Product Stewardship: The Case of Digital Equipment Corporation

Abstract

There has been an increased interest in and attention to the EHS (Environmental, Health & Safety) impact of products over the past several years. Issues relating to the safety and environmental repercussions of products including end-of-life product take-back, toxic content, design for upgradability, design for disassembly/recovery, recycling, reusability, energy efficiency, packaging, and others, are becoming more important in marketing and sales of information technology products and services. These elements are not only the subject of existing and emerging regulations, but also of increasing interest to customers due to an increased awareness of EHS issues. Additionally, market requirements are being defined in this area with the emergence of a variety of ‘eco-label’ schemes, e.g. Blue Angel, government procurement guidelines, and self-certification programs. This chapter provides an overview of the components of Product Stewardship at Digital and gives some examples on specific products.