Intensified Product-orientated Environmental Initiative

Preface

In modern-day Denmark, we use thousands of products - e.g. detergents, TV sets, cars, textiles, etc. All products affect the environment - when manufactured, when used and when disposed of.

One of the focal points of the Danish Government's 1995 Nature and Environment Policy Report, was the environmental impact from our production, use and disposal of products. One of the main conclusions in the report was that the serious environmental problems of our time call for the environmental protection provided so far to be supplemented with measures dealing with all aspects of product life-cycles. This needs to be done in close co-operation with those stakeholders who may influence the environmental impact of the products. The goal, then, is wider development, production and sale of environmentally sound products.

To follow up on this idea, the Danish Environmental Protection Agency has drawn up this proposal for an intensified product-orientated environmental initiative.

The proposal is aimed at politicians who take an interest in the environment and at all groups of stakeholders essential to any product initiative, including product developers, manufacturers, trading companies, environmental administration agencies, consumers, know-how suppliers, etc.

The Danish Environmental Protection Agency's proposal for an intensified product initiative hinges on contributions from round-table discussions with a number of important Danish stakeholders, on the Danish Ministry for Business and Industry's resource area analyses, on discussions with the environmental authorities in the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden and the European Commission, and on present Danish experience with product-orientated environmental measures. During the round-table discussions, industry, consumers, the retail trade, employees, green organisations, municipalities, counties and a number of sectorial ministries were represented.

Chapter 1 of the present proposal gives a summary of the following six chapters. Chapter 2 focuses on the national and global environmental problems that create the need for intensified product initiative. Chapter 3 describes the product initiative process and the overall environmental goals, industrial targets and objectives of the product initiative work. Chapters 4-6 analyse the framework and conditions for the products, market and stakeholders. The aim is to put together an outline of the available scope for intensifying product-orientated environmental initiatives. Chapter 7 examines the Danish Environmental Protection Agency's proposals for areas of action and specific activities for the product initiative. Some of the proposals will involve quite new activities while others will emanate from or intensify existing activities in the product field.

The proposal is now being widely circulated for comments and will be presented and discussed at a series of events in the next six months as well. Its components and initiatives will be deliberated in the light of this debate and comments received before any policy-making commitments are considered.

As the proposal illustrates, the dialogue with everyone - from product developers and manufacturers to dealers and consumers - is of very great importance to the product initiative. Therefore, I very much hope that this proposal will be capable of fuelling a constructive, fruitful debate on how to intensify our product-orientated environmental initiative.

Copenhagen, November 1996