Circular Economy
Product Stewardship
Definition
Product stewardship is an approach in which responsibility for reducing a product's environmental, health and safety impacts is shared across its life cycle — by manufacturers, retailers, consumers and waste managers — rather than resting with disposal authorities alone. It encompasses voluntary industry schemes and mandatory programmes; where legal responsibility and funding are placed primarily on producers, it becomes extended producer responsibility.
References
This reference provides supporting context for how “Product Stewardship” is defined and used.
Source imported for editorial provenance.
Overview
How it is used
The term appears in waste policy, scheme accreditation (e. g. , Australian co-regulatory arrangements) and corporate product responsibility strategies.
Why it matters
Product stewardship is the umbrella concept that shifted waste thinking upstream — from managing discards to managing products — paving the way for today's EPR regimes.