# Sustainable Product Development

- Link: https://jeffpaul.com/2010/06/sustainable-product-development/
- Published: 2010-06-18T20:56:40-05:00
- Author: jeffpaul

![H2O Natural Spring Water](https://i0.wp.com/jeffpaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/
12/photo.jpg?resize=225%2C300&ssl=1)

Sponsor: H2O Natural Spring Water

I recently attended a panel discussion from [PDMA-LA](http://www.pdma.org/chapter_page.cfm?pk_webpage=53)
and [IDSA-LA](http://idsala.wordpress.com/) titled “[Best Practices in Sustainable Product Development](http://www.pdma.org/chapter_events_detail.cfm?pk_event=574)“.
The following are some rough notes & thoughts I took down while in attendance.

[Heidrun Mumper-Drumm](http://www.linkedin.com/pub/heidrun-mumper-drumm/3/951/90)
spoke about green packaging design noting that packaging equates to 75million tons
and 1/3 of our waste stream by weight (~20% by volume). Some ways she noted to reduce
this is the use of low impact materials like water-based adhesives in labels, recycled
materials and bio-based materials. Other improvements are to make packaging smaller&
use less materials. Also under recommendation are eliminating some materials completely
like PVC and laminates. Two other recommendations outside of materials used were
to properly & legibly give the recycling info of components and to consider packaging
as multi-functional (ex: a water bottle used as a vase). A question from the audience
pointed our Puma’s new show packaging and Heidrun noted that shoe packaging seems
to increase with the price of the shoes with the exception of Louis Vuitton who 
ships by boat instead of air and cut their carbon impact by 30%. It appears as though
she alludes to the supply chain as another way to cut environmental impacts. Heidrun
gave a particular shout-out to [Women in Green Forum](http://www.womeningreenforum.com/)
as it outlines women’s impact in Environmental Industries.

[Topher Paterno](http://www.linkedin.com/pub/topher-paterno/6/1a7/75a) spoke about
green materials such as bio-degradables/organics and recyclable/recycled items. 
A specific note was made of a project between Intel and the University of Delaware
that created a circuit board from chicken feathers and soy. He also focused on materials
management that allows for easy ways for consumers to return or otherwise re-use
a product. After a question from the audience, Topher recommended [Ecolect](http://www.ecolect.net/)
and [MaterialsCollection](http://materials.gsd.harvard.edu/materials/matlaunch.htm)
as good reference sites to find green materials.

[Dave Pedersen](http://www.linkedin.com/in/davepedersen) spoke about greening the
supply chain and its 5 components: Plan, Buy, Make, Store & Move. The constraints
in this field are Cost vs. Quality vs. Service (aka Free, Perfect & Now). He noted
that “going green” introduced new constraints of carbon, waste, water & social impacts.
Transportation & Facilities have a huge footprint that affects “greenness” and a
way to help reduce that is a paperless work environment.

[Susan Collins](http://www.linkedin.com/pub/susan-collins/6/244/78a) spoke about
waste stream management and highlighted how primary packaging & refrigeration accounted
for the majority of the footprint for Coke. She also noted that aluminium has the
largest carbon footprint by an order of magnitude over other products and that the
US goes through 200billion bottled containers per year.

![H2O Natural Spring Water](https://i0.wp.com/jeffpaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/
12/photo-2.jpg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1)

Sponsor: H2O Natural Spring Water

[Paul Shustak](http://www.linkedin.com/in/paulshustak) spoke about being a green
product company at [Kor](http://www.korwater.com/). As if prompted by Susan, he 
noted that less than 20% of bottles get recycled and that the Kor One bottle attempts
to create an emotional reaction to water & bottle to entice consumers to use their
product over Nalgene or plastic bottles. They also have a different charity that
receives a portion of their proceeds and each water bottle color corresponds to 
a different charity as part of their “Thirst For Giving” campaign. Of the four colors
available it was notable that the orange one related to a donation to the Container
Recycling Institute of which Susan is the Executive Direction, small world eh? Paul
noted that in their research consumers usage responded directly to extreme convenience&
incentives. He wrapped up by noting [CalMAX](http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/calmax/)
was a materials exchange service that allows for companies to put up their excess
materials for sale to others looking to purchase specific materials at a discount.

Overall, the speakers all seemed to be passionate about their place in the sustainable
product development ecosystem and were aware that they were each but a small component
in helping to reduce humankind’s detrimental impact on the Earth. And a final note
on the sponsor, [H2O Natural Spring Water](http://www.onedrinkatatime.com/), **is
the paper water box the new plastic water bottle?**

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