Metro Vancouver and the provincial Ministry of Environment worked with Morrison Hershfield's environmental team to conduct a study in order to help the Ministry improve existing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programs through better performance measures, awareness campaigns, and service locations. The study also identified potential product categories to be included in future EPR programs, and the potential impacts of adding those categories.
The study compared the economic and environmental impacts produced by BC's EPR programs in 2011, compared to an alternative scenario where EPR programs did not exist. The identified impacts of the EPR programs in 2011 were:
- Reduced waste collection and land-filling costs of $30 million (projected at $115 million by 2022)
- Market value of recovered EPR material of $40 million (projected at $100 million by 2022)
- Estimated creation of 2,400 jobs (projected at 5,400 jobs by 2022)
- Avoided disposal of 150,425 tonnes of garbage, which was equivalent to 11 percent of Metro Vancouver's total disposed waste in 2011 (projected at 625,171 tonnes by 2022)
- Net greenhouse gas reductions of 173,000 tonnes of CO² equivalents, which is comparable to taking 38,500 cars off the roads for a year (projected at 935,000 tonnes by 2022)
The study was delivered in February and included in Metro Vancouver's recent newsletter. You can also download a PDF of the report delivered to Metro Vancouver from Morrison Hershfield.
