Every day we each use

hundreds of products

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Many of these products – and their packaging

– impact the environment and health in unintended

ways

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Under the current system there is a lack of incentive to design better products

there is no cost to business to continue to throw away more and more material

there are no incentives to create products that

last longer or are

more easily recycled

Many goods are designed to be obsolete in just a few years.

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For one thing, this results in a lot of stuff…

…each American throws away about 1,600 pounds of trash every year, much of it products and packaging!

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When we dispose of materials, instead of recycling them, we need

to extract more virgin resources to make new products…which

consumes energy and can cause other environmental impacts.

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Some products contain toxic substances that can be released to the environment in the waste stream…

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.Some products are associated with other unintended impacts…such as drug abuse or hazards to workers…

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Still other products may pose operational challenges in the waste stream.

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Today, we look to local

governments to manage this

increasingly complex waste stream…

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This costs money!

In 2009, Nebraska spent an estimated $2 million tax dollars to manage household hazardous waste…

…and they weren’t able to collect all the problematic product & packaging waste that was out there.

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Government and

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taxpayers can’t solve this problem alone…

The Solution

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Where do we go from here?

Product stewardship directs all those involved in the life cycle of a product to take responsibility for the impacts to human health and the natural environment that result from the production, use, and end-of-life management of the product.

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While everyone has a role

to play,

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product stewardship asks those who,

Design Make & Sell

the products to take the greatest responsibility Prepared by the Product Stewardship Institute

This responsibility extends

beyond the point of sale,

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When manufacturers set up and pay for collection programs,

this is called “extended producer responsibility”

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Extended Producer Responsibility• creates more opportunities for

collection,

• shifts the burden of collecting

products off of local governments, and

• provides an incentive for

manufacturers to design products that

are easier to recycle (or have fewer

impacts in the first place)Prepared by the Product Stewardship

Institute

“EPR” is already happening in

Nebraska, through several

voluntary initiatives:

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Some states are passing laws to require manufacturers to collect their products As of October 2010,

there are more

than 60 state laws mandating

EPR

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In addition to EPR, there are a number of other product stewardship strategies that can be implemented along the way…

• Retailers, government, and other organizations can collect products for recycling or safe disposal to create product stewardship infrastructure

• We can maximize the use of the voluntary EPR programs that exist today

• Consumers and government agencies can choose to purchase greener products

• Businesses can develop and promote greener products

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Click below to learn about more about to learn more about things that we can all

do to promote product stewardship

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