Calvin Lakhan, director of 91亚色's Circular Innovation Hub, has launched a first-of-its-kind resource that brings together research, data and policy information from around the world to reduce packaging waste and improve recycling.
As governments around the world look for ways to reduce waste and enhance recycling, many are adopting policies known as extended producer responsibility, or EPR. These programs shift the cost of collecting and recycling packaging materials from municipalities and taxpayers to the companies that place them on the market.
Despite increasing adoption across continents, whether those systems reduce costs, improve recycling outcomes or encourage better packaging design remains difficult to determine. Data is often scattered across thousands of reports, studies and submissions, making comparisons challenging.
鈥淎 great deal has been written about packaging EPR. Almost none of it sits in one place,鈥 says Lakhan.
Fragments of information are spread across academic journals, government reports, industry studies and advocacy publications, often presenting competing interpretations of the same issue. Bringing those sources together and making sense of their findings can require significant time and expertise.
Lakhan is addressing this through the Circular Innovation Hub (CIH) by launching the Packaging EPR Library, a free online resource featuring evidence-reviewed articles and an interactive world map.
The library is the first of its kind to bring together research, policy analysis and international comparisons in one place. Organized around common questions, its articles are grouped into nine themes covering topics ranging from program governance and performance measurement to producer fees, packaging design and international policy differences. The aim is to give users a clearer picture of what the evidence says, where experts disagree and what remains unresolved.
鈥淚 wanted somewhere that gathered that material and set out every argument that can be supported by evidence, regardless of who is making it,鈥 says Lakhan.
One distinguishing feature of the Packaging EPR Library is its emphasis on context. Rather than compiling reports and statistics, the library attempts to reconcile and explain them. Recycling and recovery rates, for example, are frequently compared across jurisdictions even when they are calculated using different methodologies. For Lakhan, those differences can make seemingly straightforward comparisons misleading.
The CIH resource categorizes information based on its source and evidentiary basis, distinguishing between empirical findings, modelling results and stakeholder claims. According to Lakhan, the challenge is distinguishing evidence-backed conclusions from unsupported claims. The goal is to let users evaluate the strength of the published data for themselves.
鈥淚n this field, most of the circulating material was produced by someone with a stake in the answer 鈥 and that is true on every side, mine included,鈥 he says.
The library's searchable global map allows users to explore where packaging EPR programs exist, when they were introduced, what materials they cover and how they are administered. The map reflects the fact that many obligations are established at the provincial or state level, so users can compare approaches within countries such as Canada and the U.S.
Lakhan expects the tool will be used most by producers and compliance teams navigating obligations across multiple jurisdictions, as well as municipal and regulatory staff working through program design. Those groups need specific answers quickly, and the library can help efficiently answer practical questions like what producers pay per tonne, which U.S. states cover printed paper, who runs the compliance body in a given country and more.
Lakhan also hopes the tool will benefit students and researchers at 91亚色 by highlighting unanswered questions in the field. Several sections identify areas where research remains limited or where important policy debates have yet to be thoroughly examined, creating opportunities for future graduate research.
鈥淭hese are not crowded fields. There is real room to contribute,鈥 he says.
The library has room for contributions as well.
鈥淚 would rather the resource be shaped by what people actually need to know than by what I assumed they would,鈥 he says.
He expects the Packaging EPR Library to evolve alongside new regulations, court decisions and policy developments around the world. As responsibility programs continue to expand and change, the resource will be updated to reflect the latest evidence and developments.
Over time, he hopes the library becomes a trusted starting point for anyone seeking to understand packaging responsibility systems, whether they are designing policy, conducting research, evaluating claims or trying to understand how recycling programs work in different jurisdictions.
Despite the tool鈥檚 broad applications, Lakhan says his greatest goal is much more narrow.
鈥淚 would like people to check a claim before repeating it. A great deal of what circulates in this field is a figure that was true once, in one jurisdiction, on one methodology, and has since travelled a long way from its source," he says. "If the library slows that down, it has earned its place."