Environmental sustainability is not only the right thing to do for our future, it’s a business imperative – part of the “triple bottom line” that includes economic dimensions (profits) as well as environmental and social dimensions. 

Sustainable business practices provide tangible benefits:

• Reduced costs from improved operational efficiency and lower energy and raw materials use.


• Competitive advantage from developing more sustainable products that meet or exceed customer expectations.


• Reduced exposure to risk through anticipating and managing or avoiding events that could increase costs, reduce market share or damage reputation.


• Motivated employees and greater interest from prospective employees.

In this article, we examine product sustainability and product lifecycle thinking as a way to guide sustainable purchasing decisions.

What is Lifecycle Thinking?

An environmentally sustainable product is not just one that uses the most recycled content or that can be recycled itself. Indeed, focusing on 100 percent recycled alone does not look at 100 percent of the picture. Instead, an environmentally sustainable product is one that is produced, used and disposed of in ways that can lower the overall environmental impact.

Product life cycle thinking charts each stage of a product’s life:

• Product design


• Raw materials


• Manufacturing


• Transportation


• Use


• Final disposal

Lifecycle Assessment

Every activity that a business performs has an impact on social, economic and environmental levels. Often these impacts are not obvious or immediate until you examine the complete life cycle of the product. 

The EPA considers life cycle assessment a “cradle-to-grave” approach, which begins with the gathering of raw materials from the earth to create the product and ends when all materials are returned to the earth.

A product life cycle assessment can help purchasers make informed decisions by better understanding the human health and environmental impacts of products, processes and activities. It involves:

• Compiling an inventory of relevant material and energy inputs and environmental releases.


• Evaluating the potential environmental impacts associated with identified inputs and releases.


• Interpreting the results to help purchasers make informed decisions.

In addition to looking at data collected by the product manufacturer, it’s important to look at data collected from the manufacturer’s suppliers.

As a tissue manufacturer, Kimberly-Clark assesses the environmental impacts of its products across their life cycle against the following criteria: greenhouse gas emissions, fossil fuel use, air emissions, water use and solid waste generated.  

Product Design

This stage is where the greatest influence occurs on a product’s life cycle and environmental impact. That is why environmental stewardship must be an integral part of the development process, on par with cost, quality and manufacturing.

Raw Materials

The life cycle of a product begins with the removal of raw materials and energy sources from the earth, such as the harvesting of trees or the mining of nonrenewable materials. Transportation of these materials from the point of acquisition to the point of processing is also included.

The goal is to limit the amount of raw materials used in the production of a product and to ensure that those raw materials used are sourced sustainably. For example, a tissue manufacturer may choose to use sufficient recycled fiber to meet or surpass the EPA’s comprehensive procurement guidelines for post-consumer content. Or, the manufacturer may choose to use virgin fiber from suppliers certified to well-known forest management standards, such as the Forest Stewardship Council.

Reducing raw material usage and sustainable sourcing are not limited to the product itself but should extend to the product packaging.  

Manufacturing

During the manufacturing stage, raw materials are transformed into a product or package.

Transportation

Decisions about the mode of transportation used to distribute products, the fuel efficiency of vehicles used (and their resulting greenhouse gas emissions) and the location of facilities through which product moves on its way to market have an impact on a product’s sustainability. So does product packaging; innovative packaging can mean fitting more product into a box, more boxes into a case, more cases onto a pallet and more pallets onto a truck, thus putting fewer trucks on the road and generating less greenhouse gas emissions.    

Use

This stage involves the consumer’s use, reuse and maintenance of the product. Once the product is distributed to the consumer, all activities associated with the useful life of the product are included in this stage. This includes energy demands and environmental wastes from product storage and consumption.    

Smart product manufacturers study real-world product usage to explore how different product formats, manufacturing technologies, raw materials mixes and even packaging or dispensing systems can affect the quantity of product used and how much goes to waste.  For example, consider hand soap and towels used in public restrooms. A sustainable use strategy may include using foam soap instead of a liquid soap to obtain more handwashes per gallon of soap and using hand towels that require less fiber to manufacture, thus reducing the amount of wasted “dry” fiber placed in the trash after use.  

Disposal

This stage includes the energy requirements and environmental wastes associated with disposal of the product or material.

A vital part of sustainability performance and a key component of a product’s life cycle is reducing the amount of product and packaging destined for landfill. In some cases, this may mean reusing or repurposing products. In other cases, it may mean recycling or upcycling, which converts waste into an environmentally friendly secondary material or a useful product.

Conclusion

An environmentally sustainable product is not simply one that can be recycled or one that contains the most recycled content. By applying life cycle thinking, manufacturers are considering the environmental impacts of product throughout their entire life – from design to manufacturing to use and disposal.