Tag: benefits of sustainability

System Perspective – Design for Eco-Products

sustainable designMost people don’t realize that sustainable design is a lot more than just designing an eco-friendly product. It involves understanding all the steps that go into your product and how they affect the environment, from packaging to production to disposal. What’s even more important is analyzing these impacts using a system perspective. To help you with this, we’re going to dive deep into what system perspectives are, how they work, and why it’s so important for the sustainable design of products. So let’s get started!

– Introduction

System perspective tools such as an environmental life-cycle analysis (LCA) or a Life Cycle Management tool (LCM) as well as The 5 Level Framework (5LF) can guide product development by shedding light on the life-cycle of any given product and illuminating ways to reduce resources consumed and lower costs all along the value chain. It does this by using an ecological footprint perspective–that is, looking at everything from cradle to grave in order to measure environmental impact during every phase. From a system’s perspective, it’s easy enough to identify what steps use up water or produce air pollution more quickly than others; as such these are good places for improvement!

– The Components of a System Perspective

Life Cycle Management (LCM) is a business approach that ensures sustainable value chain management to target, organize, analyze and manage product-related information and activities towards continuous improvement along the product life cycle. LCM differs from an environmental LCA in how it measures performance; LCM focuses on improving environmentally conscious aspects of production while also considering economic factors such as cost efficiency throughout the process.

Unlike many other tools for sustainability assessment like ESG or GRI reporting standards which can only provide broad overviews of company operations across various industries/sectors at any given time period, an Environmental Life Cycle Assessment by contrasting forces companies to collect specific data about their products’ environmental impacts during each stage so they are able to accurately identify what needs improvements before making decisions.

In a world where sustainability is becoming more and more important, it’s crucial to know the different types of tools that can be used in order to create sustainable products. One such tool is LCM – Life Cycle Management which provides an umbrella for other assessment tools like environmental LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) and offers a framework under which product-LCA are able to inform the design process of new sustainable products.

In addition, the organization called the Natural Step developed a five(5) level framework that can help companies create a picture of what it means to be sustainable not just for their product sustainability, but also in their operations, processes using a holistic approach. Using a holistic approach, and working with a clear vision of the end-point, companies can lay out the steps necessary to get there as the Natural Step founder, Karl-Henrik Robert calls it “backcasting from principles”.

The 5 Level Framework (5LF) is a comprehensive model for planning and decision making in complex systems based on whole system thinking. It comprises five levels: 1.) System, 2.) Success, 3,) Strategic Planing/Decision Making Strategies, 4) Actions to be Taken; and 5., Tools that can help accomplish the goals of each level. The framework helps one analyze any type or scale of complex system by providing tools to plan strategically towards success while respecting principles determined by how the working of the individual components influence its overall performance over time.

– Who Uses Systems Perspectives?

sustainable design

The use of system perspectives can help policymakers and designers understand how to make their sustainable projects more impactful. Policymakers could use this perspective for example, when deciding where or what to build in order to have the most impact on improving sustainability.

Similar to the human body, a factory is well-designed when every part of it works together seamlessly for optimum efficiency. In order to do this correctly, you have to consider energy consumption as just one component in an interconnected system. Factors such as water usage and waste production rates also play into how much money your design will cost over time while still being environmentally friendly thanks to its incorporation of systems thinking which should be considered by anyone interested in creating sustainable solutions that are not only effective but profitable too!

– Why is it Important for Sustainable Product Design?

First, what are system perspectives and how do they work? A system’s perspective analyzes the environmental impact of your product from start to finish – meaning your production process plus any other steps that lead up to or follow after its disposal. To illustrate this point, let’s consider an eco shampoo bottle as an example: by using system perspective tools such as life cycle analysis (LCA), you can determine which parts of the design might need tweaking in order to make them more sustainable. 

For instance, consider this real-world example: A shampoo bottle. It is designed with the end in mind, and you can look at it from three different perspectives to see how each impacts its sustainability. From a design perspective, use eco-friendly materials that are recyclable or biodegradable for less waste during the production of the product itself; If looking at disposal after usage, make sure your bottles will be recycled properly so they don’t find their way into our landfills – especially now when there’s not as much landfill space available because everyone has been using recycling bins! As an added bonus? Using sustainable practices like those outlined above also helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions through better energy efficiency on every level throughout the process by reducing resource consumption needs and the use of chemicals.

Typical System Perspective Example

Design Perspective: Designing an eco product with materials that are non-toxic, biodegradable or that can be recycled easily

Post perspective: Disposal after usage, make sure your bottles will be recycled properly so they don’t find their way into our landfills – especially now when there’s not as much landfill space available because everyone has been using recycling bins! As an added bonus? Using sustainable practices like those outlined above also helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions through better energy efficiency on every level throughout the process by reducing resource consumption needs and the use of chemicals.

