Current Event: Creating a Cradle-to-Cradle Economy

Looming resource shortages, rising and volatile commodity costs, new technologies, extending producer responsibility regulations, landfill bans, and changing customer preferences are driving a shift in our economy's current business paradigm. We are experiencing an exponentially growing population and the scarcity of non-renewables. Acknowledging these issues and more, it is imperative that businesses move from a "take-make-waste" business model into a circular economy business model. These circular economy business models are based on longevity, renewability, reuse, repair, upgrade, refurbishment, sharing and dematerialization. Lessening the impacts on the environment, this new way of conducting business presents a completely different view on the mission of a business. 

Not surprisingly, the supply chain is the area of a business in which the greatest amount of improvement and waste reduction can be made. From sourcing to manufacturing to distribution to retailer to customer...the possibilities are endless. These kind of improvements require thinking from the bottom up, rather than making incremental resource efficiency improvements as time goes on. Creating a closed loop is important for many reasons including: development of new markets, creating a continuous improvement platform, building value-added customer relationships, achieving cost savings, and building brand a reputation. 

So what does it take to make these changes?? It certainly starts with the mindset of the business and involves a future-looking model. It starts with management and executive commitment. It involves a strategic business plan that involves essentially the entire supply chain. It involves investment into R&D and establishing relationships with suppliers...

This is all much easier said than done, but the payoff represents the future of our economy. No longer can we continue to risk resource shortages, natural resource depletion and waste of surplus resources. 

For me, this is an exciting time to be entering the business world. There are numerous advancements and improvements to be made and though I do not necessarily have the answers, I look forward to making moves towards the solutions. 

source used: http://www.greenbiz.com/article/how-circular-economy-could-end-take-make-waste-businesses

Current Event: How Can We Control Food Waste?

I very much dislike wasting food for two main reasons: I see it the same as wasting money. I love eating food.
I am sure that there are many other Americans that feel the same way as I do. But even with this so-called food-waste-contentiousness do we REALLY know how much food waste we have? According to Mary Hoff in her article Everybody hates wasting food- so why do we do it and how can we stop?, the average American family of four throws away $1,500 worth of food in a year and the average American individual throws away $369 worth of food in a year (that's two months worth of car loan payments for me!!). Furthermore, more than twice as much food is wasted at the consumer level than at the retail level. Why do we this? How does this happen? Hoff says that it is due to the lack of awareness of food waste as well as the unawareness to the societal and personal costs we incur that leads us to the amounts of food waste over time. Consider this: from an environmental perspective, food waste results in the literal throwing out of our natural resources. According to a 2009 study from the journal PLOS ONE, fully one quarter of the water used in the U.S. goes to produce food nobody eats!
How can we control this large area of waste in our society? Hoff says we first must start with awareness, but that awareness will not solve all of the problems. Practical solutions need to be offered as well, such as cookery classes, putting leftovers to use, budgeting and planning support, knowing when food is bad, storage information on packaging, etc. Even something as simple as checking what you have in the pantry before you go grocery shopping can make a big difference.
I hope to continue to increase my food-waste-contentiousness as I only buy what is really necessary and encourage others to do the same!