This is a database of references to research, debate, and policymaking publications related to Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), a policy strategy that assigns responsibility to producers for products and packages when they become waste.
The database contains references to 1240 journal articles, books, reports, theses and other publications.
Developed by the Center for Industrial Ecology at the Yale University School of the Environment and enhanced and disseminated by the LIFE4EPR project. The reference database is open to all and also supports the activities of the ExPeRt Hub of the LIFE4EPR project.
"Extended producer responsibility" (EPR) is an environmental policy strategy in which the responsibility of producers for their products is extended to include the costs and sometimes the management of end-of-life (EoL) waste, especially the recycling of their products.
The database grew out of research on EPR at the Yale Center for Industrial Ecology. While the database contains more than 1,200 references, because of the vast and diverse publications on EPR, it is not an exhaustive catalog of studies and reports. Its contents are sometimes idiosyncratic, reflecting specific research projects conducted at the Center for Industrial Ecology. A particular strength is that it includes both academic and non-academic (grey literature) references as well as documents stretching back to the early days of EPR in the 1990s.
The database was created by Reid Lifset, Research Scholar and Resident Fellow in Industrial Ecology at the Yale School of the Environment. While opened for the public through the LIFE4EPR project, see the list of organizations that have provided funding for the support for the development of the database on the Acknowledgements page.