Global Product Sustainability Manbir Sodhi Thomas Spengler Rhode Island, October 2 nd, 2014
A tale of two cities: Material Recycling New York New Delhi
A tale of two cities: Material Recycling New York New Delhi High volume of recyclables per capita. Increasing automation for material handling. Focus on material disposal, and on material recovery. Sustainability impact? Large population with increasing volumes of per capita waste. Large scale employment over 300,000 rag-pickers in New Delhi alone. Focus on material recovery and material disposal. Sustainability impact?
A tale of two cities: Material Recycling New York High volume of recyclables per capita. Increasing automation for material handling. Focus on material disposal, and on material recovery. Sustainability impact? New Delhi Large population with increasing volumes of per capita waste. Large scale employment over 300,000 ragpickers in New Delhi alone. Focus on material recovery and material disposal. Sustainability impact? Which of the two is more sustainable? If volume/time is the criteria an automated system may be more sustainable. 300,000 persons can be relieved of their onerous duties trained for higher level skills (programmers?). If not, should it be acceptable to take waste to countries where labor is cheap?
One Company, Two systems New York New Delhi Sims Recycling Sims Recycling is one of the recycling companies in New Delhi however, these pictures are not from SIMS Delhi.
What is a Sustainable Product? Source: Lowell Center for Sustainable Production (2009)
What is a Sustainable Product? Source: Lowell Center for Sustainable Production (2009)
Scope of sustainability Social Sustainable Bearable Equitable Environmental Economic Source: Adapted from Kloepffer (2008) Viable
Scope of Sustainability Global: Cost, Profit Material Flows CO 2e, Acidification
Scope of Sustainability Global Regional: Freshwater Power Resources
Scope of Sustainability Global Regional Local: Social Measures Other?
Sustainability metrics Economic Environmental Social Globally accepted metrics ($ ) Global metrics: CO 2e Regional Metrics: Freshwater consumption? Global? Regional? Local/Community? Trading based solely on economic metric
Some measures of sustainability Economic Environmental Social Financials Net profit margin Return of capital employment Development Investment in R&D Investment in staff development Expenditures on EHS compliance Natural resources and assets Energy use Material use Freshwater consumption Waste generation Pollution Global warming potential Acidification potential Health & safety Work accidents Safety training Hazardous materials Labor development & work satisfaction Training and education Sickness frequency Equal opportunity and decent work Share of women in workforce Share of women in management positions Wages at lowest wage group Source: Madanchi (2013)
Journey of a tennis ball Operations United States: Clay China: Petroleum Naptha South Korea: Sulphur Thailand: Zinc Oxide New Zealand: Wool Greece: Silica Philippines: Rubber, Glue & Manufacturing Indonesia: Packaging Source: http://straightsets.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/25/the-long-journey-to-become-a-tennis-ball/ Accessed on Sept 29, 2014
Consider the Global Journey of a pair of jeans 1 Cotton production 2 Fabric production 3 Jeans production 6 Water consumption of 10,000 to 29,000 l/kg cotton Death and diseases due to pesticides Disposal/recycling 400,000 to 600,000 t of used closed are disposed every year in Germany Collection: 40% second-hand cloth, 45 % raw material for cleaning rag and fleece industry Source: enorm (2012) 75 % of al fabrics are produced in China, India, and Pakistan Heavy use of chemicals to clean and dye fabrics 5 Usage 4 Transport/trade ~80 % of the energy and water consumption due to washing and drying 8 kg of detergent used per year in Germany Use of chemicals to bleach fabrics, etc. Low wages for employees Work time up to 80 to 100 h/week Inadequate safety measures & health precautions Transport distance of 19,000 km per jeans Average import value in 2008 in Germany: 9,57 /jeans
