Over the past five decades, Mauritius shifted from an agricultural economy, dependent on local natural resources to a diversified economy with industrial, financial, and tourist sectors dependent on fossil fuels and imports. With unsustainable production and consumption patterns, solid waste management has become a major environmental challenge for Mauritius as an African small island developing State (SIDS). Reducing the annual waste load entails the responsibility of the State but also the cooperation of businesses and corporations. Producers of goods and materials need to engage in a production model that reduces material use, promotes eco-designs, and uses waste as a resource to manufacture new products in line with the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). While EPR has been introduced in Mauritius in the plastic sector, the country could implement EPR schemes in other targeted sectors such as the electrical and electronic equipment sector, the construction sector, the packaging sector, and the automotive sector to decrease its annual load of waste. EPR could better engage businesses in the environmental protection process and increase the sustainability of products placed on the market. This chapter addresses waste management through the concept of EPR in Mauritius from the premise of the right to a healthy environment protected by the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and explores how to expand EPR implementation in the country. It provides an overview of the status of EPR in Mauritius and highlights the way forward for a successful EPR implementation.

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Business, Waste Management and the Right to a Healthy Environment: Extending Producer Responsibility in Mauritius

  • Odile Juliette LIM TUNG

摘要

Over the past five decades, Mauritius shifted from an agricultural economy, dependent on local natural resources to a diversified economy with industrial, financial, and tourist sectors dependent on fossil fuels and imports. With unsustainable production and consumption patterns, solid waste management has become a major environmental challenge for Mauritius as an African small island developing State (SIDS). Reducing the annual waste load entails the responsibility of the State but also the cooperation of businesses and corporations. Producers of goods and materials need to engage in a production model that reduces material use, promotes eco-designs, and uses waste as a resource to manufacture new products in line with the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). While EPR has been introduced in Mauritius in the plastic sector, the country could implement EPR schemes in other targeted sectors such as the electrical and electronic equipment sector, the construction sector, the packaging sector, and the automotive sector to decrease its annual load of waste. EPR could better engage businesses in the environmental protection process and increase the sustainability of products placed on the market. This chapter addresses waste management through the concept of EPR in Mauritius from the premise of the right to a healthy environment protected by the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and explores how to expand EPR implementation in the country. It provides an overview of the status of EPR in Mauritius and highlights the way forward for a successful EPR implementation.