The Product Policy Institute (PPI) has launched its new website, emphasizing its focus on helping communities and local governments develop extended producer responsibility policies.

Extended producer responsibility (EPR), also referred to as product stewardship, makes product makers responsible for the lifecycle impacts of products. It can cover a range of efforts, including product take-back programs that give consumers an easy way to dispose of unwanted products while ensuring they will be recycled, reused or refurbished.

The PPI's new website aims to connect communities that are working toward product stewardship policies, and provides background information on EPR, information on Product Stewardship Councils that have formed in the U.S. and Canada, tips from Product Stewardship Councils and information on EPR framework legislation in North America.

One of the main drivers of product stewardship is to shift the cost of disposing of products from taxpayers and local governments to the companies that made the products, especially regarding products that are hazardous or contain toxics and chemicals. More recent EPR movements have also included packaging and a broader range of items.

One side effect of EPR policies is that they encourage companies to rethink their products and packaging, either making them easier to recycle, removing certain chemicals or making them easier to disassemble.

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