Raw materials production Life cycle of a mobile phone Production Usage Disposal/ Recycling Up to 60 materials (mostly plastics followed by metals like Copper, Lithium, and Tantalum) Metals scare and geologically concentrated in developing & industrializing countries High environmental loads (e.g. water consumption and contamination) Bad labor conditions (e.g. child labor, missing safety measures, low wages) Located in low-wage countries (e. g. China, India, Vietnam) Up to 80 hours of work per week Inadequate safety measures & health precautions Lead, PVC, and diluents can be released to the environment during production High resource consumption Steadily increasing number of mobile phone connections (112 M connections in Germany in 2011) Very short usage phase (16 M smartphones were sold in Germany in 2012) Increasing energy consumption due to highperformance displays and processors of smartphones Ongoing discussions on health risk for user ~ 80 % of valuable metals can be recovered One phone can contain as much Gold as 1 t of Gold ore ~ 83 Million spent mobiles with a material value of ~ 65 M are stored in German households E-Waste often exported to developing & industrializing countries inappropriate treatment, injurious to health Source: enorm (2012)
Impact of CO 2e of main components of laptop 50% ~48 % 45% 70 70 40% 60 Kg CO 2e 35% 50 30% 40 25% 20% 30 15% 20 10% 10 10 5% 0 00% ~15 % ~26 % ~7 % Souce: (O Connell & Stutz 2010) Source: O Connell and Stutz (2010)
Eco-Efficiency Metric Environmental impact 1 2 3 6 4 A 7 B A: Primary production process 1. Resource Extraction 2. Processing & Refining 3. Manufacturing 4. Retail and Distribution B: Recovery Process 5. Recovery 6. Dismantling 7. Remanufacturing 5 Source: Clift (2003) Added Value or Contribution to GDP
Multidimensional Analysis of Global Product Sustainability Step 1 Location 1 Resource extraction Manufacturing Distribution Consumption End of Life Step 2 Location 2 Step n Location n Economic costs 1 Ecological costs 1 Social costs 1 Economic costs 2 Ecological costs 2 Social costs 2 Economic costs n Ecological costs n Social costs n GPS -Matrix of the product Impact categories Location 1 Location 2 Location n Supply Chain Economic costs c 11 c 21 c 1n c 11 +c 21 + +c 1n Ecological costs c 21 c 22 c 2n c 21 +c 22 + +c 2n Social costs c 31 c 32 c 3n c 31 +c 32 + +c 3n Local sustainability vectors at location i Aggregated sustainability vector Challenge: how to measure and control Global Product Sustainability?
Initiatives, standards, norms, certificates, labels, and seals AccountAbility's AA1000 series are principles-based standards to help organisations become more accountable, responsible and sustainable. [ ] The AA1000 standards are designed for the integrated thinking required by the low carbon and green economy, and support integrated reporting and assurance. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is a leading organization in the sustainability field. GRI promotes the use of sustainability reporting as a way for organizations to become more sustainable and contribute to sustainable development. GoodGuide is in business to provide authoritative information about the health, environmental and social performance of products and companies. [ ] We believe that better information can transform the marketplace: as more consumers buy better products, retailers and manufacturers face compelling incentives to make products that are safe, environmentally sustainable and produced using ethical sourcing of raw materials and labor. The creation of the United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards (UNFSS) is a response to the rapidly expanding environmental/sustainability markets that include a large number of private sector players which are establishing new and diverse standards. And many more: ISO 14001, 14040, 14044, OHSAS 1800, EMAS Eco-Management and Audit Scheme, Global Protocol on Packaging Sustainability, Product Sustainability Forum, The Sustainability Consortium, EU Product Environmental Footprint, European Food Sustainable Consumption and Production Roundtable, A.I.S.E. Charter for sustainable cleaning, Fair Trade, USDA Organic Seal, EU Ecolabel, Treehugger,
Disciplines at this table Everyone involved in product design, distribution and consumption: Engineering: better/sustainable designs. Supply Chain and distribution: movement & transfers. Consumers: Use phase of product responsible use (reduce?). End-of-life operations: recycling, remanufacturing. Marketing: increasing awareness of sustainability and sustainable products.