A bold statement perhaps, but one borne out of long standing frustration with the slow if not stagnant forward movement towards implementing more sustainable supply chains.
In 1985 I established my first retail store cardboard recycling initiative which not only was good for the environment, but was also a financially lucrative initiative saving the Hudson’s Bay Company $100’s of thousands of dollars annually at that time.
A Walmart business summit, with keynote speech by Dr. David Suzuki. How could these two seemingly opposed global forces exist in the same confined space? This I had to see.
The sun was just rising as I wheeled up to Vancouver’s Pan Pacific Hotel, to find out what Walmart had up its sleeve when it invited 350 top retail execs and competitors for the Walmart Canada Green Business Summit.
The Mayor, the Premier, environmental alarm, sustainability case studies, live wireless polling, this show had it all. I even got to ask the Walmart CEO, face-to-face, about their business model and position on packaging take-back recycling.
This blog is going to run on a bit, but I wanted to keep all of the info in one document, so grab an organic java and get comfortable. David Suzuki vs. Walmart CEO: The 2010 Walmart Canada Green Business Summit Recap
From Business Week: “Jiangsu Redbud Dyeing Technology is a poster child for China’s effort to clean up manufacturing. The textile maker, based in Changshu City, Jiangsu Province, slashed electricity use by one-tenth, banished most toxic emissions from its dyeing operations, and garnered more than 150 patents for its environment-friendly jute-based materials. Behind the scenes, it has a demanding mentor: Wal-Mart Stores (WMT).”
In Partnership with Green Supply Chain.org, the SCSP certification program is designed to give our graduates a comprehensive knowledge of sustainability across multiple functional areas along with a balance of internal and external knowledge of sustainability leadership and consultancy. 10 Courses are included in this Program:
• Green Purchasing Fundamentals
• Sustainability 101 & Corporate Social Responsibility Es-sentials
• Carbon Strategies
• Environmental Management System (EMS) & ISO 14001
• Green Transportation
• Sustainability Leader: Your First 180-days to Success
• Green Marketing & Sales Force Essentials
• The Sustainability Consultant
• Advanced Green Purchasing
• Environmental Accounting 101
Click the course names above for additional details on all of them and click here to register to become a certified Senior Certified Sustainability Professional (SCSP).
In Partnership with Green Supply Chain.org, the CSP certification program is designed to give our graduates a great balance of core sustainability topics to enable them to stand out individually or to step into a sustainability leadership role with confidence. The 5 courses required to become a CSP are:
Click the course names above for additional details on all courses and click here to register to become a certified Certified Sustainability Professional Certificate (CSP).
In Partnership with Green Supply Chain.org, the GSCP certification program is designed to give graduates a comprehensive knowledge of the sustainability areas confronting supply chain and operations professionals. This program will provide the graduate with very unique credentials and experience. There are 5 Courses included in this Program:
Click the course names above for additional details on all of the courses and click here to register to become a certified Green Supply Chain Professional (GSCP).
From NewScientist: ” IT’S 2020, and we are a decade into a huge experiment in which we are trying to convert our country to a sustainable or “steady-state” economy. We have two guiding principles: we don’t use natural resources faster than they can be replenished by the planet, and we don’t deposit wastes faster than they can be absorbed. In our society, scientists set the rules. They work out what levels of consumption and emission are sustainable – and if they’re not sure they work out a cautious estimate. Then it’s up to the economists to work out how to achieve those limits, and how to encourage innovation so we extract as much as possible from every scrap of natural resource we use.
From infoworld.com: “From the way products are packaged to the means by which they’re shipped, waste abounds in the supply chain. That’s the case made by Paul Brody and Mondher Ben-Hamida, supply chain experts for IBM’s Global Business Services. In a recent article that warrants reading on Environmental Leader, the duo have outlined steps toward cutting supply-chain waste.
From Greenbiz.com: “Supermarket chain Tesco has labeled 20 products with information related to each product’s greenhouse gas emissions in a trial of carbon labeling. Each item is labeled with a number showing the greenhouse gas emissions per serving, Reuters reported.
The test items include orange juice, potatoes, laundry detergent and light bulbs. The company has chosen to label only a few of the tens of thousands of items it carries because of the complexity of measuring a product’s entire carbon footprint, Reuters reported. Tesco also hopes to receive consumer feedback while measuring the emissions of other products.
The labels show orange juice from concentrate has a lower carbon footprint than non-concentrate, and liquid detergent has less of an impact than powder detergent, the Daily Mail reported.” Tesco Adds Carbon Footprint to Product Labels
From Greenbiz.com: ” When Stonyfield Farms, the organic yogurt manufacturer in Londonderry, N.H., conducted a lifecycle assessment of its yogurt packaging in 1992, it was an early pioneer of the trend to reduce packaging waste in the manufacturing environment. At that time, being a good environmental citizen was low on the priority list of most manufacturers, but times have changed.” Small Packages Have Big Impact