How many people are left out of conversations about product stewardship simply because they are not familiar with the term?

To my knowledge, there are no studies that accurately measure the public’s understanding of our industry buzzwords. As a result, the Call2Recycle team conducted a quick, non-scientific phone survey with adults (aged 19-73, with a variety of education levels, living in different states) and asked them two questions: first, What is recycling? and second, What is product stewardship?  Here’s what we learned:  Everyoneknew what recycling means, how and why it is done. But, with product stewardship:

• Almost no one knew of the term or what it meant. The one who did, a 43-year-old executive who works with automotive paint pigments, was familiar with product stewardship because it’s his business to know.
• About half were so unfamiliar with the term that they wouldn’t even venture a guess.
• One-third had no idea but felt comfortable sharing a guess based on their knowledge of the words “product” and “stewardship.”  Some of the responses included: “...using products as directed...”, “…sharing products with others, ” or this one, “…a marketing term, to wisely maintain legal integrity of a brand or trademark…”

As product stewardship organizations, we need to identify ways to better share information and talk about who we are and what we do using language that is understandable by industry experts and consumers, alike. With Earth Day 2013 upon us, it’s a great time to talk about this topic with a consumer friendly approach.

Launched in response to the environmental damages caused by a massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, Calif., the first Earth Day in 1970 led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts. It was the spark for a cultural shift, with millions of individuals, spearheading and rallying behind efforts to protect our environment and natural resources. This revolution of sorts literally changed how business is done, how products are designed, what goes into them and what happens to them at the end of their life.  This is what product stewardship is at the consumer level.

Now 43 years later, studies show that consumers are still interested in and passionate about eco-friendly solutions and they are supportive of product stewardship efforts and learning more about it, even though they may know what it is called.