From Public to Private Governance, and Back—Eco‐Modulation as De‐Privatization in Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)

Abstract

The European Union is advancing circular economy policies, aimed at reducing the environmental impacts of products across their life‐cycles. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) exemplifies this strategy. It privatizes the end‐of‐life management of products to their producers, seeking thereby to incentivize the producer to design environmentally more sustainable products. However, EPR has failed to deliver significant improvements in product design. This article examines the EU's attempts to strengthen eco‐design in EPR through ‘eco‐modulation’. Applying the theory of competence‐and‐control, the article argues that the introduction of eco‐modulation will destabilize the public‐private balance in EPR, shifting EPR back from private towards public governance. This de‐privatization is expected to refine EPR's role within the EU's policy mix. Our findings thus offer insights for the development of EPR‐related circular economy policies, while also contributing to theories of privatization.