Sustainability Commitment Update: Bissell Inc.

One Year Update

Results:

For 2010, BISSELL’s Canadian returns total came in at a 10% reduction from 2009 and nearly a 15% reduction from our 2008 returns. Our returns analysis team has identified improvement areas and implemented corrective actions to ensure that product returns are reduced year over year.

In keeping with our efforts to reduce waste and extend our products’ useful lives, BISSELL has made strides toward implementing a product remanufacturing program in Canada. In 2010, we completed a pilot program with a recovery rate consistent with our U.S. operations. We’re targeting a program launch date for March, at which time we’ll begin remanufacturing a full range of products. As is common practice for BISSELL’s operations in the U.S., any components or products that do not meet standards for remanufacturing will be sent to recycling facilities where they are processed for reuse.

Six-Month Update

Challenge:

Product returns present a significant opportunity for BISSELL to reduce consumption of virgin resources by recycling and remanufacturing returned products into saleable products. Employing a strategy similar to what is already in place in the United States, BISSELL Canada can:

• 1) Reduce the number of products returned (year over year)
• 2) Reuse portions of returned products by remanufacturing them into saleable products
• 3) Recycle most elements of returned products that do not meet standards for remanufacturing

Strategy:

BISSELL has identified and implemented corrective actions and communication programs to help minimize field returns. Accordingly, BISSELL plans to open a product remanufacturing center in Canada that will allow our Canadian retail partners to send all returned BISSELL products to a BISSELL Canada facility where products will be sorted, dismantled, cleaned and rebuilt into remanufactured products. The products and parts that are unfit to be reused in remanufactured products will be sent to recycling facilities and be processed for a secondary use. Our well established remanufacturing facility in the U.S. allows us to estimate with confidence the projected number of returned Canadian products that should be fit for remanufacturing. Based on our projections, a remanufacturing center in Canada presents an opportunity for BISSELL to reuse and recycle tens of thousands of pounds of plastic, metal, and electrical cords annually.

Progress:

2010 July year-to-date product returns in Canada are 13% lower than 2009 July YTD.