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This article presents an original approach to the impact of extended producer responsibility instruments for waste prevention upon firms' innovative strategies and market structure. Our analysis is based on a stylised framework of waste prevention developed by Brouillat. In this framework, products are modelled as multi-characteristic technologies whose evolution depends on firms' innovation strategies and on the interactions with consumers and postconsumption activities (recycling). This stylised framework has been adapted to explore the impact of waste prevention instruments upon industrial dynamics, and more particularly upon firms' innovative strategies and upon the evolution of products' characteristics and market structure. We focus on two types of policy instruments: recycling fees and norms. For each instrument, we will consider different policy designs in order to study their effects on industrial dynamics. The main contribution of this article is to show how this type of simulation model can be used to explore the impact of waste prevention policy instruments on the technological evolution of products, on innovation strategy, and on the evolution of firms' market shares. The introduction of policy instruments in a simulation agent-based model of industrial dynamics enables us to analyse more thoroughly how different policy designs can modify the dynamics of the system and, more particularly, how the incentives and the constraints linked to the policy instruments under consideration shape market selection. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article looks at the strategic management of product recovery. As take-back regulations have targeted waste packaging, batteries, automobiles, and a variety of electrical and electronic equipment, companies have discovered that materials from end-of-life durable products can often substitute for new parts or used as spares in remanufacturing. Product recovery programs have also been enacted by companies to enhance their brand's environmental image. The author discusses ways for manufactures to protect aftermarkets, defined as the market for parts and accessories used to maintain or improve previous purchases.

As organizations seek to communicate with consumers who are concerned about the environment, advertisements containing environmental claims are becoming more prominent. While much has been written about environmental advertising this phenomenon has seldom been examined systematically. This paper presents an empirical study which combines two classification schemes to create a matrix that identifies different types of environmental claims and the likelihood that such claims will be judged as misleading and/or deceptive. Results suggest that those claims which extol the environmental benefits of products and those that are designed to enhance the environmental image of an organization are most prone to be considered misleading and/or deceptive. Methods for improving environmental advertising are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a U.S. study of black and white female consumers and their reaction to information relative to the environmental impact of certain products. The article outlines previous research about socially conscious consumers, discusses black and white consumption differences, and presents previous ecological information and product choice research. Two hypotheses are tested: that black and white women will show no difference in their environmental importance scores and in a simulated product choice situation, both black and white women will not differ in their choices. The author reports the results and discusses the implications of the study. The study finds that more research is necessary relative to "socially conscious consumers."

The article presents a response to an earlier article in "Academy of Management Review" titled "Ecocentric Management for a Risk Society," by Paul Shrivastava. The author takes issue with Shrivastava's claim that technological and ecological risk will take the place of product orientations in a post industrial world. The author argues that instead of replacing product orientation, environmental and risk considerations will influence product orientation. A competing paradigm might cause industry to dismiss those environmental and risk factors that should be a part of product management.

Many methodologies have been suggested in the current literature to facilitate scholars and consumers to select environmental friendly products. A basic weakness of such methodologies is the lack of strong sustainability ideas and aspects which are essential for the selection procedures of environmental friendly products. This paper develops an evaluation framework to assist consumers/stakeholders in making rational and effortless evaluation about the sustainability performance of firms/products. Specifically, it provides a quick, clear and comprehensive signal to consumers/stakeholders concerning the extent to which a firm/product contributes to sustainable development. The proposed framework consists of two parts: a) a composite index which (under the triple-bottom-line approach) indicates the allocation of revenues to the different stakeholder groups, and assesses the social and environmental aspects of corporate sustainability performance and b) the transformation of a composite index into a new label which determines the strong or weak sustainability of a product/firm. This framework aims at contributing to the current literature by addressing the weaknesses of previous methodologies which are solely based on either corporate operational or production process labels, as well as on the weak sustainability concept which have made low progress to evaluate the overall sustainable picture of firms/products. Finally, a case study has been carried out to indicate and assess the functionality of the proposed framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evaluation of environmental credentials for innovative products within the research and design phase of development presents a valuable yet challenging exploit. The research presented here aims to carry out the early-stage environmental assessment of a novel nano material – cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) foam by applying ex-ante life cycle assessment (LCA) supplemented by an environmental, health and safety (EHS) screening. LCA is applied to assess the cradle-to-factory gate environmental impacts along