Library

General Product Stewardship Documents

This page contains general documents about Product Stewardship, examples of Product Stewardship programs and the roles of Third Party Organizations in establishing product stewardship systems.

Get on the Product Stewardship Bus!
This 27-minute video, from the Northwest Product Stewardship Council, provides a virtual tour of British Columbia's product stewardship programs and successes. The video includes a brief overview of how product stewardship works and the future of product stewardship in the Northwest.

The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard
The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute fact-filled video that examines the underside of US production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and encourages change.

Producer Responsibility at a Turning Point?
This 2008 article by Reid Lifset and Thomas Lindqvist, published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology, discusses the tension in Europe between the two main goals of EPR: reducing public costs and improving product design. The article includes a discussion Of Individual Producer Responsibility (IPR).

California Green Chemistry Initiative: Phase 1 Options Report
This 2007 report, from the California Environmental Protection Agency, is a compilation of more than 800 policy options on ways to reduce the effects of toxic chemicals on people and the environment. Participants in the Conversation with California provided their ideas to develop safer processes and products, foster innovation, create new jobs, and reduce waste.

Green Chemistry: Cornerstone to a Sustainable California
This 2008 report, from the UC Berkeley and UCLA Centers for Occupational and Environmental Health, examines health and economic consequences of toxic chemicals, current chemical policy, green chemistry and potential solutions.

Report on Used-Tire Management, Review of Alternatives to Tire-Derived Fuel
An advisory committee of Nova Scotia Environment and Labor published a report in November 2007 examining and comparing tire recycling options as alternatives to using tires as a fuel source. The report also includes a detailed examine of tire-derived fuel.

Oregon DEQ Waste Prevention Strategy - Background Paper #8: Product Stewardship and Extended Producer Responsibility
This document provides a general overview of the key aspects of product stewardship (PS) and extended producer responsibility (EPR) programs and policies, the relationship between waste prevention and PS/EPR programs, and a summary of policy tools. Published in December 2007, the paper is part of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality's (DEQ) Waste Prevention Strategy to set priorities and define direction in waste prevention.

Apportioning the Responsibilities for Product Stewardship: The Case for a New Federal Role
This article seeks to dissect the state and federal relationship on product-oriented policy and proposes a road map for a mutually supportive relationship in the context of the global economy. The article is a preprint of an article by Garth Hickle, Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance and David Stitzhal, Full Circle Environmental, published in Environmental Quality Management, Spring 2003, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Published online in Wiley Interscience.

PROs: The Role of Third-Party Organizations in Product Stewardship
This article describes the role of Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs), industry-organized third party organizations charged with carrying out the product stewardship obligations of that industry. Major roles of PROs include ensuring that the products are collected and recycled, financing and reporting and evaluation of product stewardship goals. The article by Garth Hickle, Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance is a preprint of an article published in Pollution Prevention Review, Winter 2002, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published online in Wiley Interscience.

A Lever Long Enough: The Northwest Product Stewardship Council
This article describes the history of the Northwest Product Stewardship Council, how it was developed, initial product stewardship projects and its role in progressing the concept of product stewardship in the United States. The article by David Stitzhal, Full Circle Environmental is a preprint of an article published in Pollution Prevention Review, Autumn 2000, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published online in Wiley Interscience.

Canadian Producer Responsibility Organizations
This document provides information on the Producer Responsibility Organizations, (PROs) in Canada, specifically examining how the organizations are established, appointed and managed. This document by Maureen Hickman Swanson of E4Partners was published in December, 2003.

How Producer Responsibility for Product Take-Back Can Promote Eco-Design
Published in March 2007 Clean Production Action, this report details the incentives created for manufacturers as a result of product stewardship regulations. The document compares individual producer responsibility (IPR) regulations to proportioning fees among producers based on market share or charging flat rates on products. The benefits of IPR through promotion manufacturer competition are discussed including, encouraging manufacturers to implement cost-effective take-back programs, design business models around product stewardship, reduce products environmental impact and reduce costs to consumers.

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