Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a technique used to quantify environmental outcomes- energy, materials used, and released wastes- assignable to a product. It assesses the environmental impacts of their supply chain activities as a whole. By looking at the full picture of the activities, a firm such as Procter and Gamble (P&G) could view the environmental tradeoffs of product innovation. In efforts to sustain competitive advantage with their popular-selling item, disposable diapers, the use of LCA aides in making decisions for producing greener products for its customers, and to reduce environmental footprint. The public is becoming widely concerned with the products effects on resources and the environment. “These effects occur at every stage in a product’s life cycle-from the extraction of the raw materials from the ground through the processing, manufacturing, and transportation phases, ending with use and disposal or recycling” (Le-van,1995, p.7,). The present study aims to evaluate the life cycle system of disposable diapers in efforts to assign understanding of the sustainability benefits of Life Cycle Assessment.
An LCA-measured environmental improvements analysis in Pampers® diapers reported that, “the sourcing and production of diaper materials contribute most to the environmental indicators evaluated, accounting for ∼84% of all non-renewable energy uses and ∼64% of global warming potential” (Weisbrod and Hoof,2011). The sustainable development study used LCA to
53% of consumers expressed desire to switch to eco-friendly products as of 2007. In today’s more environmentally conscious culture, that number has probably increased.
assuage any guilt they might feel about consuming mass quantities of unnecessary, disposable goods by dutifully tossing these items into their recycling bins and hauling them out to the curb each week”. (Westervelt, Amy. "Can Recycling Be Bad for the Environment?" Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 25 Apr. 2012. Web. 5 Dec. 2015). So why is the reason that companies are starting to “Go Green”? Its clearly obvious that the change in America from an industrial country to a environmental country has taught big business how to market environmentalism in mass quantities of their product. The strategy of the consumption-environment mindset are increasing rapidly. If this trend of buying without thinking does not slow down, with problems like not shifting priority from consumption to being environmentally aware, things will certainly worsen. On the topic of green marketing, people often see that green marketing refers to the advertising of objects or products with environmental characteristics to them (Like the Nestle bottle, for example). Terms like “Environmentally Friendly”, “Refillable”, and “Recyclable”, are some of the things people associate with green marketing. In reality
Robert Swan once said “the greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.” Two companies that understand this concept are Patagonia and Nike. How they address these issues regarding sustainable business practice vary, however. Both have made it their mission to deliver excellence and make the best quality products within their industries, Patagonia focussing more on outdoor active wear, while Nike is more sports oriented. Part of this process has been developing products from sustainable sources. Patagonia, for example, actively took a stand against chemical intensive cotton in 1994, and has since switched to less harmful means of organic cotton within all their cotton-based products. They are even going the extra
Life cycle costing is a technique that is used to assess environmental impacts that are linked with the product life stages from manufacturing to consumption that is from raw material acquisition to processing or manufacture, distribution, consumption, maintenance and repair (Epstein & Buhovac, 2014). It shows and some of the environmental concerns associated with the product life (Koroluk, 2012).
The purpose of this paper is to compare the sustainability practices of two companies in the same industry. The two companies chosen for comparison are The Hershey Company and Coca-Cola Enterprises, both of which are in the consumer staples industry. These two corporations are ranked sixth and eighth, respectively, on the Newsweek Top Green Companies in the U.S 2015. They have taken pride in creating sustainable product designs, having environmentally sustainable processes and supply chain management.
The process is just as important as the materials used in the production. Alongside production technology innovations, brands such as Adidas and Nike have begun to use recycled materials in their shoes. The way to ‘do more with less’ will involve innovations in the types of materials used in products. Adidas has prototyped Primeknit shoes made from recovered ocean fishing nets while Nike is using recycled polyester, diverting plastic bottles from landfills. Furthermore Nike has begun to implement sustainability metrics into their material choice and product design. This helps to ensure that there is greater transparency to the trade-off’s that designers are making between functional performance and environmental impact. To ensure continuous superior product performance a business must drive product innovation as well as
The industry can be very susceptible to environmental issues together with other manufacturers. With the advent of campaigns toward saving the environment and “going green”, the society is now more concerned with how the industry’s wastes and other by-products are being managed. Using recycled materials and recycling one’s wastes can affect the industry’s over-all image as an environmental advocate.
The environment plays an important role in a consumer’s decision. Many customers have become aware of problems by plastic and bring their own bags. People may be influenced to purchase a product that has packaging which can be recycled.
Designing and using sustainable products is the important topic which all human should seriously consider about. The technological development in recent decades significantly improved the average standard of living world widely while that destroyed natural environments on the earth. The speaker John P. O’Grady in TED Talk pointed out that how unsustainable products have terribly contributed to the devastation of the environment. For instance, Mr. O’Grady showed the audience that the study of marine pollution and metaphorically expressed the situation as the toilet which has not been flushed for a long time. Besides that, there are many other problems causing negative impacts. These environmental destructions harm not only nature but also the
Consumers will perceive LEGO Canada as a company that takes their environmental contributions seriously. In addition, consumers may feel more satisfied buying future LEGO products, as the company continues to work towards improving their sustainability efforts. LEGO Canada’s current environmental leadership only involves reducing CO2 gases and researching ways to make LEGO bricks biodegradable. However, these current sustainability efforts do not account for the plastic merchandise that is already manufactured from plastic material. Thus, this initiative will improve consumers’ perceptions of LEGO’s environmental contributions, which may lead to a higher
e world changed, my first grandson Giovanni was born. It was truly an inspiring moment. Suddenly, I imagined, leaving Giovanni's generation with a clean, water-rich planet, beautiful blue skies, multiple species, and forests. Were he can stand surrounded by gorgeous scenery, a soft cool breeze of clean air blowing by him, and hear the rivers calming movements. As you might already know, State and Federal legislation, has placed numerous bands, on plastic bags at retail and grocery stores. As a result, we will add huge amounts of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Thus, Paper bags are worse for the environment, then plastic bags. The United States Environmental Protection Agency acknowledges that plastic bags depend on less energy to manufacture,
manufacturing process, the iron from the blast furnace is converted to steel in a basic oxygen
companies are willing to provide available data in order to assist with a life cycle
Life cycle assessment addresses to all the three sustainability dimensions, environmental, economic, and social. LCA can track and document shifts in environmental impacts. Full characterization of product or process alternative helps decision makers or managers to make environmental trade off. Identification of environmental impacts in specific categories help Industrial decision makers analyze more specifically among different choices. LCA also can assess effects to one or more specific environmental areas at once.
PepsiCo is one of the world’s leading food and beverage companies with products being sold in over two hundred countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo began in 1965 when Pepsi-Cola merged with Frito-Lay and now distributes twenty-two brands of products that include Pepsi, Lays, Tropicana and Quaker. This paper will provide information about PepsiCo’s dedication to environmental, human and talent sustainability while increasing revenue by reducing essential production costs such as water use and packaging materials.