the R&D trajectory from the laboratory synthesis, conceptual design, bench-scale trial to the up-scaled process design. Non-renewable energy use (NREU), greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and agricultural land occupation (ALO) are the three indicators analysed. The early-stage EHS screening provides a supplementary assessment since the toxicity information is usually missing in the ex-ante LCAs due to lack of information. The EHS screening was conducted in two steps: 1) the (eco)toxicological effects of CNC are analysed by applying in vivo zebrafish assays; and 2)A so-called “block list” scan is performed where all substances used in the production of CNC foam are scanned against valid regulations. The LCA results demonstrate that technology upscaling leads to a steady environmental impact reduction. It is observed that for per kg studied CNC foam, both NREU and GHG emissions were reduced by a factor of 10 along the R&D trajectory from lab scale to upgraded process design, as a result of the design improvements associated with energy-intensive processes and process energy optimisation. Along the studied R&D trajectory the potential ALO was decreased by 83% primarily due to a more efficient recycling of ethanol. The block list scan did not yield highly concerned substances in the manufacturing process. The in vivo zebrafish assay provided valuable insight into the ecotoxicological effects of CNC pointing towards the need for a more rigorous assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the influence of different combinations of environmental product declarations on consumers' perception of product quality, perceived credibility, and willingness to pay, for food products. An experiment involving 321 Canadian consumers indicates that consumers perceive better product quality and a more credible environmental information when there are both elaborated self-declared environmental claims and environmental labeling cues on product packaging. Surprisingly, we also found that, when there are less self-declared environmental claims and no environmental labeling cues, consumers perceive that the information is also relatively credible and is the product of better quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The widespread utilization of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in industrial and commercial products inevitably raises the release into wastewater that might cause potential negative impacts on sewage treatment system. In this paper, long-term exposure experiments at four levels were conducted to determine whether AgNPs caused adverse impacts on nutrient removals in sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) and changes of microbial community structure. Compared with the control reactor (without AgNPs), carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus removal in presence of 0.1 mg/L AgNPs was no difference. However, presence of 1.0 and 10 mg/L AgNPs decreased the average removal efficiencies of COD from 95.4% to 85.2% and 68.3%, ammonia nitrogen from 98.8% to 71.2% and 49%, SOP from 97.6% to 75.5% and 54.1%, respectively. It was found that AgNPs could accumulate in sludge with the distribution coefficients of 39.2–114 L/g, inhibit the protein and polysaccharide production in EPS, reduce the SOUR of sludge, and greatly increase LDH release from microbial cells. The illumina high-throughput sequencing results indicated that AgNPs concentration changed the structures of bacterial communities, associating with the effects of AgNPs on reactor performance. Sequence analyses showed that Proteobacteria , Bacteroidetes and Acidobacteria were the dominant phyla. It was notable that AgNPs addition reduced the contents of several nitrifying bacteria at genera level in sludge, leading to the lower removal of nitrogen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) method was launched by the European Commission to harmonize the measurement of the product's environmental performance. The PEF aims to increase the supply of green products in EU markets by lowering the cost of measuring the product's environmental performance, enabling reliable environmental claims, and conducting proper product comparison. This study assesses whether the methodological choices of PEF enable reliable and comparable PEF studies to be conducted in a cost-efficient way. Methods: The PEF was compared with ISO 14044, ISO/TS 14067, and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Product Standard to identify the differences in the methodological choices. From a practical perspective, the possible challenges for PEF that could not be identified by a method comparison were obtained via interviews. The interviewees were company representatives participating in a 3-year PEF pilot phase to create Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCR). To discover the possible advantages and disadvantages of the PEF, the methodological choices for PEF itself were assessed from the standpoints of reliability, comparability, and cost. In conclusion, some proposals for improvements have been suggested. Results and discussion: The impact assessment phase, i.e., some of the predefined impact assessment methods, together with a selected normalization method include disadvantages as regards reliability and comparability. They are not sufficiently mature to properly reflect both the product studied and its potential environmental impact. From a cost perspective, the inventory analysis phase increases the workload due to the cutoff ban, the numerous predefined impact assessment categories, and the data quality assessment of all data. However, the predefined issues, e.g., requirements for data quality to be determined in PEFCRs, could also increase the comparability and lower the costs of the PEF study, since these need not be determined separately for each study. Additionally, the reliability maybe increased due to the data quality assessment of all data. Conclusions: Currently, in the PEFs 3-year pilot phase, both advantages and disadvantages exist as regards reliability, costs, and comparability. Since PEF aims are important, the Commission and PEFCR developers should devote time to finding the most appropriate methodological choices and continue developing the method further. It is important to find a balance between comparability, reliability, and costs. Additionally, the current issues and characteristics of EU green products market should be taken into account when implementing PEF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT