Current projects · Open-access research library
The Packaging EPR Library
An open reference on extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging and printed paper: evidence-reviewed articles on the questions that recur wherever these programmes are designed, debated, or defended, and an interactive map of every packaging EPR system in the world.
46
evidence-reviewed articles
9
research themes
Live
updated as programmes launch
Free
no account required
What it is
A research library and a world atlas
The library gathers in one place the questions that come up whenever packaging EPR is on the table: how schemes are governed and who controls them, what producers actually pay and who ultimately bears the cost, whether fees change what gets made, what the performance numbers really measure, and how systems differ across Canada, the United States, and Europe.
Each article takes one commonly asked question and reviews the state of the research on it: what the empirical evidence shows, what the principal positions are, and where the genuine uncertainties lie. Empirical findings, model results, and interested-party claims are labelled as what they are, and every source is introduced on first mention.
The library
46 articles across nine themes: foundations; design and governance; scope and obligations; fees and economics; eco-modulation and design; performance and measurement; EPR in the policy mix; the jurisdictional landscape; and politics, evidence, and the future.
The world map
Every shaded jurisdiction opens a programme profile: when it started, who runs the producer organisation, who oversees it, what it covers, what producers pay for, and what it reports. Canada and the United States are mapped province by province and state by state, where the obligation actually sits.
Who it is for
Written for everyone at the table
Policymakers and regulators
Designing or supervising a scheme.
Producers and compliance teams
Facing obligations in several jurisdictions at once.
Municipalities
Negotiating the transfer of services and costs.
Researchers and students
Looking for the state of the evidence and its gaps.
Journalists and analysts
Checking a figure before repeating it.
Advocates on every side
Who are entitled to the same facts.
Contribution to the community
Separating what has been demonstrated from what has been asserted
Packaging EPR is now mandatory across the European Union and spreading quickly through North America, Asia, and Africa. The field is not short of material, but much of it is advocacy, and the same figures circulate without their context. British Columbia, Ontario, and the EU each report recycling rates, for example, but they measure different things, so a higher number does not reliably mean better performance.
The library exists to fill that gap. It takes no position on whether any jurisdiction should adopt packaging EPR or on how a scheme should be designed. Where the honest answer is that nobody knows, that is the answer given. By making a shared, sourced evidence base freely available, it lowers the cost of informed participation, particularly for smaller municipalities, jurisdictions early in the policy process, students, and community groups that cannot commission their own research.
The library is maintained and expanded as programmes launch, regulations land, and new evidence appears. Corrections and missing sources are welcome and can be sent to lakhanc@yorku.ca.
Explore more of our work
See the Hub’s other active research projects, or browse our full list of publications.