International Review of Waste Management Policy - Department of ...

them to increase efforts at suppression (keeping mailing lists up to date), and
targeting.
The UK’s current DMA voluntary agreement is titled a producer responsibility scheme
and refers to the pledge by the Association to 733 :
601
“Work with local authorities to promote kerbside collections of paper to be
recycled, and to make sure the collections have the capacity to meet recycling
targets”
This pledge has translated into the Association promoting the mail preference service
with local authorities. However, no financial help is built into the agreement. This does
not correspond with the OECD’s definition of producer responsibility 734:
“OECD defines EPR as an environmental policy approach in which a
producer’s responsibility for a product is extended to the post-consumer stage
of a product’s life cycle. An EPR policy is characterised by: (1) the shifting of
responsibility (physically and/or economically; fully or partially) upstream
toward the producer and away from municipalities; and (2) the provision of
incentives to producers to take into account environmental considerations
when designing their products.”
The voluntary approach is weakened by virtue of the absence of any incentives for
producers other than those which already exist as a consequence of ongoing
activities.
38.4 Possible Impacts
A report written for Defra in the UK estimated the waste prevention impacts of the
measures and Table 38-2 shows the resulting changes in percentage of total direct
mail annual tonnage prevented: 735
733 Section on the Defra website entitled Producer Responsibility Voluntary Agreements,
http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/producer/voluntary/index.htm
734 Taken from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Environment Directorate
website , http://www.oecd.org/document/19/0,3343,en_2649_34281_35158227_1_1_1_1,00.html
735 D. Hogg et al (2007) Household Waste Prevention Policy Side Research Programme, Report for
DEFRA, April 2007.
International Review of Waste Policy: Annexes