland from 5 to 14 August.
Many countries around the world are looking at extended producer responsibility programmes as a way to limit plastic pollution. What advice would you give them?
JH: Extended producer responsibility is flexible each country can adapt it to its specific circumstances. But there are four elements, I think, that a good programme will have. Firstly, and this might sound obvious, it has to be mandatory. You need to create a level playing field on which all companies will operate.
Secondly, you need a strong system of control, by which I mean the government needs to make sure all brands are paying into the system. For example, if you are a company that wants to do business in France, you need to have an ID number and register with a PRO.
Thirdly, you need to onboard all stakeholders. This is a collective system that only works well if everyone governments, companies, municipalities and citizens are working together.
And finally, the system needs to bring value to waste pickers those in the informal sector who collect plastic and other waste. A good extended producer responsibility programme will help integrate them into the formal recycling system, giving them decent, safe jobs.
When people think about extended producer responsibility programmes, they tend to think of recycling. But there are other important elements when it comes to reducing plastic pollution, right?
JH: Thats right; its about resource management. It starts with eco-design for reduction and reuse.
Reuse is the idea that instead of throwing away a piece of packaging, like a milk bottle, you collect it, clean it and refill it. That means you dont need to make new container out of virgin plastic, for example. How is Citeo supporting re-use?
JH: We are starting a project this summer in four French regions to develop reuse at scale. With the fees we collect from our members, we have designed standardized packaging, for beer bottles for instance, that multiple companies will use. Instead of being thrown away, theyll be collected, cleaned and refilled. We are looking to do the same thing for several other types of packaging, such as soup jars, juice bottles and milk bottles. This is what a circular 21st century extended producer responsibility looks like.
About 70 per cent of household packaging is now recycled in France, while reuse programmes are on the upswing and manufacturers in many cases are using less plastic in packaging. Does that make you optimistic about the future?
JH: I always say that extended producer responsibility is not perfect. Its not magical. It doesnt solve everything. But its a very effective and valuable tool. And Im encouraged by the fact that no one questions the goal to create a circular economy for plastic and other types of packaging. Nobody not companies, not municipalities, not citizens is saying we need to go back 10 or 20 years.
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World Environment Day
World Environment Dayon 5 June is the biggest international day for the environment. Led by UNEP and held annually since 1973, the event has grown to be the largest global platform for environmental outreach, with millions of people from across the world engaging to protect the planet. This year, World Environment Day joins the UNEP-led #BeatPlasticPollution campaign to end plastic pollution.
About Beat Plastic Pollution
Since 2018, the UNEP-led #BeatPlasticPollution campaign has advocated for a just, collective, and global transition to a world free of plastic pollution.
