The purpose of this guideline is to describe the possibilities offered by life-cycle management for products to be used by serval users and at serval levels of use and to identify the boundaries between products and materials cycles on the one hand and waste flows on the other hand. It gives guidance on the strategic development of life-cycle management systems. As far as the implementation and operation of such systems is concerned, this guideline provides assistance to product development, production planning, materials management and logistics, and the disposal of fice on the production side, and to the plant operators on the reconditioning side.