1st Edition

Sustainable Solutions Developing Products and Services for the Future

Edited By Martin Charter, Ursula Tischner Copyright 2001

    Toughening environmental legislation, national and supra-national environmental product policies and growing customer demands are focusing the attention of companies on the environmental and broader social issues linked to the creation and delivery of their products and services. There is now an urgent need for appropriate management structures, practical tools and increased awareness among all stakeholders in the product development process and throughout the entire product life-cycle.  These are huge issues – with major implications for corporate management, design and production strategies. Sustainable Solutions provides state-of-the-art analysis and case studies on why and how cutting-edge companies are developing new products and services to fit "triple-bottom-line" expectations.  The book is split into three sections: first, the broad issues of business sustainability are examined with focus on sustainable production and consumption and consideration of North–South issues. Second, the book tackles the major methodologies and approaches toward organising and developing more sustainable products and services. Third, an outstanding collection of global case studies highlights the progress made by a wide range of companies toward dematerialisation, eco-innovation and design for durability. Finally, the book collects together a comprehensive list of web addresses of useful organisations.  Practical and comprehensive, Sustainable Solutions will be essential reading for corporate managers, product designers, R&D staff, academics and all individuals interested in a definitive source on how new product and service development can and is contributing toward tacking the challenge of sustainable development.

    ForewordJacqueline Aloisi de Larderel, Director, Division of Technology, Industry and Economics, United Nations Environment ProgrammeIntroductionMartin Charter, The Centre for Sustainable Design, UK, and Ursula Tischner, econcept, GermanyPart 1: Background to sustainable consumption and production1. Sustainable development: From catchwords to benchmarks and operational conceptsJoachim H. Spangenberg, Sustainable Europe Research Institute, Germany2. Rewiring global consumption: Strategies for transformationNick Robins, Henderson Global Investors, UK, and Bas de Leeuw, Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, Netherlands; United Nations Environment Programme, France3. Sustainable solutions in less industrialised countries: The conditions and actors at state and company level for sustainable product designRoland Lentz, Intercambio, Germany4. Towards sustainable business?Peter James, University of Bradford, UK5. Integrated product policy and eco-product developmentMartin Charter, Alex Young, Aleksandra Kielkiewicz-Young and Inga Belmane, The Centre for Sustainable Design, UKPart 2: Sustainable, eco-product and eco-service development6. Sustainable product designUrsula Tischner, econcept, Germany, and Martin Charter, The Centre for Sustainable Design, UK7. The Next Industrial RevolutionWilliam McDonough and Michael Braungart, McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry, USA8. Sustainability and servicesWalter R. Stahel, The Product-Life Institute, Switzerland9. Measuring sustainability in ecodesignJoseph Fiksel, Battelle Memorial Institute, USA10. What sustainable solutions do small and medium-sized enterprises prefer?Carolien G. van Hemel, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands11. Sustainable product development:a strategy for developing countriesDiego Masera, EU Micro-Enterprises Support Programme and Ecodesign Consultant12. Managing ecodesignMartin Charter, The Centre for Sustainable Design, UK13. Towards a model for product-oriented environmental management systemsHan Brezet, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands, and Cristina Rocha, National Institute of Engineering and Industrial Technology, Portugal14. Tools for ecodesign and sustainable product designUrsula Tischner, econcept, Germany15. Green marketingMichael Jay Polonsky, University of Newcastle, AustraliaPart 3: Case studies16. Maximising environmental quality through EcoReDesign™John Gertsakis, RMIT University, Australia17. Telework and the triple bottom lineBraden R. Allenby, AT&T and Columbia University, USA, and Deanna Richards, private consultant, USA18. The unpredictable process of implementing eco-efficiency strategiesJacqueline Cramer, Cramer Environmental Consultancy and Erasmus University, Netherlands, and Ab Stevels, Technical University of Delft and Philips Consumer Electronics, Netherlands19. Environmental technologies and their business driversAndrew Baynes, Christian Ridder and Lutz-Günther Scheidt, Sony International (Europe) GmbH20. 'Awareness': sustainability by industrial designPhilip Thompson, Electrolux Industrial Design Centre, UK, and Chris Sherwin, Cranfield University, UK21. Sustainable product design and resource management at the Kambium Furniture WorkshopHolger Rohn, Trifolium-Sustainable Management Consulting, Germany, and Angelika von Proff-Kesseler, Kambium Furniture Workshop Inc., Germany22. Manufactum: sustainability as an elementary part of the marketing conceptUli Burchardt, Manufactum Hoof & Partner KG, Germany23. Hess Natur: acting for the world of tomorrow. Resource management in the textile chainKatharina Paulitsch, Hess-Natur-Textilien GmbH, Germany24. The development of Climatex LifecycleTM: a compostable, environmentally sound upholstery fabricAlbin Kaelin, Rohner Textil AG, Switzerland25. Slow consumption for sustainable jobs: the example of hand-crafted shoesChristine Ax, Institut für Produktdauerforschung, Germany26. Micro enterprises, lay design and sustainable innovationLuiz E.C. Guimaraes, Universidade Federal da Pariba, Brazil, and Fred Steward, Aston Business School, UK27. Carving in KenyaDiego Masera, EU Micro-Enterprises Support Programmeand Ecodesign ConsultantUseful websitesBibliography

    Biography

    Charter, Martin; Tischner, Ursula

    This ambitious publication delivers – both in terms of content and engaging the reader ... an excellent and informative review strongly recommended for anyone with responsibility for, or interest in, the area of sustainable product design. - Corporate Environmental Strategy || Sustainable Solutions serves as a general primer and a source of advanced thinking. - Warmer Bulletin || ... provides state-of the-art analysis on ways to sustainable design and case studies on a number of product groups.The book provides an overview on latest developments, which will be helpful for researchers as well as product developers. For municipal staff the book is a good source of ideas, keeping up-to-date with scientific discussions. - European Circular, ICLEI || On opening this book one is presented with the very thing that is often missing from the eco-design literature: a robust and scholastically challenging discussion of what sustainable marketing and product design actually is. The book establishes and pursues sound conceptual argument and illustrates this with case studies throughout ... it deserves a place on the book shelves of any environmental sociologist, manager or engineer. - Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management