In April 2013, the European Commission published the Product and Organisation Environmental Footprint (PEF/OEF) methodology-a life cycle-based multicriteria measure of the environmental performance of products, services, and organizations. With its approach of 'comparability over flexibility,' the PEF/OEF methodology aims at harmonizing existing methods, while decreasing the flexibility provided by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards regarding methodological choices. Currently, a 3-y pilot phase is running, aiming at testing the methodology and developing product category and organization sector rules (PEFCR/OEFSR). Although a harmonized method is in theory a good idea, the PEF/OEF methodology presents challenges, including a risk of confusion and limitations in applicability to practice. The paper discusses the main differences between the PEF and ISO methodologies and highlights challenges regarding PEF applicability, with a focus on impact assessment. Some methodological aspects of the PEF and PEFCR Guides are found to contradict the ISO 14044 (2006) and ISO 14025 (2006). Others, such as prohibition of inventory cutoffs, are impractical. The evaluation of the impact assessment methods proposed in the PEF/OEF Guide showed that the predefined methods for water consumption, land use, and abiotic resources are not adequate because of modeling artefacts, missing inventory data, or incomplete characterization factors. However, the methods for global warming and ozone depletion perform very well. The results of this study are relevant for the PEF (and OEF) pilot phase, which aims at testing the PEF (OEF) methodology (and potentially adapting it) as well as addressing challenges and coping with them. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2015;11:417-424. © 2015 SETAC [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper presents a structured comparison of the European Commission (EC) Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) method with a number of existing European environmental accounting methods and standards that were taken into account during its development. In addition to the ISO 14040 and 14044 which represent the main reference, also the ISO/TS 14067, ILCD Handbook, PAS 2050, Greenhouse Gas Protocol, Ecological Footprint and BPX 30-323-0 were considered. This comparison aims at evaluating the extent to which the EC PEF method contributes to filling the identified methodological gaps and, ultimately, the extent to which it meets a number of key principles for PEF studies: relevance, completeness, consistency, accuracy and transparency. The EC PEF method has been developed by the Directorate General Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission (EC) in close cooperation with the Directorate General for Environment (DG ENV). It aims at providing a European, common methodology for evaluating the environmental performance of products. Its use for undertaking product environmental footprint studies is supported by the 2013 Recommendation to the EC Communication 'Building the single market for green products - Facilitating better information on the environmental performance of products and organisations.' Methods: In this paper, the selected environmental accounting methods are compared against a set of nine identified core criteria for EF studies. These criteria include, e.g. applicability of results, boundary of the evaluation, requirements on data type and quality, requirements on uncertainty evaluation, requirements on reporting and review. Results from this comparison have been used to evaluate the extent to which the methods considered meet a number of key identified principles for EF studies: relevance, completeness, consistency, accuracy and transparency. Results and discussion: Overall, results of the analysis demonstrate that the EC PEF method resolves most shortcomings identified in the other methods with respect to the core comparison criteria. This, in turn, allows the EC PEF method to largely satisfy all of the key identified principles for PEF studies, and in particular the consistency principle, which is often not fulfilled by the other environmental accounting methods. Conclusions: The EC PEF method provides for a greater degree of methodological consistency and establishes unambiguous requirements, hence facilitating increased consistency, comparability and reproducibility of results. It fills most of the shortcomings of the other methods, meeting virtually all of the key principles for PEF studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although research has shown that countries' world-systems positions can predict levels of pollution and wealth, there has been little research looking at how consumption in the core triggers both pollution and wealth elsewhere in the world economy. In this article, we track how consumption in the United States, a core country, triggers value added and pollution throughout global commodity chains. We track these distributions for all commodities and services consumed in the United States, then for six commodity groupings, and finally for two case studies, “Motor Vehicles” and “Wearing Apparel.” Our findings show how the production of commodities for US consumption tends to reify inequalities in the world-system: Larger shares of value added (in comparison to shares of pollution) are generally prompted within the core, whereas the opposite effect tends to be experienced in the non-core. We also discuss interesting exceptions to these general trends occurring at different levels of analysis. Finally, we draw special attention to China, the elephant in the room that exhibits both core and peripheral characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Green consumers are those who seek to fulfill economic responsibility with their choices of environment-friendly products. Previous research found that it is not easy to identify green consumers by using traditional demographic or psychographic measurements due to the instability of moral attitude and actual behavior. The frontal theta brain waves of 19 right-handed respondents were recorded and analyzed in a choice task between an environment-friendly (green) product and a conventional product. Product information, which was provided to the respondents, included written descriptions as well as the price of each product without visual depiction. Based on the respondents' choice, they were classified into two groups: green (GR) consumers who chose an