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The principle of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) was introduced in the 1990s when the volume of waste was soaring and when local authorities were becoming overwhelmed by both the mass and the increasing complexity of certain types of waste. The EPR response sought to make producers responsible for the treatment or elimination of products after consumption. There were two objectives. On the one hand, EPR addresses the issue of financing the management of the end of life of certain types of products. On the other hand, by making producers contribute financially to this management, EPR creates an incentive to design products that are more easily recyclable through eco-design. In this article, we explain how the EPR principle was implemented in France and outline how a system of co-regulation developed between public and private actors that combined collective and individual responsibilities and that was regularly revised. We show how the EPR principle has evolved beyond the end-of-life of products to integrate issues related to prevention and the circular economy.