Business needs another industrial revolution—one led by corporations like Phillips, selling light as well as bulbs, or Dell, creating a closed-loop recycled plastics supply chain to recycle computers back into new computers, or the Dow Chemical Company, recovering non-recycled plastics, and converting them into usable energy. While reducing waste is not a new idea, these companies understand the value of a circular economy at work, one in which resources are endlessly cycled back into supply chains, where waste simply does not exist.
I recently had the opportunity to speak with a group of graduate students about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and my own career in social impact. The discussion was stimulating and the students asked probing questions. After the session, a young woman approached me and said that she would love to have a job like mine and change the world, to give away a company’s money to support worthy causes. My heart sank. In my experience, CSR can be a powerful force to transform corporate culture and align business activities with social benefit. While pure philanthropy remains an important component of CSR, the field has evolved beyond giving.
Dan Shoun, a Lake County, Oregon Commissioner, who spent 30-plus years with the USDA Forest Service, sees wood-based biofuel as a win-win model to curb wildfire risk, support communities and provide low-carbon fuel.
It’s no surprise that water is at the core of the United Nations’ new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), given its connection to health, climate change and resiliency. The SDGs seek to improve water quality and to substantially increase recycling and safe reuse globally by 2030.
Increasing the efficiency of water consumption at the industry level will help address these goals and also reduce scarcity issues. From using stormwater to flush toilets to installing low-flow nozzles where appropriate, conserving water will drive efficiency and also help companies save money. Here are some ways businesses can get started.
General Motors is turning its employees’ recycled water bottles into a new life: noise-reducing fabric insulation that covers the Chevrolet Equinox engine. The bottles – collected from five of its Michigan facilities – are also being turned into air filtration components and insulation in coats for the homeless community.
Reverse logistics is a process within the retail community that describes the return of unwanted, damaged, unsold, or dated retail products back to the distribution center, warehouse, supplier or manufacturer, for the purpose of redistribution, recycling, reuse, or disposal. However, retailers can sometimes run afoul of long-standing regulations developed for industrial and manufacturing operations, if items considered hazardous are shipped. Retail employees preparing items for reverse distribution typically lack the extensive training and experience necessary to properly handle hazardous wastes and hazardous materials.
On April 4, 2016, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced that the Living Future Institute’s Declare label is now an approved pathway for Option 1 of the Building Product Optimization and Disclosure, Material Ingredients credit for LEED v4. Declare labels with ingredient disclosure greater than 1,000ppm now comply with the LEED v4 credit requirements.
Deirdre White, CEO of PYXERA Global, will moderate “The Big Partnership Debate” at this year’s Responsible Business Summit on June 7 and 8. Joined by Walgreens Boots Alliance, Fairtrade Foundation, Oxfam, REN, and The Irish Food Board, this live, interactive session will examine what to look for in partnership opportunities to add real value. Corporate and nonprofit participants will learn how to evaluate if partnership is the right choice for their programming and how to structure this kind of collaboration.
Cascale shares updates on its strategic partnerships with industry stakeholders geared toward shifting the industry into one that gives back more than...
Cascale shares insights regarding policy and regulation impacting the consumer goods industry, and highlights how it's supporting members prepare for...
Our Prescription for a Better World framework is organized around three key pillars: building healthy communities (Health in Action), protecting the...
Our Prescription for a Better World framework is organized around three key pillars: building healthy communities (Health in Action), protecting the...
The SCS Kingfisher certification mark is showing up on an increasing number of products around the world. It differentiates companies that are making...
The business landscape is reorienting itself and you can almost hear priorities shifting toward change-readiness and the bigger picture. And in this...
