Product Responsibility in the US Electronics Industry

Abstract

Electronics firms are subject to a proliferation of international environmental policies and standards that go beyond traditional concerns about manufacturing process wastes and releases to impact corporate management practices, product design and marketability, and post-consumer product disposal. Their suppliers and customers are increasingly sensitive to environmental issues such as energy efficiency, material use (e.g., recycled content, ozone depleting substances concerns), and environmentally-sound product disposal and recycling, motivating electronics firms to manufacture and supply appropriate products and services.

The material presented in this chapter was partially funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response through Grant No CX 824366-01 to the University of Tennessee, Center for Clean Technologies.