All Articles About Sustainable Consumption
Blog: Dispatches from SXSW Eco: Sustainable Design, Behavior Change, and Clean Energy
Julia Robinson, Communications Associate
At SXSW Eco's second annual conference, which took place in Austin, Texas, last week, the experts focused on new approaches to sustainability and on how to get beyond words to lasting impact. Read more →
BSR Insight Article: What Total Cost of Ownership Offers Sustainable Procurement
Jessica Davis Pluess, Manager, Research
What if procurement and sustainability managers in your company spoke the same language? It's likely that the concept of total cost of ownership (TCO) would find its way into the conversation. For procurement managers, TCO captures the costs associated with a product over its lifetime—from the development and design of a product through its use, maintenance, and disposal. Similar to the way sustainability managers think about the impacts of a product on the environment and society throughout its lifecycle, TCO takes a long-term view of the value a product brings to a company by evaluating the direct and indirect costs of a product at the time of purchase. Over the next few months, BSR's new Center for Sustainable Procurement (CSP) will be exploring ways the TCO model and its application could support the incorporation of sustainability information and data into procurement decisions. Is there an opportunity to align TCO and lifecycle assessment (LCA) information to form a total impact and ownership model? Read more
BSR Insight Article: The World’s ‘Most Sustainable’ Suit?
Susanne LeBlanc, Analyst, BSR
Recently, Marks and Spencer (M&S) launched the "World's Most Sustainable Suit." Touted by M&S as "one of the greenest garments ever made," the suit is made of organic wool, with a lining of recycled plastic bottles and reclaimed fabric for the pockets and waistband. The suit offers an optimistic vision for the future of fashion but also highlights limitations in the industry: Even for sustainability leaders such as M&S, sustainable design is primarily a question of materials selection. Other design choices that have implications for sustainability, such as cut or construction, are largely ignored. Sustainable materials will have a limited impact if ill-fitting and poorly made garments are worn only a few times before ending up in a landfill. Ultimately, sustainable design will require a more holistic approach to accurately account for impacts in the clothing lifecycle. Read more about sustainable design in the latest blog for BSR's NICE Consumer Project. Read more
BSR Insight Article: Food Waste: A Business Opportunity?
Nathan Springer, Associate, Advisory Services
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) recently found that Americans waste the equivalent of US$165 billion in food each year. Just like any type of supply chain inefficiency, this could be considered an opportunity. Not only is food waste costly, it perpetuates issues with food security and has environmental implications. Food waste in landfills accounts for nearly 25 percent of U.S. methane emissions. Agriculture uses 10 percent of energy, 50 percent of land, and 80 percent of fresh water expended in the U.S.—waste reduction efforts could help the industry decrease its reliance on these resources. The NDRC offers suggestions to government, business, and consumers to decrease food waste: Read more
BSR Insight Article: Precious Waste: Finding Gold in Discarded Electronics
Julia Robinson, Communications Associate
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