The Director-General of National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), Dr. Lawrence Anukam, has said that the implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and programme would create job opportunities in the country.
He stated this recently in Abuja.
According to him, the agency was collaborating with relevant stakeholders for an effective implementation of the programme and the EPR was a strategy designed to promote the integration of environmental costs associated with goods throughout their life cycles into the market price of the products.
He said: “The implementation of the programme would also tackle other environmental-related problems and Government is looking for positive ways to reduce waste as it has a link with climate change and the way to make it possible is through a strong implementation of the EPR programme.”
“I strongly believe that the implementation of the programme will reduce waste, create employment opportunities, promote the nation`s economy and integrity,” he added.
Anukam also said that EPR was a stewardship policy approach that makes consumer goods companies responsible for managing their products and packaging when consumers are finished with them.
The extended producer responsibility, manufacturers would have incentives to design their products to use fewer materials, less toxics and recycle them at the end of their useful life.
He opined that the essence of EPR was to change what were formerly wastes into food for industry and the next generation of products.
The D-G stated that EPR could create a feedback circle by making manufacturers responsible for collecting, re-using, and re-cycling their products and packaging.
He added that EPR would reduce energy use, air and global warming pollution, adding that the programme was a form of industry-led recycling.
“A research has demonstrated that recycling create jobs and economic development.
“It is working for other countries; I believe it will also work for Nigeria.’’
He urged manufacturers, dealers, importers and all the relevant stakeholders involved in the implementation of the EPR to abide by the guidelines of the programme.
Anukam, however, assured that the government would give the necessary support for the smooth running of the programme.
