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• Resolution 4: on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)

Resolution 4: on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)

The 1st Elective Congress notes:

We believe that the big companies are the main polluting actors in the world and that they are responsible for their production practices and the impact they cause on the environment, climate change and the lives of the poorest people on the planet.

Waste is increasing, and increasingly includes non-recyclable, non-reusable, and hard-to-manage materials, making it difficult for municipalities to adequately fund waste management. By not taking financial responsibility for their materials, producers are externalizing the costs of their products, which incentivizes the increased production of harmful waste.

Growing waste production and inadequate funding for waste management are creating environmental injustices that affect our communities the most. EPR is increasingly seen as a solution to these problems, yet EPR can also pose a threat to waste picker livelihoods if not designed well.

Noting: Waste pickers and other informal environmental workers are mostly excluded from EPR planning and implementation;
Noting: Waste pickers lack recognition/credit for their role in existing EPR systems;
Noting: Existing EPR systems don’t fairly compensate workers, lack inclusion mandates, and promote privatization and consolidation of the waste industry;
Noting: Despite the challenges faced by waste pickers, well-designed EPR systems can create and enhance opportunities for waste pickers and other workers in the informal economy.

We believe that EPR has the capacity to benefit the environment and create decent work in waste management. We also understand that this issue has been under discussion for more than 6 years among the founding members of this International Alliance of Waste Pickers, having developed a joint position and other research. The whole world has to recognize the fundamental role of waste pickers in reducing the impact of plastics, and therefore there can be no EPR system that is fair and effective, socially and environmentally responsible, if it does not work together with waste pickers and their organizations.

Whereas, several countries are currently moving towards extended producer responsibility, based on circular economy approaches, so that companies become responsible for the waste they place on the market to reduce the environmental impacts they cause, but, in many cases, this does not include the work of the waste pickers and becomes a source of enrichment for private companies.

Therefore, it is resolved: 

1. Maintain our position on Extended Producer Responsibility, updating it with the signature of the International Alliance of Waste Pickers.
2. Develop models for inclusive EPR legislation.
3. Sustain active campaigns in support of this positioning, seeking to add more and more organizations and agencies that adopt it.
4. Communicate the values of this positioning in every public and private action as the International Alliance of Waste Pickers.
5. Actively support local initiatives that seek to promote Extended Producer Responsibility laws.
6. Advise on EPR negotiations, helping waste pickers engage in institutional systems that promote economic and symbolic support for recyclers.
7. Promote case studies related to the subject and their international dissemination. 
8. Implement national actions for the construction of public policies that include waste pickers within Extended Producer Responsibility schemes as fundamental actors for the provision and recognition of the service for the recovery and use of waste, through contracting processes or alliances.
9. Document in more detail the harmful impacts of existing EPR systems and waste pollution on our communities.
10. Establish a global committee and dedicate funding to carry out this work.
11. The IAWP to develop comprehensive guidance on various schemes and models that waste pickers’ organizations can adopt to establish and sustain worker-run collective organizations.
12.  The IAWP to design and implement tailored collective bargaining and negotiation training programs aimed at equipping waste pickers with the necessary skills to engage in meaningful negotiations with companies.

Proposed by: FACCyR (Argentina), RENAREC (Ecuador), AIR-NYC (USA), Les Valoristes (Canada), GSA (USA), and ASWOL (Nigeria).

Seconded by: 1st Elective Congress delegates.