With grape-flavored Liquid Children’s Tylenol coming back on the shelves after a long absence, I was reminded of the thoughts I had when the voluntary recall of this popular children’s medication was announced back in April of this year.
While McNeil did a semi-adequate job of informing the public of the recall and had information on their Web site for the proper disposal of unwanted/unused/outdated medication, the fact that McNeil was not itself taking back the medicine at their expense for proper disposal left me with the same pit I get in my stomach when I see the “gotta-have-these-new” electronic gadgets flood the market every 6 months or so (especially during the holiday season). Something about the “planned obsolescence” of electronics followed by the ensuing flood of not-always-proper disposal of the “outdated” electronics angers and saddens me at the same time.
And, as strange as it may seem, the pharmaceuticals and the electronics have a tie that binds them in my mind – the need for improved product stewardship. While both industries are working hard to remedy my perceived concerns with a new reality through product stewardship, there is much work to be done.
Product stewardship is not just for the pharmaceutical or electronics industries and is a term that might strike fear in the hearts of some companies and industries, but these days, it only makes good business sense.
Ensuring that each product that comes to market is environmentally safe and is accounted for throughout its entire lifecycle is what it is all about. At its best, the ultimate product stewardship involves thinking through every component of a product to help ensure it can be safely handled from cradle to cradle or cradle to grave. In this day and age, product stewardship is not just something to aspire to; our environment needs it and our future depends on it.
Let’s face it, in an industrial economy, producers and retailers are in it to make money, and consumers wanting to reduce consumption but also wanting to do good when they do make purchases simply can not research every component of every product much less every product they buy. On the road to a sustainable future, we all need to do good, even when no one is watching.
Traditionally in the United States, product stewardship initiatives have largely, but not always, been the result of legislation. It would be good to see more and more industries getting on board with product stewardship simply for the triple bottom line benefits.
For some businesses, the words product stewardship may make them fear unreasonable costs and burdens; however, companies that take greater responsibility for the entire life cycle of their products can lower overall costs through proper planning, design, and product management. Sometimes end products can even become new products after take back.
In Chapter 7 of the Handbook on Household Hazardous Waste, Scott Cassel, Executive Director of the Product Stewardship Institute (PSI), discusses five reasons manufacturers, retailers, and other industry stakeholders are motivated to become better product stewards. Cassel cites, competitive advantage, reduced business risk (including threat of legislation), an image of sustainability, corporate ownership control and company leadership.
If we all had a better connection with our environment and were in “harmony” with nature, as His Royal Highness Charles, the Prince of Wales emphasizes the need for in his new book, it seems like product stewardship would be the norm. In Harmony, he points out that it is possible to produce materials as strong as Kevlar (made from petroleum and sulfuric acid) with natural products like spider silk that do not require toxic chemicals or leave behind toxic by-products.
I see glimmers of hope, and much forward progress in 2010 alone with our first national drug take-back day, and increased electronics waste oversight to protect developing nations and all workers from harm, but there is much to be done. The costs are high for not participating in radically rethinking the way we do business.
It seems that even our health care costs could be lowered by having a healthy environment as the result of product stewardship and preventative care for our planet and ourselves. I for one do not wish to continue drinking the cocktail of chemical and pharmaceutical waste in our waters, nor do I wish to support environmental harm in developing countries.
As consumers, we must do our best to let our hard-earned dollars speak when we make purchasing decisions and do our best to properly reuse, recycle and dispose of products at the end of their life.
Producers, retailers and governments must do their best to manufacture responsibly and with the ultimate health of the environment (and the global citizenry) in mind and help keep the public educated and informed about product care and management. Along the way, we thank organizations like PSI for helping to guide us all and shape a more sustainable future.
Start the conversation…™
What can your company do to better incorporate product stewardship into its products and services?
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