Making the case for competition

New Landbell Group white paper highlights benefits of competition in EPR systems

Landbell Group has released a new white paper making the case for competition as a core design principle for extended producer responsibility (EPR) systems.

Drawing on empirical insights and policy analysis, the paper finds that countries with multiple producer responsibility organisations (PROs) tend to perform better – both in terms of cost-efficiency and environmental outcomes – than those operating under monopoly or state-run models.

The paper identifies several advantages of competitive EPR systems, such as:

• better service quality
• increased innovation, and
• stronger alignment between PROs and producers’ sustainability strategies

Competition also mitigates systemic risk: if one PRO underperforms, others can help maintain compliance and infrastructure.

Moreover, the presence of multiple actors provides natural benchmarking in line with the “do not exceed necessary cost” principle required by the EU Waste Framework Directive (WFD) and strengthens regulatory oversight.

Importantly, the paper stresses that competition is a tool to drive circularity. For competition to be effective, clear rules and independent oversight are needed.

Key enablers include:

• harmonised eco-modulation criteria
• robust enforcement of legal obligations, and
• transparency across the value chain

The white paper concludes that while monopoly systems may be justified during the early stages of EPR implementation, mature markets benefit from competition.

It argues that a well-regulated competitive environment is better equipped to meet the EU’s environmental and circular economy goals.

The full white paper is available here.