Aknur Zhidebekkyzy

Department of Management, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University,

Kazakhstan

Aknur.zhidebekkyzy@kaznu.edu.kz 

ORCID 0000-0003-3543-547X

Catalysing responsible production: Evaluating the impact of EPR system on manufacturing enterprises

Zhansaya Temerbulatova

Department of Economics, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University,

Kazakhstan

Zhansaya.temerbulatova@kaznu.edu.kz  

ORCID 0000-0002-3205-0948

Anna Kotaskova

Department of Management and Marketing, Pan-European University, Slovakia

anna.kotaskova@gmail.com  

ORCID 0000-0001-7185-6541

Péter Németh

Széchenyi István University, 

Department of Applied Sustainability

Gyor, Hungary

nemeth.peter@ga.sze.hu

ORCID 0000-0002-7825-6773 

Abstract. Responsible production has become increasingly vital in the global sustainability discourse, particularly in manufacturing. The extended producer responsibility (EPR) system is a critical policy mechanism that encourages manufacturers to reduce their environmental impact. Despite its growing significance, comprehensive studies assessing its effectiveness are sparse. Our research aims to address this gap by evaluating the influence of the EPR system on responsible production practices in European manufacturing enterprises. We employed the difference-in-differences (DiD) method to assess the impact, analysing panel data from 27 manufacturing enterprises across the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Estonia, Hungary, and Bulgaria, from 2010 to 2022. This method was chosen to mitigate endogeneity concerns. The results from the DiD analysis reveal a statistically significant positive impact of the EPR system on the circular material use rate, with an average increase of 10,5%. These findings indicate that the EPR system effectively enhances circular material use within the electronics manufacturing industry, a critical sector for advancing environmental sustainability.

Received: July, 2023

1st Revision: April, 2024

Accepted: May, 2024

DOI: 10.14254/2071-8330.2024/17-2/9

JEL Classification: Q53, Q56, L52, D22

Keywords: extended producer responsibility, responsible production, circular economy, sustainable manufacturing, difference-in-differences method, European manufacturing enterprises