| Sustainable design could cost you more time and money, but... change your approach and it is not a waste of money or time, it gives you more value then before! Think about it…. What will happen to your company when you are not working towards sustainability goals? What are the consequences? Make a top 3 for yourself: 1… 2… 3… Are you willing to accept them? *examples |  |
| A great somewhat older example which shows the benefits of eco-effectivity in your business is the Herman Miller factory. They make furniture and have implemented cradle-to-cradle in their business. Around their company they have a large area where native vegetation and flowering plants grow. In the spring of 2000 wasps began to show up. The wasps were aggressive and a threat for the workers and visitors of the company building. Because of the no pesticide-policy another solution then killing the wasps with pesticides needed to be found. After consulting some experts 600 000 honeybees were brought to the facility. The bees took over the main food source of the wasp forcing them to leave.*** |  Now Herman Miller doesn’t only have furniture, they also have honey. They give it away as a souvenir together with this great story that shows they care. But they could sell it if they needed an extra income. |
What could happen if your company is working towards creating infinite value and making its products, ways of working and doing business sustainable?
Again, make a top 3,
1…
2…
3…
** examples
Is it still a waste of time and money? Or does it give new opportunities?
It is indeed difficult to turn an existing product into a sustainable one. As the product is already there it will cost you more time, money and effort to change it instead of producing it in the same way you already did.
You always worked a certain way and now you have to change your approach and make the same product sustainable. You could call this eco-efficiency, a quick solution. For example changing your materials or energy usage but keep the same design.
But what could happen if you see sustainability as part of your product innovation? You start with a new design, so why not directly design in a sustainable way? You have to rethink your options anyway. When designing a new product you could think of eco-effectiveness: what is the effect of your design choice?
With this new approach it is also possible to get budget from other departments. You probably have higher innovation and material costs when sustainability becomes part of product innovation. Thanks to your eco-effective design you could for example save energy, you have a good marketing story and have less stock. Those are three new budget possibilities!
How can your company change budgets?
Again, make a top 3,
1…
2…
3…
** examples
Is it still a waste of time and money? Or does it give new opportunities?
It is indeed difficult to turn an existing product into a sustainable one. As the product is already there it will cost you more time, money and effort to change it instead of producing it in the same way you already did.
You always worked a certain way and now you have to change your approach and make the same product sustainable. You could call this eco-efficiency, a quick solution. For example changing your materials or energy usage but keep the same design.
But what could happen if you see sustainability as part of your product innovation? You start with a new design, so why not directly design in a sustainable way? You have to rethink your options anyway. When designing a new product you could think of eco-effectiveness: what is the effect of your design choice?
With this new approach it is also possible to get budget from other departments. You probably have higher innovation and material costs when sustainability becomes part of product innovation. Thanks to your eco-effective design you could for example save energy, you have a good marketing story and have less stock. Those are three new budget possibilities!
How can your company change budgets?
- By leasing your products instead of selling them you get back your materials which you can reuse if you design your product for disassembly.
- Instead of spending a lot of budget on advertisement start crowdfunding. This way you sell your product already before you made it and you do not have unsold stock.
- With leasing your product your customer has more binding with the company and it is easier to communicate on a frequent base. This saves you effort and time at the customer relation department.
- Look at your current waste streams, is it possible to make a new product out of it to gain an extra positive cash flow?
*A few examples of the consequences if you do not work on sustainability:
**A few examples of the possibilities if you do work on sustainability:
***Source: Employee Herman Miller, Nutec fair 2008
- Bad publicity (unfair labour, toxic products)
- Resources get more expensive (polyester from crude oil) or worse are not available anymore.
- Decline in customers because the competition is more sustainable
**A few examples of the possibilities if you do work on sustainability:
- Honest story to tell your customer instead of only following trends
- Building trust from your customers with transparency
- Control of your own resource management with recycling
- Less dependency on value fluctuations of your resources
- Do good feeling creates more happy employees
- Building a loyal customer relation with leasing instead of selling
- Customers like to talk about a product that is good: word of mouth is still the best advertisement way, I think.
- Building a strong supplier relationship with trust
- New products from ‘waste’ materials that could gain extra income.
***Source: Employee Herman Miller, Nutec fair 2008
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