environment-friendly product option and non-green (Non-GR) consumers who chose the option of a conventional product. While processing the green product message, we discovered that frontal theta activations were significantly higher among GR consumers than Non-GR consumers. On the contrary, the frontal theta waves of GR consumers were not differentiated from Non-GR consumers while processing the price information. Therefore, theta activations in the frontal area may potentially be a unique neural indicator of GR consumers' cognitive engagement with environment-friendly product messages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a technique used to assess the environmental impact of products, processes, or materials. Recently, its importance as a decision-making tool to help evaluate current inventories and innovation of environmentally responsible products has grown; however, the amount of information needed to completely assess even the simplest product's environmental impact may require significant time and resources. Myriad quantitative and qualitative effort-reducing strategies have been considered to accelerate the pace and reduce the cost of LCA. Although these streamlining methodologies reduce the time and effort of conducting LCA, they introduce variability and uncertainty into the results, creating a challenge for stakeholders who may need to make decisions based on the information. This Article explores the impact of streamlining on the credibility of LCA results given the uncertainty in the context of several case studies related to materials production in common consumer products. A technique for the structured analysis of the bill of materials is proposed, which leverages statistical analysis in the context of uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers national, international and practical perspectives about extended producer responsibility (EPR) programs. In the early 1990s, EPR emerged in Sweden and Germany as a policy strategy to create incentives for eco-design packages and products. The effect of EPR on the recycling of packaging, electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) and household hazardous wastes is discussed.

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Robust product environmental evaluation has to consider the whole lifecycle, called "cradle to grave" analysis. This activity gives wide benefits if carried out in the early design phases. CAD-SLCA integrated systems are innovative ecodesign tools usable during product design feature definition in order to support SLCA (Simplified Life Cycle Assessment) method application. The present work describes how the CAD-SLCA approach can be put in practice by considering the assessment of the complete product lifecycle and by using a new software tool which integrates data from different design supporting systems. Particular focus has been placed on the use phase and end of life treatment. An example shows the approach results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Nature(s) have been commodified since the early days of capitalism, but through processes and socio-natural relationships mediated by their times, histories and localities. While the conditions under which nature's commodities are being trademarked today may be new, their potential for commodification is not. Commodifications of nature should not come as a surprise to environmental social scientists and activists. In this article, I argue that commodification of 'nature's products, places and processes' produces new sorts of socio-natures. Situated histories of rubber are particularly relevant because, like carbon, ecosystem services and other recently commodified natures, rubber sits comfortably on the line between a fictitious commodity and a commodity produced explicitly for market: the latex alone has almost no use value, and to give it any exchange value, it requires processing. Yet analytically, it is still considered a 'natural commodity', different from 'synthetic rubber' and other tradable tree latexes in qualities and socio-natural characteristics. However, it is the social relations constituting rubber's production and trade in various rainforest and agro-forestry environments that have given it a positive or negative connotation, rather than its natural properties or the ecological contexts within which it has been produced. By situating rubber in three of its globally important temporal and spatial contexts, I show how it has been subjected to fairy-tale-like stories that masked and naturalized its commodity lives of the moment. Understanding how history is told or remains untold is thus an essential part of the politics of knowledge production, but also of human experience and mobilization for change. It should be part of any political ecology analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Over the years a wide range of techniques have been developed to evaluate the environmental performance of products. However, they all consider the environmental aspect of a product in an isolated way, without taking into account the remaining requirements that a designer has to consider during the design process. Hence, the integration of environmental aspects into the early stages of the design process together with a multi-criteria approach that makes it possible to balance the environmental requirements against other traditional requirements are two of the key factors for successful sustainable design. This article reviews and classifies tools that have been developed to evaluate the environmental requirement of products and to facilitate its integration into the product design process. With the intention of providing designers with a brief guide to selecting the ecodesign tool that best fits a specific case study, a classification was made according to criteria such as: 1) the method applied for the environmental assessment, 2) the product requirements that need to be integrated in addition to the environmental one (multi-criteria approach), 3) whether the tool has a life cycle perspective (i.e. it considers all the stages of the life cycle of a product), 4) the nature of the results (qualitative or quantitative), 5) the stages of the conceptual design process where the tool can be applied, and 6) the methodology taken as a basis for such integration. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Lots of eco-designed projects were carried out successfully, and eco-designed products are now on the market. However, it is very difficult for designers and engineers to compare their design projects to those already done and consequently to reuse the knowledge gained. In a more general perspective, a method to take advantage of previous experiences in eco-design is needed. This paper is a contribution to develop a standard for eco-design practices and proposes a framework to characterise both eco-design projects and eco-tools. Forty case studies from the literature were exploited to extract criteria and options to define the framework. The proposed usage-oriented classification of eco-tools, associated with the practical analysis frame of the design projects, was implemented and finally robust enough to characterise 40 projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the optimal gear ratios in speed shifting of a city bike. We first defined the environmental factors of the bike as slope and velocity, the product factor as gear ratio, the objective factors of the user as pedaling rate and heart rate, and the subjective factor of the user as comfort. We performed two experiments. The first experiment is the factor experiment, the usage range and characteristics of such factors of the city bike as slope, velocity, gear ratio, pedaling rate, heart rate, and gear change frequency are obtained from analysis of test results. The second experiment is the comfort experiment. Based on the results of the factor experiment, we set three levels for each factor of velocity, slope, and gear ratio to perform experiments. We examined and predicted variable relationships through analysis of variance and regression analysis of the results of the comfort experiment. The gear ratio range obtained in this study was 0.80-2.55, with a gear ratio variation of 319%; the optimal 6-speed gear ratios were 0.80, 1.00, 1.42, 1.53, 1.66, and 2.55. The experimental design, analysis methods, and evaluation results established by this study can be used as a reference for the development of new products and in related studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People's concern for the environment is prevalent throughout the world. Businesses have responded by creating and marketing products that are 'green' or environmentally friendly. While there have been a variety of studies on green marketing, there has been little academic research on green marketing to Generation Y, also called Gen Y or Millennials. The purpose of this study is to provide a brief review of environmental issues, including examples of past research, and to identify effective marketing techniques that businesses can use in communicating the environmentally friendliness of their products to Millennials. A survey of 602 Millennials was made to gather data for the study. Results indicate that there are marketing techniques that are considerably more effective than others, and that in some cases there are differences between males and females in how these techniques are perceived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) that was not produced as part of the Aroclor mixtures banned in the 1980s was recently reported in air samples collected in Chicago, Philadelphia, the Arctic, and several sites around the Great Lakes. In Chicago, the congener 3,3'-dichlorobiphenyl or PCB11 was found to be the fifth most concentrated congener and ubiquitous throughout the city. The congener exhibited strong seasonal concentration trends that suggest volatilization of this compound from common outdoor surfaces. Due to these findings and also the compound's presence in waters that received waste from paint manufacturing facilities, we hypothesized that PCB11 may be present in current commercial paint. In this study we measured PCBs in paint sold on the current retail market. We tested 33 commercial paint pigments purchased from three local paint stores. The pigment samples were analyzed for all 209 PCB congeners using gas chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). More than 50 PCB congeners including several dioxin-like PCBs were detected, and the PCB profiles varied due to different types of pigments and different manufacturing processes. PCB congeners were detected in azo and phthalocyanine pigments which are commonly used in paint but also in inks, textiles, paper, cosmetics, leather, plastics, food and other materials. Our findings suggest several possible mechanisms for the inadvertent production of specific PCB congeners during the manufacturing of paint pigments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cumulative energy demand has been used as a methodology to assess life cycle environmental impacts of commodity production since the early seventies, but has also been criticized because it focuses on energy only. During the past 30 years there has been much research into the development of more complex single-score life cycle impact assessment methodologies. However, a comprehensive analysis of potential similarities and differences between these methodologies and cumulative energy demand has not been carried out so far. Here we compare the cumulative energy demand of 498 commodities with the results of six frequently applied environmental life cycle impact assessment methodologies. Commodity groups included are metals, glass, paper and cardboard, organic and inorganic chemicals, agricultural products, construction materials, and plastics. We show that all impact assessment methods investigated often provide converging results, in spite of the different philosophies behind these methodologies. Fossil energy use is identified by all methodologies as the most important driver of environmental burden of the majority of the commodities included, with the main exception of agricultural products. We conclude that a wide range of life cycle environmental assessment methodologies point into the same environmental direction for the production of many commodities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Institutional theories and resource-based views have suggested that, although they appear similar externally, standardized management systems may be implemented very differently in different organizations. This variability in implementation may be responsible for the heterogeneous performance of these standardized management systems. The current literature on the environmental impacts of ISO 14001 certification has largely neglected this phenomenon. Drawing on our survey of all US 14001 certificate holders, this study finds that great variability does exist in facilities' implementation of ISO 14001 standards. This heterogeneity has a significant impact on the linkage between ISO 14001 certification and facilities' environmental performance. In particular, we find that facilities that integrate ISO 14001 standards into their daily operations are more likely to report improvements in environmental performance. Environmental improvements are also more likely to occur in facilities that include performance management elements in their ISO 14001 standards. Furthermore, both types of facility are more likely to report that ISO certification contributes to this improvement. Neglecting the heterogeneity in facilities' implementation of ISO 14001 standards may explain the instability of findings from the empirical literature investigating the impacts of ISO 14001 certification. Theoretically, this paper informs the understanding of heterogeneous organizational behavior under isomorphic pressures. