Product Stewardship

• Inception, Design, Development

  We evaluate current and future chemicals of concern and integrate our client's product stewardship goals into every aspect, component, and function during the product inception and design phase.

• Manufacturing

  Our experts help you evaluate manufacturing processes to manage byproducts and waste streams and identify unintended contaminants. We perform chemical testing to identify and define appropriate actions, as needed, promoting alignment between product development and product stewardship goals.

• Packaging

  The package a product comes in is as important ​to brand identity and reputation as what's inside. ​We support clients with holistic packaging concerns, from compliance requirements to performance and materials selection ​to recyclability, compostability, and biodegradability.​

• Use/Sell

  It is more important than ever to understand the chemicals consumers are exposed to while using products on a daily basis. Exponent provides rigorous testing, analysis, and alternative materials consulting and exposure assessments to help companies conduct thorough human and environmental risk assessments.​

• Disposal and Recycling

  Product stewardship goes beyond recyclability to thinking through secondary and tertiary uses for materials in an increasingly circular economy. We offer complete product lifecycle analyses that support clients with understanding the ​real impacts of their products on people and the planet. ​This includes extensive evaluations of the fate and transport ​of chemicals of concern and innovative ideas about how materials can be reused.

What Clients are Talking About

• How fast is the shift from voluntary stewardship to mandatory producer responsibility — and where next?

  The world is moving steadily toward legally mandated producer obligations, especially for packaging, electronics, batteries, and certain hazardous or hard-to-manage wastes. "Voluntary" programs still exist, but they increasingly operate in the shadow of regulation; companies use them to reduce risk, demonstrate leadership, and prepare for compliance. The pace varies by jurisdiction — some markets move through comprehensive national frameworks, while others roll out state- and province-specific requirements. For businesses, the practical implication is that producer responsibility is becoming an operating assumption, not a niche program. Forward-looking firms map obligations by market, model fee exposure, and build scalable reporting and governance.

• What are the dominant regulatory themes right now — circularity, chemicals, or both?

  It's both, and the overlap is where complexity is rising. Circularity policies push recyclability, recycled content, reuse/refill, and waste reduction; chemicals policies restrict or require disclosure of substances of concern in products and packaging. These collide when restricted substances appear in recycled feedstocks, potentially limiting recyclability or creating liability in closed-loop systems. Businesses therefore ask how to meet circularity targets without introducing chemical risk, and vice versa. Leading programs integrate chemical inventory and supplier declarations with design-for-environment decisions, packaging material choices, and end-of-life pathways. The winning approach treats product stewardship as lifecycle risk management, not just compliance paperwork.

• Are we seeing fragmentation or harmonization — and how do we manage across markets?

  Most companies experience a patchwork of legal and regulatory requirements, with partial harmonization in definitions, reporting formats, and standards — enough to help, but not enough to rely on. Requirements differ on scope (what is "packaging"?), timing, reporting frequency, eco-modulation criteria, labeling rules, and enforcement posture. Chemical rules also vary by threshold, list of substances, and disclosure methods. Businesses typically choose one of three operating models: (1) "highest common denominator" design and disclosure globally, (2) regional product/packaging variants with market-specific compliance, or (3) a modular approach — common core data plus jurisdiction-specific add-ons. The most resilient strategy is a centralized data backbone (components + chemicals + packaging specs) with local compliance execution.

• What does "good" look like today — what are peers actually implementing?

  A strong program includes an integrated management system: clear ownership, cross-functional governance (research and development, procurement, Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS), regulatory, packaging, legal), documented procedures for change control, and auditable supplier data collection. Peer leaders invest in substance/mixture transparency (down the supply chain where feasible), standardized declarations, and risk-based testing. They also connect stewardship to product development gates — so that compliance, chemical substitution, and recyclability are evaluated early rather than retrofitted. On the circularity side, companies are running packaging portfolio rationalization, recyclability design reviews, recycled-content qualification, and end-of-life partnerships. Importantly, "good" includes credible external claims controls to avoid greenwashing and enforcement risk.

• What's the likely next wave of expectations over the next 12-36 months?

  Expect more specificity, more data, and more accountability. Regulators and customers are moving from broad goals like "recyclable" and "safer chemicals" toward defined criteria, substantiation, and reporting. Common next-wave pressures include expanded Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scopes and higher fees, stricter recyclability definitions and labeling rules, and more frequent verification/auditing of reported data. Chemical stewardship will likely accelerate around priority substance classes and transparency obligations, including greater scrutiny of additives and contaminants in recycled materials. Many markets are also exploring digital mechanisms for product information (e.g., digital product passports or comparable disclosure systems), which increase the need for consistent, high-quality upstream data. Businesses can start planning now for scalable data governance, supplier engagement, and design standards that anticipate — not chase — requirements.