Restoring the incentives for eco-design in extended producer responsibility: The challenges for eco-modulation.

Extended producer responsibility (EPR) is an environmental policy strategy that makes producers responsible for the waste management of their products and packages. A key goal of EPR is to incentivize producers to (re)design their products and packages to improve their environmental performance, especially at end of life. However, because of the way in which the financial structure of EPR has evolved, those incentives have largely been muted or undetectable.

Material efficiency in a multi-material world.

Material efficiency--using less of a material to make a product or supply a service--is gaining attention as a means for accomplishing important environmental goals. The ultimate goal of material efficiency is not to use less physical material but to reduce the impacts associated with its use. This article examines the concept and definition of material efficiency and argues that for it to be an effective strategy it must confront the challenges of operating in a multi-material world, providing guidance when materials are used together and when they compete.

Metal lost and found: dissipative uses and releases of copper in the United States 1975-2000.

Metals are used in a variety of ways, many of which lead to dissipative releases to the environment. Such releases are relevant from both a resource use and an environmental impact perspective. We present a historical analysis of copper dissipative releases in the United States from 1975 to 2000.

Dining at the periodic table: metals concentrations as they relate to recycling.

A correlation between the prices of a variety of substances and their dilutions in their initial matrices was shown in 1959 by T.K. Sherwood.