The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides access to information on a variety of topics related to the environment and strives to inform citizens of health risks. The EPA also has an extensive library network that consists of 26 libraries throughout the United States, which provide access to a plethora of information to EPA employees, scientists, and researchers. The EPA implemented a reorganization project to digitize their materials so they would be more accessible to a wider range of users, but this plan was drastically accelerated when the EPA was threatened with a budget cut. It chose to close and reduce the hours and services of some of their libraries. As a result, the agency was accused of denying users the “right to know” by making information unavailable, not providing an adequate strategic plan, and discarding vital materials. This case study explores the background of the digitization project, the practices implemented, and the critiques of the project.

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The Environmental Protection Agency

A Product-Service System (PSS) is an integrated combination of products and services. This Western concept embraces a service-led competitive strategy, environmental sustainability, and the basis to differentiate from competitors who simply offer lower priced products. This paper aims to report the state-of-the-art of PSS research by presenting a clinical review of literature currently available on this topic. The literature is classified and the major outcomes of each study are addressed and analysed. On this basis, this paper defines the PSS concept, reports on its origin and features, gives examples of applications along with potential benefits and barriers to adoption, summarizes available tools and methodologies, and identifies future research challenges.

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State-of-the-art in product-service systems

Towards circular economy implementation: a comprehensive review in context of manufacturing industry

https://www.duodecim.fi/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2016/05/avoimuus2016_kpatja_liite2.pdf

Trust and the development of health care as a social institution

How are WEEE doing? A global review of the management of electrical and electronic wastes

The focus of the environmental policy-making has shifted noticeably during the last decade. From having played a fairly insignificant role in the 1980s and earlier, product-related environmental problems have attracted an ever-increasing interest from policy-makers, especially in industrialised countries in North-Western Europe. Considerable attention has been devoted to the concept of extended producer responsibility (EPR) and today this concept is spread to most OECD countries and also outside this group of countries.

This dissertation shows how the concept was developed, presents a model for various types of responsibilities and defines the EPR concept as a policy principle for environmental improvements of products and product systems. Experiences from existing EPR systems are studied and complemented with an analysis of proposed system implementations. The results are combined with a model for how an EPR system can be developed in order to give the incentives for change to the relevant actors. Conclusions concerning how the details of EPR systems should be organised are presented, as well as a discussion about the advantages and disadvantages with involving various actors in the policy development process and the role of these actors in the implementation of the system.

/pdf/extended-producer-responsibility-in-cleaner-production-2cuchlynq1.pdf

Extended Producer Responsibility in Cleaner Production: Policy Principle to Promote Environmental Improvements of Product Systems

ISO 14001 in environmental supply chain practices

The role of public policy in advancement of product service systems

This study examined the impact of a procedure implemented and used at one Swedish university to promote integration of the concept of sustainability into courses. The study is based on a literature ...

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Integration of Sustainability in Higher Education: A Study with International Perspectives

It turns out that “trust but verify” is also good advice for evaluating risk and determining rates for prospective customers. However, as the subprime vehicle market continues to grow most dealers and lenders still rely on traditional credit scores and customer-reported details to maintain stability of their loan portfolios. Unfortunately, these may not be the most accurate or comprehensive ways to assess borrowers’ qualifications:

Thomas Lindhqvist

Papers

Extended Producer Responsibility in Cleaner Production: Policy Principle to Promote Environmental Improvements of Product Systems

ISO 14001 in environmental supply chain practices

The role of public policy in advancement of product service systems

Integration of Sustainability in Higher Education: A Study with International Perspectives

Trust, but Verify