Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
BOX 3-2
Example of Private Industry's Influence on the
Supply Chain without Regulatory Mandates
The increasingly global nature of production, coupled with the expanding
number of chemicals used in commerce, presents a daunting challenge for
protection of human health and ecosystem quality. It is also challenging for
either regulations or the underlying science to keep pace. When the complex
interactions between chemicals and their vast production networks are con-
sidered, the problems become even more daunting inasmuch as they span
organizational and national boundaries.
Partly as a response to those challenges, corporations in several indus-
tries have begun to issue supply-chain mandates in which they demand
changes in production processes and material inputs from suppliers over
which they exert economic influence. Under those mandates, firms in a corpo-
ration's supply chain are obliged to meet customer expectations and adopt
specific requirements with the promise of future contracts or under the threat
of discontinuation of business. The private-sector policies are rapidly emerg-
ing as part of a new generation of quasiregulatory policy tools whereby pri-
vate organizations use economic leverage to effect changes in pursuit of the
public good. The efficacy of such mandates is still an open question, but their
emergence signals an important evolution and opportunity in the development
of strategies aimed at improving consumer protections against exposure to
harmful substances. Although such private-sector actions are not a substitute
for effective chemical regulations, if developed and executed correctly, they
can augment public policies substantially.
An example of the potential influence of managing supply chains is Wal-
Mart's commitment to selling high-efficiency light bulbs and the effects that
policy had on energy use in the United States (Barbaro 2007). By working
with its suppliers on product quality and price, they fulfilled a commitment to
quadruple sales of efficient light bulbs. These sales were equal to the maxi-
mum sustainable sales—that is, the number of light bulbs per household and
the technology available. This effort radically reduced the electricity used by
their customers, reducing demand for electricity that was equal to the output
of three or four 700 MW power plants.
Another example that demonstrates the power of the marketplace for
chemical substitution is bisphenol-A in polycarbonate water bottles (Tickner
2011). As a result of consumer campaigns, emerging science, and state regu-
lations, major retailers of water bottles, such as REI, rapidly switched from
polycarbonate to alternative materials. However, in the switch, little research
was undertaken on the alternative materials, which has the potential to lead to
health and environmental concerns at a later time.
Design for the Environment
Established in 1992, EPA's Design for Environment program is a model
of stakeholder-engaged product design to reduce the environmental effects of
consumer products. The Design for Environment concept “encourages busi-
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