Governing perspective: Analyzing the environmental impact of your product comes in handy using a system’s perspective.

For the above example, System perspective tools such as the environmental LCA can help your business capture these data and create metrics for measurement –and as a result, you can be able to track some basic environmental outcomes – the resources it uses and what it emits or wastes, etc

Benefits of sustainability in business: 5 examples of sustainable companies

go green

What are the benefits of sustainability? As the world becomes more conscious about sustainability and the environment, many businesses are going green. In this blog post, we will look at five (5) different inspirational examples of businesses that have gone green. These include both large and small companies. They illustrate a variety of ways in which you can reduce your company’s ecological footprint by using sustainable practices.

1. Coca-Cola sustainability initiatives – the recycling program

    The Coca-Cola Company has started a recycling program in which they commit to making “100 percent of the packaging for all its drinks recyclable or compostable by 2025”. Coca-Cola is making changes to its packaging in order to help the environment. With Coca-Cola’s new World Without Waste initiative, they plan on achieving three goals: 1) Designing recyclable products 2) Collect and recycle a bottle or can already sold by 2030 3) Partner with other companies who are looking at sustainability issues like climate change as well. By 2025, 100% of all coca cola’s packaging will be recyclable globally while 50% of it being made up from recycled material! It might not seem that far away now but this company has been around for over 130 years so you know they’re good when it comes to thinking long term! Already Coca-Cola is enjoying the benefits of sustainability by reducing waste and by recycling more packaging materials.

    2. IKEA’s Circular model of production

    The Swedish furniture company IKEA has set the goal to become climate-positive by 2030. This means that their business will be more sustainable, as they are shifting towards a circular model of production. One way for them to make this happen is prolonging the lifespan of materials and products in order to create less ecological footprint because it would lower both new material production as well future waste from these items when disposed of at the end of the life cycle.

    In addition to the circular model of production, IKEA is committed to renewable energy and removing CO2 from the atmosphere through forestation. For example, in FY20 they announced a EUR 200 million investment for production speed up as well an ambition of reducing atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions by one gigatonne per year with forestry projects alone.

    3. YesStraws – Biodegradable Straws

    YesStraws is an organization that has developed biodegradable straws in order to reduce pollution. The company was started as a result of bans on plastic straw use and the oceans being covered with waste, which can be attributed primarily to them. YesStraws aims at reducing these numbers by developing more environmentally friendly alternatives such as their own product: Bioplastics made from renewable resources like corn starch or sugarcane, they are 100% compostable so you don’t have to worry about it taking over our landfills!

    YesStraws are an environmentally-friendly alternative to disposable plastic straws. They’re made from plant materials, and they can be composted after use or just tossed in the household trash once you’ve finished drinking any liquids that were inside of them! YesStraws have a long list of benefits that make them worth considering when purchasing your next drink at a coffee shop: YesStraws don’t create waste like single-use plastics do; they won’t end up being caught as ocean debris either because it’s biodegradable material meant for our landfills instead. You’ll also save money by buying these reusable items over time – so what more could we ask for? Check out YesStraws products on Amazon.com

    4. Nike’s sneakers – producing sneakers with recyclable materials

    What is the environmental impact of your pair of sneakers? With over 23 billion pairs produced every year, 300 million thrown out, and an average lifespan to decompose being 30-40 years it’s alarming just what this industry throws into our landfills each year with plastic, rubber & petroleum as major ingredients when designing a new pair all together contributing to carbon dioxide emissions!

    As a consequence, Nike and other sneaker companies have been redesigning their shoe products to be more sustainable. In the past five years alone, Nike has used recycled polyester for six(6) straight years as well as transformed over 6.4 billion plastic water bottles into shoes or clothing. By 2020, Nike was able to go even further by using recycled rubbers on midsoles and outsoles in all of its sneakers from Nike SBs to converse.

    go greenIn addition, Nike has created a line of products called Nike Space Hippie that are made from recycled materials. The company also creates shoes like the new Cosmic Unity basketball shoe, which is produced with at least 20% recyclable content and offers comfort for players on their feet all day long as they make game-winning moves.

    5. Green Toys – Made with 100% recycled materials

    This company has combined the best of two worlds, environmental and economic. They use recycled materials to make their toys for children while also saving energy by diverting material from landfills. Beyond these great benefits, they are 100% US-made which further reduces greenhouse gas emissions due to being able to produce closer than other companies around the world can do without having such a large impact on our environment. Their toys are made with 100% recycled plastic while all toy producers around the world are producing plastic with at least 20% recycled content. That is, this company’s products are packaged with recycled and recyclable materials and printed with minimum color using soy inks. Check out Green Toys products on Amazon.com.