How can the EU Circular Economy Act unlock the potential of EPR?

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) systems are successful primarily at financing the collection and treatment of waste. But when it comes to true circularity and tackling the root causes of the waste crisis, they fall short of incentivising change. Despite rising collection rates, waste generation continues to climb at a higher rate. Meanwhile, reuse and repair has stagnated, raising serious questions about the system’s broader impact.

Therefore, without urgent reform, we risk locking Europe into a system that manages waste efficiently, but does little to prevent it.

While the forthcoming Circular Economy Act (CEA) focus will be on EPR optimisation, it risks sidelining more resource-efficient solutions like prevention, reuse, and repair. At the same time, the recently adopted PPWR, with binding reuse and packaging waste reduction targets alongside mandated funding for prevention and reuse from EPR, provides a clear legal basis for the producer pays system in the EU to evolve.

The frontrunner cities of Tallinn and Brussels, both signatories of the “Break the Single-Use Bias” manifesto, along with New ERA – trade association representing businesses promoting reusable and refillable packaging – and Collectief Circulair Textiel, a progressive producer responsibility organisation for textiles, will share real-world examples and insights on how these policy changes can scale reuse and repair solutions and reduce overall waste generation by holding producers accountable for the full lifecycle of their products.

What you’ll get out of the webinar:

Understand the current limitations of EPR systems in Europe and Zero Waste Europe’s proposals to transform the system into a fairer, more circular one them into tools that actively support reuse and waste prevention, as well as the reuse and repair sectors, including:
- Full cost coverage to ensure producers bear the true cost of their products’ end-of-life treatment.
- Mandating EPR funding for prevention, repair, and reuse across a product’s life cycle.
- Improved governance with greater transparency and accountability
Hear stories and real-world examples from progressive cities on the challenges of reducing single-use packaging waste at the local level and fully transition to reuse systems
Explore with experts from the packaging and textile sectors how reforming EPR in Europe could practically help shift the system toward prevention, by expanding reuse and repair activities and ultimately reducing waste generation.