Five years ago the Extended Producer Responsibility mandate was enacted by European regulators. The legislation requires producers and car manufacturers to take back their vehicles at the end of their life cycle. In Necessary Revolution, Peter Senge discusses how businesses can be the driver of legislation. In particular, this mandate was first championed by members within the manufacturing community. European automakers and government regulators collaborated for more than a decade prior to official adoption of the legislation. Former BMW Senior Vice President Horst-Henning Wolf led the charge to have the European Union enact the mandate which requires producers to take back the objects they make, ostensibly reducing the need for raw materials. In fact, BMW started engaging in car recycling more than a decade before the directive took effect. In an article from 1993, the British news organization The Independent ran an article about BMW’s efforts.

Officially known as “Extended Producer Responsibility”, this legislation has forced producers to rethink the design and materials used in their products. Instead of making objects that have no value after their first incarnation, vehicles manufactured by European automakers (in Europe) have started making cars that can be broken down into reusable parts at the end of their lifecycle. These materials can then be used for new cars or in other projects. The parts serve as “technical nutrients“, a phrase coined by William McDonough and Michael Bruangart. In addition, Senge states that “BMW and other automakers . . . have found . . . economic value in taking back cars at the end of their lifetime and designing them so that whole portions, such as the dash panel and doors, can be recovered an reused easily.” The traditional paradigm has been turned on its head. No longer do companies benefit from planned obsolescence. Manufacturers that consider the end of a products life cycle now can benefit by taking the vehicle back and saving on costs associated with the raw materials needed to build a new car.

- Eric Wilson