Generation Awake – the European movement for smart consumers – aims to raise awareness on the importance of using more innovative and resource-efficient business models and optimal management of waste to sustain a greener economy. A number of companies around the world have recognised that improving resource efficiency and cutting waste helps protect their supply chain, profitability and good customer relations. Here are some case studies.

Ikea

Economising with resources is a founding principle of the Ikea Group and the company’s People & Planet Positive strategy builds on a long history of working with sustainability.

Launched in 2012, the strategy outlines how the company is taking the next big step to help millions of people live a more sustainable life at home, to strive towards resource and energy independence and to help create a better life for people and communities around the world.

Ikea Group says it is making good progress. The group has committed to own 137 wind turbines and installed 550,000 solar panels, moving a step closer to producing more renewable energy than the total power it uses by 2020.

It produces 22.4 million LED products, including 12.3 million LED bulbs. The LED bulbs alone save each customer €7 in electricity costs per bulb, per year compared to incandescent lamps. Customers will save a combined total of €86 million a year as a result of the LED bulbs sold.

The group has committed to own 137 wind turbines and installed 550,000 solar panels, moving a step closer to producing more renewable energy

A total of €40 million were saved through energy efficiency efforts in stores and warehouses since fiscal year 2010.

Ikea Group is one of the world’s largest buyers of wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council in the retail sector and almost a third of its wood was FSC certified or recycled in 2013.

All wood was sourced from suppliers that meet the Ikea forestry standard.

The share of cotton from more sustainable sources used in products more than doubled, increasing from 34 per cent (2012) to 72 per cent (2013).

Eighty-seven per cent of the waste from operations was recycled or incinerated with energy recovery.

Forty-seven per cent of managers are women.

The Ikea Foundation donated €101 million in 2013 to projects that support millions of children in some of the world’s poorest communities, a 21 per cent increase over 2012.

TerraCycle

This dynamic US-based company is active on four continents (including 11 EU countries), collecting difficult-to-recycle packaging, such as drink pouches, crisp bags, pens, toothbrushes, and turning it into new products including bags, benches, plant pots and watering cans.

It works with consumer brands and operates local and national ‘brigades’, which collect items for recycling.

Globally, TerraCycle has re-purposed more than 2.6 billion items of packaging. It is working to come up with solutions for other difficult-to-recycle but widely discarded waste streams such as disposable nappies and chewing gum.

Healthy Seas

Healthy Seas was set up by an NGO and two enterprises to recover old fishing nets and recycle them to produce new textile products. According to UN reports, there are about 640,000 tons of abandoned fishing nets in the world’s seas, posing a threat to marine life and polluting the water.

‘Healthy Seas, a journey from waste to wear’ coordinates teams of divers to collect marine waste – especially fishing nets – and regenerates it into ECONYL® yarn for new sustainable products.

Healthy Seas was founded by the ECNC Group, a biodiversity and sustainability expertise centre, nylon yarn/ fibres producer Aquafil Group, based in Italy, and sock wholesaler Star Sock in The Netherlands.

It also works to raise public awareness and develop preventive measures with the fishing industry and other stakeholders.

Caterpillar

US group Caterpillar employs 3,600 people around the world in its remanufacturing arm, CAT Reman, which replaces products before they break and rebuilds them with a mixture of new and used parts.

The company has given increasing consideration to creating a product that is intended to be remanufactured a number of times and its ability to salvage materials gives it a business advantage over its competitors.

One of its most well-known products is an engine block with a removable sleeve in the cylinder bore. When the component is recovered, this material can be removed and replaced to return the engine to as-new performance.

Caterpillar’s remanufactured products are rebuilt and tested to the same standards – and sometimes higher – as new products and are sold with the same warranty.

Maersk Line

Shipping giant Maersk Line has developed a Cradle to Cradle Passport for its new container ships. It was launched in 2013 in a bid to ensure a ready supply of low-cost steel, of which 60,000 tons is used to make a single ship.

The ‘passport’, a first for the shipping industry, comprises an online database to create a detailed inventory that can be used to identify and recycle the ship’s components to a higher quality than is currently possible.

Source: European Commission

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.