ABSTRACT
It used to be that the only environmental regulations a company had to be concerned with were those affecting a manufacturing facility’s air emissions, waste generation, and waste water. Governments began to realize that the disposal of products presented signi•cant environmental concerns and soon began developing regulations to address this issue. In recent years there has been an exponential growth of environmental regulations that apply to products (see Figure 3.1). Beginning in Europe with requirements for developing more sustainable packaging and mandatory take-back requirements, these regulations have expanded to all regions of the world.