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Titanium (Ti) occurs naturally in soils and as highly purified titanium dioxide (TiO2) in many commercial products that have been used for decades. We report for the first time the occurrence, characterization, and removal of nano- and larger-sized Ti at wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). At one WWTP studied in detail, raw sewage contained 100 to nearly 3000 μg Ti/L Ti larger than 0.7 pm accounted for the majority of the Ti in raw sewage, and this fraction was well removed by WWTP processes. Ti concentrations in effluents from this and several other WWTPs ranged from <5 to 15 μg/L and were nearly all present in the <0.7 μm size fraction. As Ti was removed, it accumulated in settled solids at concentrations ranging from 1 to 6 μg Ti/mg. Ti-containing solids were imaged in sewage, biosolids, and liquid effluent as well as in commercial products containing engineered TiO2. Single nanoparticles plus spherical aggregates (50 nm to a few hundred nanometer is size) composed of sub-50 nm spheres of Ti and oxygen only (presumably TiO2) were observed is all samples. Significantly larger silicate particles containing a mixture of Ti and other metal atoms were also observed in the samples. To support the field work, laboratory adsorption batch and sequencing batch reactor experiments using TiO2 and activated sludge bacteria verified that adsorption of TiO2 onto activated sledge biomass occurs. Monitoring for TiO2 in the environment where WWTP liquid effluent is discharged (rivers, lakes, oceans) or biomass disposed (landfills, agriculture and soil amendments, incinerator off-gas or residuals) will increase our knowledge on the fate and transport of other nanomaterials in the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To shed light on individuals' willingness to pay for “green” goods (i.e., goods that are supposed to have lower adverse environmental impacts either in production or in use), we study data from the introduction by Patagonia, Inc., of organic cotton sportswear in the mid-1990s. Patagonia, a maker of high-end outdoor wear, substituted organic cotton for conventionally grown cotton in all of its sportswear (i.e., casual clothing for travel and leisure) in 1996. We find that customers were willing to pay significant premiums for organic cotton garments although the organic cotton provided no demonstrable private incremental benefits to the customer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pressures on firms to improve their environmental performance have caused them to look outside their boundaries towards their supply chains. In such approaches, firms work with vendors to develop the environmental profile of supplied materials (for example) by reducing materials' toxicity or the amount of packaging used. While large firms can mandate that their suppliers comply with such initiatives, more cooperative approaches are generally likely to be more fruitful. This article presents the results from an exploratory, two phase study of the conditions under which firms engage in cooperative supply-chain environmental management. First, the authors conducted interviews with 14 leading-edge firms. In the second phase, the authors conducted a theoretical-sample survey to examine a model of the antecedents of cooperative supply-chain environmental management. The results suggest that inter-firm trust, uncertainty and pro-active environmental management most directly affect the extent to which firms engage in cooperative supply-chain environmental management. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of products containing biocides is increasing at the same time as the number of available biocides is decreasing. Biocides are biologically active chemicals with a vast area of applications where demands for maintaining product quality by use of biocides presents a major challenge for developers striving to meet emerging environmental concerns and fulfilling criteria for eco-labeled consumer products. Tightening regulations have, however, led to stagnation in the current development of new biocide chemistries, and the "nontoxic poison" has yet to be formulated. Accordingly, the present article presents a critical overview of European Union regulation of biocides and their usage and of some of the future challenges for meeting demands for environmentally safe products and processes in which biocides are used. The Biocidal Product Directive, which is presently implemented, is one focus in the present article. Regulations of environmental, health, and safety (EHS) risk classifications and their role in the future development of biocide-containing products are also discussed. Studying the biocide dilemma may provide tools for the chemical industry as whole for proactive anticipation of the effect of emerging regulatory demands on product development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

