Someone else will probably reply after me but I have this pack so I can answer for my game. Both the Eco Footprint and the NAPs can be turned off in the settings in which case the world effects turn off as well. I play rotationally and the settings never turn back on if I don't do so manually. I've had the NAPs off for a while though I did occasionally have a few neighborhoods in Evergreen Harbor vote for NAPs they wanted that were directed by me as the player. Expect to see some clay balls on tables at restaurants and the like but that wasn't a big deal to me. I never had the Sharing As Caring one that causes community lot theft active in my game.
Some people don't like the world. I definitely use it. It's kind of a very average town based on the Pacific Northwest. It's good for industrial & hipster or even urban styles. You can clean up the neighborhoods or leave them as they are. Port Promise is very gritty. I've actually played a lot with Conifer Station, kind of a gentrifying (or not if you prefer) area with townhouses and apartments. That has been a popular place for my university graduates to move to. The careers link well to college degrees and there's some interactive gameplay for the jobs in urban planning and environmental management. I actually do like that and play with that. I also like the ways in which you can change the community spaces to suit your gameplay. Grims Quarry is also a nice green neighborhood.
I like the creative activities that come with the pack. You can also recycle excessive stuff in sims' inventories. I'm not into playing with grubs personally so I don't do that. I would label it a very average world and a good starter one if you like the aesthetic that some of it offers. I definitely use the CAS/BB a lot.
To emphasize based on your question, if you turn the features off then they do not impact your game. I had eco-effects on for a while across the save and then turned them off and immediately noticed a difference. I might sometimes switch them back on and make my sims be more eco-conscious. When the effects are off, they are off globally for that game save. The setting works similarly to the fame setting for Get Famous.
