University of Vaasa - Vaasan yliopisto

e seen, there has been a clear demonstration of commitment and progress by BPCF
and its member companies in making the precast concrete industry more sustainable,
with a framework for management, measurement and monitoring now in place.
However, further steps need to be taken to improve the level of ‘responsibility’ being
demonstrated throughout the life-cycle of precast concrete products. To continue
with the ‘More from Less’ sustainability programme of the precast concrete industry,
a four year collaborative research - Engineering Doctorate (EngD) began in October,
2008 to further improve the sustainability of the precast concrete industry. In this
case, the use of product stewardship was proposed as a possible way forward and is
discussed next.
About Product Stewardship
To understand the term ‘Product Stewardship’ (PS), an extensive literature review
was carried out from which it was clear that there was no single agreed definition,
which is similar to the discrepancies found when attempting to characterise other
terms in the field of environmental policy (Merlot, 1998, Lewis, 2004,) such as
sustainability or sustainable development. Various authors, governmental
organisations and Non-governmental organisations (NGO’s) however agree that PS
involves a ‘shared responsibility’ (Starke, 2003 Lewis, 2004; McKerlie, et.al, 2006a;
PSI, 2009; PSF, 2009; USEPA, 2009; PPRC, 2009a). This section will look at
various definitions of PS to gain a broad understanding of the concept as used in the
fields of environmental policy and various industries.
Product stewardship encourages businesses to become more responsible through
proper ethical management and helping business reduce cost and liabilities (Johnen
et al., 2000). The concept of PS was introduced in 1972 by the then President of Dow
Chemical, Ben Branch to alleviate risks in the use of chemicals (Rainey, 2006) and
the company has now become one of the leaders in this area, defining PS as: “the
process and activities of making health, safety and environmental protection an
integral part of designing, manufacturing, marketing, distributing, using, recycling
and disposing of our products” (Dow, 2008). However, the most widely used
definition emanates from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US
EPA), which defines PS as:
“A product-centred approach to environmental protection. It calls on
those in the product lifecycle—manufacturers, retailers, users, and
disposers—to share responsibility for reducing the environmental
impacts of products” (US EPA, 2009).
Indeed, The Product Stewardship Foundation (PSF, 2009) now defines product
stewardship as a ‘cradle to cradle' methodology that helps reduce the environmental
impact of manufactured products.”, whereas Carlton and Thompson (2009) see it as
the “responsible use and management of products during the complete product
lifecycle from discovery through manufacture and use to disposal”. Taking the
business management perspective a little further, Kodak attempt to describe PS as an
integrated business process for:
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