Product Stewardship

The act of minimizing the health, safety, environmental, and social impacts of a product and its packaging throughout all lifecycle stages, while also maximizing economic benefits.

The manufacturer, or producer, of the product has the greatest ability to minimize adverse impacts, but other stakeholders, such as suppliers, retailers, and consumers, also play a role. Stewardship can be either voluntary or required by law.

Environmental Policy Strategy

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)

A mandatory type of product stewardship that includes, at a minimum, the requirement that the manufacturer’s responsibility for its product extends to post-consumer management of that product and its packaging.

There are two related features of EPR policy:

Shifting financial and management responsibility, with government oversight, upstream to the manufacturer and away from the public sector; and
Providing incentives to manufacturers to incorporate environmental considerations into the design of their products and packaging.

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Business Support

for Product Stewardship

Waste, use of resources, and reduction in energy consumption are growing concerns for American legislators, regulators and the public. Many innovative companies are paying attention and responding with voluntary product stewardship initiatives and internal directives that best suit their business models. Product stewardship legislation creates programs that are sensitive to market forces. Businesses are finding ways to:

Design products that can be more easily recycled.
Use low or no toxicity materials that are not hazardous to human health and the environment.
Use recycled materials in the design of product and packaging.
Conserve resources and reduce waste at all stages, from product design to distribution.