Product
stewardship is a term used to describe a product-centered approach to
environmental protection.
It
calls on those in
the product life cycle -- from designers, manufacturers, retailers,
consumers, waste managers and disposers -- to share responsibility for
reducing the environmental impacts of products.
Product
stewardship activities have been taking place globally for over a decade.
In the United States,
this idea is gaining interest as more
state and local governments cope with large, ever-changing, and complex waste
streams.
Product Stewardship is an environmental management strategy that means whoever
designs, produces, sells, or uses a product takes responsibility for minimizing
the product's environmental impact throughout all stages of the products' life
cycle.
ECS Refining was founded in 1980 as an electronic scrap and solder dross recycling facility servicing primarily the Silicon Valley. From a lone facility in Santa Clara, California, ECS has established a reputation of environmental leadership in the refining of secondary metals by offering unique capabilities to develop environmentally responsible recycling options for businesses.
ECS Refining was founded in 1980 as an electronic scrap and solder dross recycling facility servicing primarily the Silicon Valley. From a lone facility in Santa Clara, California, ECS has established a reputation of environmental leadership in the refining of secondary metals by offering unique capabilities to develop environmentally responsible recycling options for businesses.
Scientific American, 7/17/09, article by Larry Greenemeier. Most people assume that their trash ends up in a landfill somewhere far away (if they think about this at all). But growing concern over the environmental impact of waste-discarded electronics, in particular-has prompted a team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to take a high-tech approach to studying exactly what people are tossing out and where those items are ending up. The researchers, part of MIT's Senseable City Lab, have developed electronic tags that they're hoping as many as 3,000 volunteers in Seattle and New York City will affix to different items they throw away this summer as part of the Trash Track program. These tags will contact cell phone towers they pass as they flow through the trash stream to their final destinations, helping the researchers monitor the patterns and costs of urban disposal.
7/15/09. Article on Trash Track, a project of the MIT SENSEable City lab that uses microprocessors to track the movement of various types of waste through an urban waste stream for the analysis of patterns and assessment of disposal costs. Seattle, WA and NYC are pilot projects in the U.S.; tracking will also occur in London, England in the U.K.