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Last updated: November 15, 2001

Defining  Product Stewardship

Product stewardship is a principle that directs all actors in the life cycle of a product to minimize the impacts of that product on the environment. The concept is unique because of its emphasis on the entire product system in achieving sustainable development. Under product stewardship, all participants in the product life cycle -- designers, suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers, consumers, recyclers and disposers -- share responsibility for the environmental effects of products.

Why Product Stewardship?
Currently manufacturers often have little incentive to design products that maximize environmental benefits. Product stewardship provides an incentive for manufacturers to think differently about resources and materials, so that toxicity reduction, energy conservation, reuse and recycling are considered at the product design stage. Product Stewardship is the principle behind Extended Producer Responsibility policies that require manufacturers of products and services to take responsibility for the end-of-life management of their products. By voluntarily adopting product stewardship, US industries can avoid the policy approaches that other countries have implemented.

By placing greater responsibility on manufacturers and purchasers, product stewardship also reduces the costs to government and taxpayers for pollution control, energy usage, and disposal of unrecyclable products.

Is anyone doing product stewardship?
Many other countries are using product stewardship strategies to encourage environmental considerations in product design and to shift the costs of managing products at end-of-life to manufacturers. Sweden and Norway have enacted manufacturer responsibility laws for electronic products that require manufacturers to be responsible for products at the end-of-life. There are also many examples of producers that have voluntarily taken responsibility for reducing the environmental impacts of their products.

Product stewardship practices
Product stewardship can be incorporated into production processes in many ways including:

Materials management. Producers can reduce environmental impacts by using materials that result in the lowest environmental impacts. Examples include:

• Sustainable harvest of materials so that the long term viability of the resource is not jeopardized
• Use of renewable materials that are replenished rapidly through solar energy
• Use of biodegradable materials that break down into soil without any harmful chemicals or materials entering the ecosystem
• Use of recycled and/or recyclable materials.
• Use of Low or No Toxicity materials that emit, contain, or produce low levels (or zero levels) of chemicals that are hazardous to human health.

Product As Service (product leasing). In many cases, consumers are not interested in the owning a product, but need the product because it enables them to get a service. For example, consumers usually don’t want to own the plastics and glass in a television set, rather they want the service—viewing of TV programs—that the television set provides. Manufacturers that lease their products to consumers have a much better incentive to design durable, upgradable products.

Dematerialization. Dematerialization means taking materials out of products but still getting the same, or better, performance. Companies dematerialize by substituting intelligence and creativity for materials, by restructuring their products, or resizing the product.

Resource Conservation. Companies can save money as well as the environment by adopting practices that reduce waste, prevent pollution, preserve the climate and conserve habitat.

Product Take-Back. Some manufacturers are taking their old products back when consumers are finished with them. By taking products back, manufacturers can acquire low cost feedstock for manufacturing, or remanufacture parts for re-use.