C8- and C9-alkylphenols and their ethoxylates (APE) are widely used commercial products mainly used in industrial applications, in the formulation of crop protection chemicals, and in industrial and household cleaners. Recent regulatory focus on these compounds has included an assessment of their potential to meet criteria for persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic compounds (PBT). To fully evaluate either the relative persistence or bioaccumulation potential of any APE, degradation intermediates and metabolic by-products of these compounds should also be considered. To facilitate the evaluation of the ultimate fate of APE in the environment, a review of the degradation pathways and identification of degradation intermediates was performed (part I of a two-part series). In part II of this series, the relative persistence of APE as indicated by degradation half-lives was examined based on a review of abiotic and biological degradation data. To assess the bioaccumulation potential of APE, the relevant literature was also reviewed. The available data for C8- and C9-APE show that the commercial products and their degradation intermediates do not meet any national or international criteria for identifying these compounds as PBT substances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanomaterials promise to transform commercial products, providing significant societal benefits. As the nanomaterials enterprise grows, so too, does the debate over environmental, health, and safety (EH&S) aspects of producing them. This article discusses nanomaterial EH&S needs and progress being made by industry, academic institutions, and government laboratories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the making process of a product will be followed step by step and also the environmental impact of the product during every stage of its life cycle will be highlighted, from raw material obtaining to disposal; material recovery through recycling is also part of this analysis. The chosen product is a soft-drink can made of aluminium, a non-renewable, but recyclable resource we use every day. In the paper, the concepts of closed-loop and open-loop recycling will be introduced, as they are relevant to the process of aluminium recycling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates conditions under which high prices, in conjunction with low levels of pollution, signal environmentally clean products. It is shown that, when consumers cannot ascertain the environmental performance of products, the price must be distorted upward to signal a clean product. A clean producer saves less from emitting pollution and so raises price and restricts output with less reluctance than does a dirty producer. The theoretical result of over-pricing is consistent with the evidence that “green” products receive higher prices than conventional products. However, optimistic prior beliefs of high-environmental performance may cause signaling to fail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Environmental costs of products are closely related to their environmental impacts. This paper presents a methodology to estimate the environmental costs of products during the concept design phase by integrating a Simplified Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) methodology with Economic Valuation (EV) methods such as EPS2000d, EXMOD and Ecosense. The new methodology estimates the environmental performance indicators for each stage of the product life cycle by using the SLCA, and obtains the cost values from the most suitable EV method. A number of passive and active products were used to prove the concept and demonstrate the efficiency of the methodology. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article presents the development process of a consumer-oriented, illustrative benchmarking tool enabling consumers to use the results of environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) to make informed decisions. LCA provides a wealth of information on the environmental impacts of products, but its results are very difficult to present concisely and in a way that is understandable to non-experts. A participatory co-development process was thus deemed necessary to create an easy-to-use presentation format. A brochure presenting the benchmarking tool was developed in an iterative process involving consumer focus groups, stakeholder workshops, and questionnaire-based feedback. The co-development process proved its value: in addition to learning what works and what does not, detailed suggestions on improved wording and figures were obtained, as well as a wealth of ideas for future applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present major concern on sustainable development is at the beginning of a growing interest on product recyclability. More and more strict norms and regulations will be prescribed to companies in order to increase the level of recyclability of industrial products. Usually described in natural language, these norms can be difficult to interpret for the product designer. There will also be an increasing need in tools to verify the compliance of a product with given norms and standards. A prototype of such a system is described in this article: the information to be added to the product model is first specified, It is then shown how the knowledge contained in standards and norms in textual form can be translated into constraints which can be propagated through the product structure in order to identify the inconsistencies between the present design and a given norm. An example of the literature is used to illustrate the suggested methodology and the results of its application through a software prototype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, there has been a growth in international organizations concerned with environmental matters. These organizations include international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), inter-governmental organizations (IGOs), and treaties. This article presents cross-national models examining the effects of these variables on deforestation. In doing so, I use data for up to 73 nations to examine the determinants of deforestation from 1990 to 2000. I find substantial support for world polity hypotheses that all these organizations reduce deforestation. I also find support for world system arguments that economic dependency relationships based upon commodity concentration increase deforestation. Finally, I find that economic growth decreases deforestation and population growth increases deforestation. I conclude with some brief policy recommendations and directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the environmental aspects of the information technology sector at the Ikeja Computer Village in Nigeria. Vendors pack this market where imported used electronics are repaired and sold. According to the Computer and Allied Product Dealers Association of Nigeria, 75 percent of the electronics shipped to the Village are irreparable junk. The country has no capacity to deal with the electronic waste, most of which ends up in landfills and informal dumps. This poses a threat to health since most of these waste contain toxic metals.

