Companies in USA Turning into Sustainable Supply Chains for Betterment of the Planet

eco friendly productEvery industry these days wants to promote eco-friendly promotional items, just so that the consumers stick on knowing that the companies are eco-minded. As commerce is becoming increasingly global, corporations in America are taking all the necessary steps to develop sustainable supply chains, which can span not only the country but also the planet.

Companies are looking towards establishing sustainable chains, which will conserve natural resources and also reduce energy consumption involved in every process, right from production to shipping. Peter Senge, who is also the Society for Organizational Learning’s founder said that the key to establishing sustainable supply chains is by understanding the larger system that the company is part of.

Example of Coca-Cola cited by Senge

Coca-Cola, being the largest soft drink manufacturing giant, has started steps to reduce the amount of water used in manufacturing, from 3 liters to 2.5 liters per bottle. But what the company also realized while trying to turn to sustainable practices was that the greatest amount of water usage was done while growing the sugar needed to make the fizzy drink. Since then the soft drink giant has tried to analyze its water footprint by working with the World Wildlife Fund, and has also shifted to drip-irrigated sugarcane from flood-irrigated sugarcane.

Changes are prompted by the urge of consumers to use eco-friendly promotional items

Sometimes, the changes in the supply chains are prompted by consumers or from outside the companies. For example, couple of volunteers along with Greenpeace protested against Mattel last year, and urged the largest toy-making company to change the packaging materials they used. Instead of using the tropical hardwood pulp for packaging material, Mattel decided to develop a more sustainable procurement policy and to address the issue of deforestation. Also, the policy includes that the company will use sustainable materials for packaging.

When companies start establishing new sustainable supply chain policies, the effect can have a huge environmental impact as well. After all, when the buyers start insisting on greener business solutions and practices, the sellers have to give in and change how they do things in order to keep the consumers happy. For instance, McDonald’s announced recently that the fast-food supply chain will no longer buy its meat from farmers who house pregnant sows in gestation booths, since many consumers consider this practice to be cruel.

Source: http://www.mnn.com/money/sustainable-business-practices/stories/what-does-sustainable-supply-chain-mean-for-the-planet

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