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Business Tools for Product Stewardship Product stewardship in action Listed below are examples of product stewardship strategies: Leasing Systems Voluntary systems in which ownership of durable materials and products is never transferred down the product chain. Instead, the function of the materials or products is leased to the user encouraging the producer to close material loops and extend product life. Example: Carpet Leasing Program developed by Interface Flooring Systems in which Interface retains ownership of the commercial carpet, charging a lease fee for installing and maintaining it, replacing worn portions and whole sections when necessary, and recycling back into carpet when replaced. Take Back or Buy Back Programs The producer takes back or buys back products or waste materials for recycling, reuse or proper management in order to mitigate downstream environmental impacts from product use and to recover valuable materials. Example: Ford Motor Company takes back bumpers and recycles them into new bumpers. They are recycling approximately 1.5 million pounds of Xenoy plastic (the stuff bumpers are made of) per year. Life-Cycle Management Programs These include environmental management and audit programs which are extensions of internal environmental management systems extended upstream (to provide assistance to suppliers) and downstream (to provide assistance to product users). Example: Rochester Midland Corporation, a chemical specialty manufacturer of cleaning products for institutional building cleaning, developed a new line of cleaning products with environment, health and safety in mind, then formed a “life-cycle partnership” with an institution cleaning service, a government building manager and the tenants of a large government building. Through their program, they address the entire lifecycle of their products from product redesign to end user support. Unit: Solid Waste & Toxics Unit Viccy Salazar E-Mail: r10.epr@epa.gov (206) 553-1060 Phone Number: (206) 553-1060 Last Updated (mm/dd/yy): 10/23/2007 Recycle http://yosemite.epa.gov/R10/OWCM.NSF/hide/eprtools