| The Current Status of EPR Application to Agricultural Inputs and Policy Tasks | |||
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| Author | Kang, Changyong | ||
| Views | 72876 | Publication Date | 2016.03.23 |
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Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), which has been implemented since 2003, aims to minimize the consumption of resources that can cause environmental problems and to maximize recycling through mandatory recycling. EPR is a system in which producers bear the costs for collecting and recycling goods and packing materials in optimal ways. Discarded agricultural materials, including plastic waste and fertilizer and feed sacks, have gradually become subject to EPR. They have been changed from the objects of the waste disposal charge system to those of voluntary agreements or EPR. The Korean government has set the rates of mandatory recycling for each of goods and packing materials and treatment costs per unit weight. And mutual aid associations by related item and the Korea Recycling Service Agency are operating this system. In the case of agricultural films, producers picked up and recycled discarded films from 2008 to 2014 through voluntary agreements. The films became the object of the waste disposal charge system in 2015, and will be the subject of alloted charges for recycling after 2016. For the recycling of scrapped sacks of inorganic fertilizers, manufacturers have payed alloted charges for recycling to the mutual aid association through voluntary agreements. However, there are conflicts over discarded sacks of organic by-product fertilizers owing to various problems in the system implementation and management processes. The organic by-product fertilizer companies, which filed an administrative litigation, argue that the application of EPR is problematic due to lack of PR of the policy and most farmers' market transaction. The United States and Japan have clear principles and goals of EPR application. In the two countries, goods transacted in the market are excluded from the subjects of control; the Polluter Pays Principle is applied; systems different from general cases are utilized for agriculture and rural areas; and direct subsidies are also provided in consideration of farmers' difficulty. These features show the policies different from Korea's. Therefore, if EPR is applied to agricultural materials in the future, a close examination of the following and differentiated application are needed. 1) Because the treatment process of discarded agricultural materials in rural regions is very different from that of general products, it is necessary to seek special ways to promote their recycling. 2) The Polluter Pays Principle and the principle of exclusion from control targets in the case of market transaction should be applied to scrapped agricultural materials. 3) Administrative agencies' active participation is necessary, and the government's support may be needed. 4) In managing the items of discarded agricultural materials subject to EPR, an organization independent of the existing organization should be recognized, because the occurrence and treatment methods of them are different from those of general products and packing materials. In the future, more agricultural materials discarded in rural areas will be the objects of EPR. Thus, it is important to apply the logical and field-oriented system. The unilateral, uniform application of the system and policy implementation may cause results different from the promotion of recycling. It is necessary to seek methods to apply the reasonable EPR system through surveys on items of related scrapped agricultural materials and types of packing materials, and investigations into the current state of relevant treatment and treatment costs. Researchers : Kang Changyong and Suh Daeseok Research period : 2015. 10. ~ 12. E-mail address : cykang@krei.re.kr |
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