Melodies in Marketing

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Since beginning to learn about product sustainability over the last four months, I must say that it has been both daunting and rewarding. Here’s a quick rundown:

Comprehensive product sustainability covers the Triple Bottom Line of environmental, social, and economic factors. Each of these three factors has a variety of attributes. Important to note is that we’re looking at the entire supply chain of the product including all its components too.

So while there are many product certifications out there, one must critically ask: which attributes does it cover? Does it cover all the components too? Who is the certifying body and are they credible? Is their certification accredited and consensus-based? Who does the auditing process and how far does it reach in the supply chain?

To set a high bar in sustainability, you have to cover as many bases as you can. Otherwise someone else will come along with a higher total score. This brings up the next point.

A scorecard is really the best mechanism for measurement. We take a variety of attributes, give them each a score against criteria for that unique product category, weight each score, then add them up. The total will indicate a combined sustainability index, which is helpful to both buyers and investors in comparing products.

Say we have a patio chair made of wood and fabric (cushion). If the wood is FSC and the fabric organic cotton certified, it makes the materials assessment pretty easy…so far. What kind of dyes were used in the fabric coloration? How was the effluence quality? What about the paints or varnishes used on the wood? Are they low VOC? What is the product’s carbon footprint? Were fair wages paid to employees? Were working health conditions properly looked after?

At this point, about 5-6 different certifications are possible. But let me ask you…would you want to see all these different labels on a product? Is that fair to you as a shopper who just wants to buy economically and ethically? No! It’s too much to think about. Imagine a retail buyer’s job whose responsibility is to help provide customers appealing, safe, environmentally and socially friendly, affordable products.

What I just described was a multi-attribute life cycle assessment and scoring model. LEED does this exact same thing, but for buildings - they’re rated along different score ranges, each receiving a color.

The SMaRT (sustainable materials rating technology) standard by the nonprofit MTS is just this. In fact, its establishment was led by one of the co-founders of LEED. After years of getting multiple stakeholders’ input, voting, ANSI accreditation, and a partnership with Ernst & Young for auditing worldwide, it’s now the leading comprehensive sustainable product rating system available.

The nearest rating methodology that also covers multiple attributes is Cradle to Cradle, but there’s a couple big differences. C2C is from a private firm, and hence proprietary and non-consensus based. Because of this, product design educators can’t teach it to students while financial institutions won’t recognize it as credible and transparent for underwriting criteria. Also, it doesn’t cover as many internationally recognized dangerous chemicals as SMaRT.

In the coming months I’ll be looking more at various Life Cycle Assessment models and single-attribute product standards.

Related Articles:

• Forget Carbon, Think Lifecycle
• The 12 Principles of Green Chemistry
• The 12 Principles of Green Engineering
• Is Bisphenol-A Safe or Not?

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