“One major way we will meet the challenge before us is by launching a new Product Stewardship Initiative with manufacturers to encourage and, in some cases, require them to share in the responsibility for managing the products they produce.

Product Stewardship refers to the concept that all parties responsible for the design, production, sale, and use of a product assume responsibility for the full environmental impacts of the product throughout its life cycle.¹

A key tenet of Product Stewardship is that manufacturers in particular should take greater responsibility for reducing product impacts. By placing greater responsibility for the end costs of products on manufacturers, product stewardship gives manufacturers strong economic incentives to change how they design and manufacture products, making them less toxic and more recyclable, and giving consumers more choice by internalizing the costs of consumer products.

Product Stewardship also addresses the question of who should pay the cost of waste management, including recycling, disposal, and removing toxics from the waste stream. Currently, these costs are being borne almost entirely by local governments, who have looked to state agencies for financial assistance. State agencies are now looking to product manufacturers to become part of the solution by helping to pay the costs created by the proliferation of waste that local governments must manage.

In addition, EOEA and the University of Massachusetts are jointly supporting the creation of a new national Product Stewardship Institute based at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. This national Institute will assist Massachusetts and other states across the country in promoting environmentally sound product management and design, and support negotiations with industry to reach cooperative agreements to reduce the health and environmental impacts from consumer product manufacture, use, storage, and disposal. At times when legislation is required to foster the goals of product stewardship, the Institute will assist state agencies and legislative bodies on developing legislation.

The next steps of EOEA’s Product Stewardship Initiative include developing a Massachusetts Product Stewardship Policy; continuing work on Product Stewardship Action Plans for priority products, developing a research agenda, and supporting regional and national product stewardship initiatives through the national Product Stewardship Institute. As part of these efforts, EOEA will evaluate industry willingness to enter into and follow through on agreements, and will consider additional agency efforts, including regulatory requirements, if significant progress is not shown by industry.”

¹ Solid Waste Policy Report, Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance, January 2000, p. 45.