Business Watch

TAKE-BACK PRODUCTS MAKE TOP TEN LIST

Included in the top ten most innovative products for beyond the year 2005 are "never-owned" products, according to Battelle, a scientific firm in Columbus, Ohio, that develops, commercializes and manages technology for industry. Never-owned products are items such as household major appliances – washers, dryers, water heaters and air conditioners – that will be leased instead of purchased.

"People will buy the functionality without buying the products," says Stephen Millet, a technology intelligence program manager at Battelle. "Manufacturers or distributors will retain ownership and responsibility for eventual disposal and recycling."

Already, leasing has become popular with automobiles in the United States, and in Europe, lawmakers are considering producer responsibility legislation for a wide range of products.

For those businesses interested in future legislation requiring manu-facturers and suppliers to retain dis-posal and recycling responsibility for their products, the first ever Recycling Laws International conference titled "Take It Back," will be held May 2 through 3 in Baltimore. The event is sponsored by Raymond Communications. To register for the conference, call (301) 345-4237 or E-mail at michele@raymond.com . The entire conference schedule is available on the World Wide Web of the Internet at http://www.raymond.com/recycle.

THE LAST TIRE YOU’LL EVER OWN?

Tire mileage ratings have been increasing for years, and, until recently, the highest-rated manufacturer-backed tire was a 85,000-mile one offered by Sumitomo, Tokyo. Other major manufacturers like Michelin, Clermont-Ferrand, France; Bridgestone, Toyko; and Pirelli, Milan, Italy, all had 80,000-mile tires.

Now Goodyear, Akron, Ohio, has upped the ante. Last month the company introduced the Infinitred – a tire that theoretically could last as long as the car itself. The tire is the first in the industry to carry an unlimited tread mile warranty. Goodyear will replace the tire for free, regardless of mileage, for the first three years if the tread wears beyond implanted tread markers. After that, the tire will be replaced at 50 percent of cost as long as the buyer owns the vehicle. Ultimately, longer-lasting tires mean fewer scrap tires in the waste stream.

OSHA HAS HELPED, SAYS ADMINISTRATION

Since passage of the 1970 legislation in the United States that created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Washington, workplace deaths have been cut in half, according to The White House. Since then, incidents of brown lung among textile workers have dropped from 20 percent to 1 percent, for example, and when OSHA strengthened trenching protections in 1990, deaths caused by trench cave-ins decreased by 35 percent.

Despite these efforts, OSHA officials say that more than 6,000 workers in the U.S. die from occupational injuries, and 6 million people suffer non-fatal injuries at work. These injuries are estimated to cost the economy more than $110 billion a year.

2. Personalized computers: Systems that recognize you and perform your wishes and desires automatically.

3. Multi-fuel automobiles: Cars that run on gasoline, electricity and natural gas.

4. Next generation TVs: Televisions with very large, flat screens featuring incredible clarity.

5. Cyber cash: Electronic money stored in a plastic card.

6. Home health monitors: Non-invasive devices that keep track of bodily functions and vital signs.

7. Smart maps and trackers: Global positioning systems that keep track of you and your loved ones.

8. Smart materials: Materials that give off signals or change color when reaching high stress levels.

9. Anti-aging products: New wrinkle creams and medicines that work.

10. Never-owned products: Consumers buy the functionality of a product without the responsibility for disposal and recycling.