Page 59 - Design for Environment A Guide to Sustainable Product Development

38 Chapter Thr ee

WasteWise, launched by EPA in 1994, encourages solid waste
reduction and recycling through information, education, and recog -
ni tio n of mem ber successes. As of 2008 the program had about
2000 part ner members including large, multinational corporations,
small- and medium-sized businesses, local governments, and non-
profit organizations.

Environmental Management System Standards
Along with governmental initiatives such as those described above,
a major motivation for DFE has been the emergence of ISO 14000
and similar international standards that prescribe how companies
should manage their environmental performance. Although compli-
ance with such standards is voluntary, companies generally cannot
afford to ignore them. The forerunner of environmental standards
was the ISO 9000 series of quality management standards, which
have achieved worldwide acceptance and became a sine qua non for
international trade in industrial goods. Industrial customers feel
secure in knowing that their suppliers’ quality practices are ISO
9000-certified, and therefore feel less obliged to audit them carefully.
While certification involves some costs, the end result is greater pro-
ductivity for all concerned.
A similar rationale holds for the adoption of environmental stan-
dards. To the extent that companies are concerned about their own
environmental performance, they will also want assurance that their
suppliers are practicing environmental stewardship and pollution
prevention. Certification, in theory, provides an efficient means for
verifying a company’s commitment to environmental management.
However, it is important to note that, as in ISO 9000, certification
cannot guarantee the actual quality of performance, but only the exis-
tence of a management system designed to enhance that quality.
Also, the scope of environmental standards is far broader and more
complex than that of quality standards. While the latter relate only to
the quality of deliverable products, the former span all of the inter -
actions between a company, its physical environment, and its stake-
holders, including customers, employees, shareholders, regulators,
suppliers, communities, and interest groups.
The following international standards activities have particu-
larly influenced the design of environmentally-conscious products
and services.
International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ISO is
the world’s largest standards-setting organization, with a member-
ship consisting of national standards bodies from 143 countries. ISO
14000 is a series of international standards on environmental man-
agement that provide a framework for implementing corporate envi-
ronmental management systems (EMS). It originated in the early