Method's Saskia van Gendt on Honing Operations

The Bard MBA's Sustainable Business Friday's podcast with Method's Saskia van Gendt
Jan 13, 2016 10:15 AM ET

Audio File

Read an excerpt of the interview on the Bard MBA's Sustainable Business Friday's blog here or listen to the podcast here.

Method is setting the standard for clean manufacturing. On Oct. 2, Bard MBA in Sustainability spoke with Saskia van Gendt, greenskeeping manager for Method Home. Method designs cleaning and personal care products that work for people and the planet. The company recently opened the industry’s first LEED-platinum certified plant in the Pullman neighborhood in Chicago.

Van Gendt is captain planet for Method Products PBC based in San Francisco. With a background in lifecycle analysis and systems thinking, she applies the science of sustainability with the strategy of business to influence and improve all aspects of company operations.

She leads greenskeeping projects for North America covering packaging, ingredients, supply chain, green building and third-party certifications through Cradle-to-Cradle and B Corp. Prior to Method, van Gendt led material sustainability projects in packaging and green building at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The following Q&A is an edited excerpt from a Sustainable Business Fridays conversation held Oct. 2 by the Bard MBA in Sustainability program, based in New York City.