论废弃产品问题的界定、成因与制度因应

A Discussion on the Definition,Cause and Regimental Antidote of Waste Product Problems

废弃产品问题,乃指产品在消费后阶段被消费者废弃所引发或可能引发的资源浪费与环境污染问题。废弃产品问题的产生既与消费者的随意丢弃行为有关,也与生产者的生产行为有关(即生产者生产的产品承载了大量的资源以及具有潜在致污能力),甚至还与国家的废弃产品管理法律规范的缺失、废弃产品处置方法的失当以及人类需要的无限膨胀等有关,但根本原因还在于产品的资源需求量、废弃产品潜在致污能力的无限增长与自然自身的有限性(即自然的资源稀缺性与环境自净能力的有限性)之间的矛盾。针对日渐突出的废弃产品问题,本文对废弃产品的时空特征和基本属性进行了界定,分析了废弃产品问题产生的外部和内部原因,并从产品的资源需求与产品的潜在致污能力两方面入手,探讨了通过创建"人工生态系统"、实现"人工生态平衡"来应对废弃产品问题的制度安排。

Waste products problems are the waste of resources and environmental pollution problems that are caused or may be caused by the discarded products in latter consumption phase. They relate to the consumer＇ s behavior of discarding waste products arbitrarily, the producer＇ s production behavior whose products are produced using a lot of resources with the potential possibility of pollution, and the absence of relevant regulations, the improper disposal methods of waste products. However, the fundamental reasons lie in the contradictions between the unlimited growth of product demand for resources, the waste products＇ potential possibility of pollution and the limited natural resources （that is, the scarcity of natural resources and limited self-purification ability of environment）. It has become the key contradiction between human＇s unlimited demands and nature＇s limited supply. Simply using “Terminal Control” can not fundamentally solve waste products problems. Against the increasingly serious problems of waste products, the term “Extended Producer Responsibility” was firstly used and defined by Lindhqvist who worked for Lund University in 1988. In 1991, the first EPR regime was established in German Packaging Ordinance, which applied to the packaging EPR regime is a new regime that is recently established by some western developed countries to eliminate environmental impact of waste products such as waste electrical products, waste motor vehicles, and waste packaging and so on. It is created to handle the increasingly serious problems of waste products. Hence, based on the resources demand of products and the potential possibility of pollution, EPR regime requires that producers （including manufacturers and importers） should assume extended producer responsibility of waste product problems. In order to find a “second source” of natural resources, it is required that producers should recover and recycle waste products. In order to establish a “second approach” for pollution control of waste products, it is required that producers should prevent pollution from source and recycle waste products. The balance between the resources demand and the resources supply should be maintained. The waste product emissions mustn＇t exceed the environmental carrying capacity. Actually it is a series of legal regulations to mitigate the pressure of resources scarcity by creating “artificial ecosystem” and achieving “artificial ecological balance”.