title: Examining the concept of convenient collection: an application to extended producer responsibility and product stewardship frameworks.
abstract: Increasingly, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and Product Stewardship (PS) frameworks are being adopted as a preferred policy approach to promote cost-effective diversion and recovery of post-consumer solid waste. Because the application of EPR/PS generally requires the creation of a separate and often parallel collection and/or management system, key to increasing the amount of waste recovered is to maximize the convenience of the collection system to maximize consumer participation. Convenient collection is often mandated in EPR/PS laws, however it is not defined. Convenience is a subjective construct rendering it extremely difficult to define. However, based on a dissection of post-consumer collection efforts under a generic EPR/PS system, this paper identifies and examines five categories of convenience - knowledge requirements, proximity to a collection site, opportunity to drop-off materials, the draw of the collection site, and the ease of the process-and the various factors of convenience within each of these categories. By using a simplified multiple criteria decision analysis, this paper proposes a performance matrix of criteria of convenience. Stakeholders can use this matrix to assist in the design, assessment, and/or implementation of a convenient post-consumer collection system under an EPR/PS framework.
authors: Department of Environmental Science, 106 Bailey Hall, University of Southern Maine, Gorham, ME 04038, USA. twagner@usm.maine.edu
authors: Travis P
authors: TP
authors: Wagner
mesh_terms: D002170:Canada; D003256:Community Participation; D058735:Environmental Policy; D033161:Government Regulation; D062611:Solid Waste; D014481:United States; D018505:Waste Management / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D062611:Solid Waste