 Design for environment and environmental quality: regulatory policy or voluntary programs?Mariangela Zoli and Manuela Coromaldi Economia dei Servizi, 2008, issue 3, 399-422 Abstract: Design for Environment (DfE) is one of the more promising tools for reducing the environmental impact throughout the product life-cycle. Since most of the waste management and recycling problems are "locked" into the product at the design stage, DfE provides a relevant opportunity to make critical interventions early in the product development process in order to eliminate, avoid or reduce downstream environmental impacts. DfE activities are stimulated in different ways in different countries. In this paper we analyze the relationship between DfE incentives, public policies and voluntary programs, by considering the theoretical and empirical literature. We distinguish between an "European approach", where DfE is spurred by public regulations, and a "US approach", where producers pursue more voluntary efforts in reducing the environmental impacts of their products. By providing an overview of the theoretical and empirical literature, we conclude that public policies tend to be more effective in spurring DfE. Keywords: design for environment; environmental regulations (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mul:j1t56u:doi:10.2382/27532:y:2008:i:3:p:399-422 Access Statistics for this article Economia dei Servizi is currently edited by Fabio Gobbo More articles in Economia dei Servizi from Società editrice il Mulino |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.