CM/Spotlight: Sustainability beer manufacturers, believed it would help boost sales significantly. The steel can concept developed slowly in the 1930s, but was put on hold in the 1940s due to World War II; but, by 1960, nearly half of the beer sold in the U.S. was sold in nonreturnable steel cans — and indeed, beer sales did increase. By comparison, most soft drinks in the U.S. at that time were still sold in return-able glass bottles, and their market share, especially when compared to beer sales, showed only moderate growth. Not surprisingly, all the major producers of soft drinks soon jumped on the band-wagon and began to bottle their products in one-way, no-deposit cans. “Ecology” advocates — as green activ-ists were then called — soon became concerned that all of these cans would eventually end up in landfills. By 1971, Oregon had become the first state to pass a “bottle bill,” which required refundable deposits on all beer and soft drink containers. By 1986, 10 states had enacted simi-lar legislation in the hope of conserving natural resources, promoting recycling and reducing the amount of waste going to landfills. Making recyclable beer and soft drink containers soon became the new normal, but not necessarily because of these bottle bills; rather, major beer and soft drink pro-ducers realized that producing recyclable containers was good for the environment, good for business and simply the right thing to do. By encouraging recycling of their prod-ucts, beer and soft drink producers had unknowingly initiated the process that would eventually lead to the kinds of pro-grams that we now refer to as product stewardship or closed-loop sustainability programs. These programs go beyond recycling, finding ways to reuse products, reduce the amount of raw materials and fuels used in manufacturing and minimize the emissions created by the production process. These types of programs have obviously been a part of the beverage industry for quite some time. For the professional cleaning industry, however, similar programs are likely to be right around the corner. More than 4.5 billion pounds of janito-rial paper products are used annually, requiring the cutting down of approxi-mately 15 million trees. Many of these products — especial-ly cleaning equipment such as vacuum cleaners, extractors and floor machines — are perfect candidates for so-called take back programs, which recycle or reuse the equipment. But, at this time, there are few JanSan manufacturers with established product stewardship programs or closed-loop sus-tainability programs. Many previously owned cleaning machines do wind up being rebuilt and then sold again by distributors and even some manufacturers, who sometimes establish outlet-type stores on their websites. But, statistics indicate that a great many more of these machines simply end up in landfills. And, with the economy picking up and new, more technologically advanced cleaning tools and equipment being intro-duced, we are likely to see more of the older, used machines winding up at the landfill as well. Containers such as the plastic bottles used to hold cleaning chemicals are anoth-er example of a product that has the poten-tial to become part of a product steward-ship program or closed-loop sustainability program. To meet green certification, these con-tainers usually must be made from recycled materials and be recyclable themselves. However, due to the costs and difficulties involved in gathering and cleaning these products, there is little profit incentive for a product stewardship program to take hold at this time. Taking ownership of these issues can provide more than just an environmental benefit for companies. Ultimately, as these programs evolve, they can provide a considerable cost sav-ings, as well as other business and sustain-ability benefits. Such motivations will certainly help to jump-start the product stewardship and closed-loop recycling movement in the JanSan industry. CM Product Stewardship Beyond promoting recycling or reducing fuel usage, what exactly is product stew-ardship? In a nutshell, product stewardship and closed-loop sustainability programs ensure that everyone who comes in contact with a product — from the manufacturer to the distributor to the retailer to the end customer — is involved in the lifespan of the product. This means that by making, distributing, selling or selecting a product, we all take responsibility for its environmental impact and the conservation of our nonrenewable resources. For manufacturers, product stewardship often means planning for the recycling or reusing of products or the components used in those products. This is often achieved by redesigning products so that they are easier to recycle or reuse — and doing so often results in a cost savings. For distributors, retailers and end users, product stewardship means taking an active role in ensuring that the products we buy or sell are properly disposed of at the end of their lifecycles. The electronics and computer industries have proven to be leaders in closed-loop sustainability programs, while similar pro-grams have recently been instituted in a number of other industries, from paint and chemicals to automotive parts and even thermostats. Closing The Loop Many people — even members of our own industry — are astonished when they dis-cover just how many cleaning products are used every year in the U.S. For example: American businesses use more than six billion pounds of cleaning chemi-cals a year Approximately 500 million pounds of janitorial equipment — enough to fill 10,000 garbage trucks — is shipped to landfills every year 20 CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® • May 2011
CMM – Archives May 2011: 20
