Extended Producer Responsibility and the Market Development for Recycled Plastics. Two Norwegian Cases of Using Recycled Polypropylene in Chairs
Abstract: To deal with the problems resulting from the current unsustainable pattern of resource utilization, the material life cycle of plastics should be extended. Extended producer responsibility (EPR) has been increasingly adopted as a strategy to redirect the material flow, but its contributions to the market development of recycled plastics have not been well researched. Norway is one of the countries where various EPR programmes have been implemented for a number of years. This thesis presents two Norwegian cases in which recycled polypropylene is used to replace virgin plastics in the product application of chairs. Material chain, including actors of the plastic recycler, the plastic converter, the product manufacturer and the end-user of product, is chosen to be the unit of analysis. The change process of using recycled plastics in the material chain is observed and analyzed, in order to understand the contributions of the related EPR programmes. The study shows that the implementation of EPR programmes increases recycling activities, and thus strengthens the supply side of the market, but its influence on the demand side is far less significant.
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