One of our contacts from EUROPEN recommended this video which reflects in a viral - web friendly way the purpose of packaging.
When it comes to discussing sustainability and product development, packaging is often seen as an easy target for policy makers. There’s a public perception that packaging equals waste. So the more packaging, the more waste is being created. Only few people take into account that packaging also prevents waste and keeps the product safe in a purposeful way (if designed smartly).
Have a look at the video clip below developed by Elipso (the French plastic & flexible packaging association) that addresses this topic.
This is a cross post from Ideaplants.org.
I just read an article on China Daily in which Marcos Fava Neves, professor of strategic planning and food chains at the School of Economics and Business, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, proposes to add another dimension to the model of sustainabiltiy. Normally we consider the economic, social and environmental perspective when assessing sustainability. Marcos Fava Neves proposes to add in the context of organizations that struggle to implement this concept as part of their planning and operations pro-activeness as an additional measure.
When reading the article I started wondering whether pro-activeness is really what we are missing. Companies do most of the time act in different ways. In my eyes the issue is rather a lack of ownership and leadership in the space of sustainability. In a traditional company structure sustainability is not assigned to any specific department and therefore it is unclear who should be taking the lead on this.
It’s not just about what you do but also about how you link individual activites. Ideally an organization has an overall sustainability strategy and links activites to this strategy with the aim to create one real and coherent sustainability story. Transparency and involvement of internal and external stakeholders is key here. This involves HR, marketing, business development, and many other divisions.
Getting everyone on board requires not just pro-activeness but also smart leadership.
Cradle to cradle is giving the word ‘design’ a deeper meaning. Rather than looking at a visual aspect, it is about designing a product by keeping in mind the entire product life cycle.
We live in a system that is designed based on common values we had back in times of the industrial revolution. Times where people thought environmental resources would last forever and people would only benefit from the improved production models… It only makes sense that environment was not a priority back then.
Looking at products & services that were designed following the very same model today we should ask ourselves the question: What is the point in improving a product that is not good in the first place?
The point is not necessarily that we need to stop completely what we are doing right now. It’s more about rethinking the things we are right now and adapting it to a new model that keeps in mind all aspects of sustainability.
Rather than putting economic impact in the centre of discussion, William McDonough is putting a slightly different aspect in the middle of the thinking he does with every product he designs:
How do we love all the children of all species for all time?
The best introduction to this topic (besides the book of course) is the documentary called ‘Waste = Food’ that even won Winner the Silver Dragon at the Beijing International Science Film Festival.
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