The article discusses the concept of ecolabel, a symbol that indicates that a food has been produced in a way that is considered environmentally preferable. Several non-environmental issues covered by ecolabel include animal welfare and social responsibility. Several factors affecting the effectiveness of ecolabeling include cost and the shift of product control from producer to the retailer.

Green product development, which addresses environmental issues through product design and innovation as opposed to the traditional end-of-pipe-control approach, is receiving significant attention from customers, industries, and governments around the world. In this paper we develop a quality-based model for analyzing the strategic and policy issues concerning the development of products with conflicting traditional and environmental attributes. On the demand side of the problem, we use the framework of conjoint analysis to structure the preferences of the ordinary and green customers. On the supply side, we apply the theories in optimal product design and market segmentation to analyze the producer's strategic decisions regarding the number of products introduced and their prices and qualities. On the policy side, we evaluate the effects of environmental standards on the economic and environmental consequences of green product development By jointly considering the interactions among the customers' preferences, the producer's product strategies, and the environmental standards imposed by governments, we present some interesting findings that can be used to manage and regulate the development of green products. Two major findings show that green product development and stricter environmental standards might not necessarily benefit the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addresses environmental tax reforms in a many-person economy. Role of tax reform; Effect of environmental externalities on commodity demand; Effect of conflict between efficiency and distributional equity; Benefits of shifting tax burden on dirty good from leisure.

Marketers of environmentally sensitive products are faced with two types of dilemmas. First, to what degree should they rely on the proenvironmental stance of the vast majority of consumers in deciding to market environmentally friendly products and services? Second, what are the best marketing communication strategies for marketing environmentally friendly products and services? Our results confirm that general environmental concern must be considered when making marketing decisions for environmentally sensitive products. The marketer should be aware, however, that the impact of general environmental concern is mediated by attitudinal variables relevant to the specific product class. Thus, general environmental concern may not generally or directly index purchase intentions for environmentally sensitive products. Rather, the market must examine how environmental concern may activate attitudes about the product and perception of its environmental characteristics. The modeling results indicate that relying on simply communicating the environmental attributes of the product may not be an effective communication strategy for reducing (enhancing) consumption of an environmentally sensitive product. Rather, marketers need to be cognizant of the direct and indirect paths that are available to influence specific purchase retentions. More research is needed to inform marketing and regulatory decision makers in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concern over the environment continues to grow both within the scientific community and among the general public. Increasing alarm has been expressed on issues ranging from the depletion of the ozone layer brought on by the introduction of chlorofluorocarbons and other chemicals into the atmosphere, to acid rain, solid waste disposal, polluted groundwater and toxic waste. As issues regarding the ecological environment receive increasing attention and have moved towards the forefront of the social agenda, companies have grappled with formulating appropriate responses. The often conflicting goals set forth by management, owners, consumers, government agencies and society have left many firms in a quandary regarding how best to operate in the context of the environmental or "green" movement. Exacerbating the problem is a lack of conceptual development and empirical evidence regarding the appropriate corporate responses to the movement. While consumers claim to be more environmentally-conscious, there is little knowledge regarding the nature and degree of sacrifice they are willing to make in acting on this issue. The purpose of this study is to identify the trade-offs consumers are willing to make as they see themselves contributing to a healthier ecosystem and to compare these trade-offs across two cultures. It seeks to clarify cultural differences in consumer sensibilities regarding the environment, their impact on consumer choice behaviour and implications for product design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]