Get Started for FREE
Sign up with Facebook Sign up with X
I don't have a Facebook or a X account
 Your new post is loading...
Your new post is loading...
Scoop.it!
Vehicle tires of course belong on the road, but for the last two decades, they have also increasingly found their way into the road. Via AimForGood 
Scoop.it!
If you asked Henry Ford, the Model T was good enough. In fact, it was pretty great. It was popular, dependable, and looked great in black, the only color offered at the time. If the car was selling…
PIRatE Lab's insight:
An interesting bit of history here in the context of technology. While there are clearly other drivers, I had not heard this tidbit about GM in the 1920s. We tend to think of the rapid pace of innovation as a primary pusher of our buy-buy-buy mentality...but we should not forget the often baked in failure rates and planned obsolescence crafted to keep you buys more (and wasting more).
Scoop.it!
From
www
It’s not the number alone that matters; it’s the combination of the quantitative number and the accompanying qualitative narrative that provides the full picture. Via EcoVadis
EcoVadis's curator insight,
May 19, 2016 1:52 AM
Great concept of "apples with oranges" comparison applied in sustainability reporting!
Scoop.it!
From
www
When people think about food and sustainability, they typically focus on how the food is produced—is it locally sourced, pasture-fed or organic? New WRI research shows that the question of what is eaten is just as important.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
While the world needs to close a 70 percent "food gap" between the crop calories available in 2006 and the expected calorie demand in 2050 due to population growth and changing diets, people are actually shifting toward overconsumption.
Scoop.it!
NREL and its partners created the U.S. Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) Database to help life cycle assessment (LCA) practitioners answer questions about environmental impact. This database provides individual gate-to-gate, cradle-to-gate and cradle-to-grave accounting of the energy and material flows into and out of the environment that are associated with producing a material, component, or assembly in the U.S.
|
Scoop.it!
AUDI AG has introduced sustainability ratings for its suppliers this April. The objective is that in the future, orders will only be placed with suppliers that obtain a positive rating. Audi is therefore increasing its commitment to achieving a sustainable value chain. The ratings are based on checks carried out at the suppliers’ production plants as well as on self disclosure. Via EcoVadis
Scoop.it!
Singapore's National Environment Agency (NEA) announced that it will soon require increased sustainability in packaging for any company that sells products within its borders. This requirement was born out of necessity, as the single landfill that handles Singapore’s entire waste stream is slated to be filled to capacity by 2045. This reality has lit a fire under the government’s initiative to become a Zero Waste Nation. Via EcoVadis
EcoVadis's curator insight,
January 16, 2017 7:44 AM
Singapore will impose packaging restrictions on companies selling products within their land; are you well prepared for this?
Scoop.it!
Workers, including children, labor in harsh and dangerous conditions to meet the world’s soaring demand for cobalt, a mineral essential to powering electric vehicles, laptops, and smartphones, according to an investigation by The Washington Post.
David G Tibbs's curator insight,
March 29, 2018 3:36 PM
We take the luxuries that we have for granite and forget where it comes from, or who pays the physical price for us to have them. One example is electronics and the Congo. The Congo is a country filled with Colbolt which is critical to lithium batteries which powers majority of products that are rechargeable. The price they pay is unsafe mining conditions, indecent wages, and environmental hazards to local communities. 60 percent of the cobalt used today comes from the Congo, and while some companies track it to make sure its "clean" some companies do not check its origins. In 2010 there was a push to add cobalt to a list of resources that come from the Congo to be from a militia free mine. Individual companies have started to be stricter about where they get their Cobalt it's still not mandatory under international law. However with the demand for cobalt is increasing due to more electric power styling for vehicles and other products. In order to meet these demands the cobalt will continue to come from abused people until companies or international law limits and outlines how to deal with the cobalt question. 2 
Douglas Vance's curator insight,
April 21, 2018 2:10 PM
Given the absurd amount of minerals present in the country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo should be basking in immeasurable wealth. However, as shown by this inetractive and enormously in-depth piece by the Washington Post, the country constantly struggles with child labor, water pollution, and widespread dangerous working condition because of the global demand for minerals like cobalt and copper.
David Stiger's curator insight,
November 10, 2018 4:05 PM
The Congo, like Venezuela, is another example of a post-colonial country rich in valuable natural resources whose people, ironically, live in abject poverty. The Congo is a victim of its own geographical blessings as the industrialized world's bottomless need for Congo's cobalt, copper, and other minerals has put this former colony of Belgium on the map. The Congo reportedly supplies half of the world's cobalt. With few other options for mineral sources, lithium-ion battery manufacturers turn a blind eye as Congolese "diggers" endure inhumane, dangerous, and unfair conditions to produce cheap cobalt. Companies have not reacted to this injustice because of a desire to maximize their profits. With Western consumers acting as indirect accomplices, China leads the pack of this neo-colonial process of exploiting the Congo for its valuable underground minerals. The Chinese companies offer so little money for the cobalt that workers are forced to put up with hazardous conditions and unbelievably low pay for their labor.
The problem lacks an easy solution because it is highly complicated by the forces of globalization and geographical factors. Congolese diggers obtain the raw materials, who sell it to Asian middlemen, who then sell it to big Chinese manufacturers. These manufactures produce rechargeable batteries to sell to Western companies like Apple and Samsung. These products are then sold all over the world. The long supply chain makes it difficult for consumers to feel and see how their actions are impacting the lives of other people. The companies who should be held accountable justify their business decisions because there are not sources of cobalt to turn to. If there were other sources, companies like Huayou Cobalt could turn to other sources that treat their workers better, forcing Congolese suppliers to raise their labor standards. A short-term remedy, it seems, would be to classify Congolese-based cobalt as a conflict mineral. Western countries should fine and punish companies that are linked to the unjust cobalt trade, forcing these companies to raise their standards.
Scoop.it!
Burritos and ice cream – the contrasting fortunes of two organisations and the difference between supply chain failure and success. Burritos and ice cream. Who doesn’t love them? Carne asada and guacamole. Chocolate and cherries. The combinations are endless, and so are the places that offer these tasty treats. So what can a burrito chain … Continue reading Burritos and Ice Cream – Supply Chain Failure and Success → Via EcoVadis
EcoVadis's curator insight,
May 6, 2016 1:21 AM
Great lesson to be derived from this instance: Sustainable procurement plays a signficant role in the supply chain and CSR effort.
Scoop.it!
From
www
"Suppliers in China have not been included in the Click Clean report," Dowdall said. "Apple still has to work on its supply chain's carbon footprint and renewable energy there." Via EcoVadis
EcoVadis's curator insight,
May 3, 2016 1:18 PM
Good work, more to do... As with any supply chain, but important to acknowledge progress from, say, 5 yrs ago.
Scoop.it!
Food, apparel vendors go sustainable The Strategic Sourceror (blog) Industry insiders can be tough in their criticisms of firms' sourcing and procurement practices, but consumers themselves are considerably more demanding in their expectations when... Via EcoVadis
|
Why we can't scrap this idea!