Apologies for posting this late! I was away at a School of Veterinary Nursing planning day last week and time ran out!! We had a great talk from Nicola Bould, who is a sustainability educator at Otago Polytechnic, during our planning days which has injected a huge amount of motivation into the team - so watch this space!!
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Please note: This posting is in no way meant to be offensive to, or to pick on the company I have been corresponding with. This posting is designed to help educate people and companies on the answers that they need to be asking and seeking answers too and the changes the may need to make to improve their sustainablilty. The end result should be a more sustainable company now and in the future and a more sustainable future for everyone.
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What I am learning, as I start asking these questions to the companies that supply products within the School of Veterinary Nursing (and believe me this is a slow and ongoing project) is that everyone has a "Green" answer, but that it always appears light and when you dig deeper the staff marketing the products can't answer the questions and when they do, the answers are equally vague and light. Without wanting to point the finger at any of these companies and using them as an example here is an example diaglogue I am in the process of having now..........
What I am learning, as I start asking these questions to the companies that supply products within the School of Veterinary Nursing (and believe me this is a slow and ongoing project) is that everyone has a "Green" answer, but that it always appears light and when you dig deeper the staff marketing the products can't answer the questions and when they do, the answers are equally vague and light. Without wanting to point the finger at any of these companies and using them as an example here is an example diaglogue I am in the process of having now..........
First correspondance from me: "Hi
I am investigating >>>>>(product details removed)>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>we are using in our clinical facility at Otago Polytechnic. One of the Polytechnics KPIs is sustainability and as part of that we are looking at everything we do and use within the School of Veterinary Nursing and assessing what we are using and whether there are alternatives that better meet out KPI’s.
I am investigating >>>>>(product details removed)>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>we are using in our clinical facility at Otago Polytechnic. One of the Polytechnics KPIs is sustainability and as part of that we are looking at everything we do and use within the School of Veterinary Nursing and assessing what we are using and whether there are alternatives that better meet out KPI’s.
I note that >>>>>>>>>>> meets our needs in terms of efficacy, but the questions I want to ask are along these lines................
1. What happens to it when it goes down the drain – are the components non-toxic? Or are they broken down into non-toxic components?
2. What is the companies green/sustainability policy/progress towards zero waste? I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind Regards
Francesca
Reply:
Hi Francesca,
Thank you for your e-mail regarding the >>>>>>>>>>>> enquiry into the toxicity and sustainability policy. I could not answer all the questions so e-mailed our parent company in the UK. They have answered, the reply is below. If you would like to know more or have any more questions please contact us again.
I do hope that these answers are what you wanted to hear. Could you please reply and let me know if you are happy with the way the >>>>>>>>>>>>> company is directed and that it suits your needs in the future.
Kind regards
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
And this is the information sent through from the parent company:
For part 1 of the questions, over the years >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> has been the subject of many tests and trials with the various water authorities and the National River Authority. Some that spring to mind are the Animal Sanctuary in the North East, The Shelter in Plymouth (can’t remember the name except the Manager Tony was instrumental in gaining us ground with the ABDCH?) and a large new kennel centre in the midlands. Each of these were put to stringent trials for water runoff to septic tanks etc. when they were installing new waste water facilities.
In each of the examples >>>>>>>>>>>>> was found to be non toxic going to drains as the residual % of the components after dilution and washing / rinsing was negligible. In addition the >>>>>>> will break down to sodium chloride (salt) in a short period of time causing no harmful effects to the environment. The only part of the formula that caused any concern at that time was the use of EDTA but in the end that was considered to be (a) as a component, too small of % part to warrant concern and (b) was changed to a more environmentally friendly component in 2004 following a Europe wide concern over the use of EDTA (even washing up liquids and similar household items used EDTA) and more suitable alternatives were found.
With reference to part 2:
We are committed to being green and as such are approved by the RSPCA. We use recycled packaging, bottles etc etc so our whole ethos is ‘Green’.
In each of the examples >>>>>>>>>>>>> was found to be non toxic going to drains as the residual % of the components after dilution and washing / rinsing was negligible. In addition the >>>>>>> will break down to sodium chloride (salt) in a short period of time causing no harmful effects to the environment. The only part of the formula that caused any concern at that time was the use of EDTA but in the end that was considered to be (a) as a component, too small of % part to warrant concern and (b) was changed to a more environmentally friendly component in 2004 following a Europe wide concern over the use of EDTA (even washing up liquids and similar household items used EDTA) and more suitable alternatives were found.
With reference to part 2:
We are committed to being green and as such are approved by the RSPCA. We use recycled packaging, bottles etc etc so our whole ethos is ‘Green’.
Kind Regards
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
My thoughts:
So you can see from this correspondance that initially the NZ supplier hadn't really thought much about this or perhaps been schooled on it by the parent company but certainly seems keen and interested in this subject and ensuring the product meets the needs of a sustainable practitioner.
Win 1 - we have now, through a simple correspondance awakened the interest in the topic with regards to the product by the supplier
Win 2 - we have been given some information that we didn't have before to help us prove our use of the product is acceptable.
Hopefully a win 3: the UK manufacturer is now thinking that they need to formalise that information and present it in a meaningful manner.
But its also raised a whole heap of questions and this is where it is hard to get real meaningful answers. In the reply from the UK parent company, they have justified the 'green-ness' of the product by saying they use recycled plastic bottles. Yes this is great but this doesn't denote green and sustainable procedures. There are so many more questions.
I am no expert at this at all so I don't propose to know all the questions or many of the answers, but my job here is to be thought provokoing and get you, the reader and also the companies I am corresponding with really thinking.
So this was my reply:
Hi >>>>>>>>>>>>
Many thanks for this. It definitely does begin to answer our questions and we don’t have any intentions of changing at this stage. It is great to see components have been changed as concerned were raised.
However, in order to be really open and transparent about what we are doing, it would be great if we could get some copies of the trial work showing its safety. I am not doubting the word but we are increasingly being asked to prove and document what we say/use. My other thing that I would say now is that it is important that those involved with >>>>>>>>, understand the opportunity now to investigate answers to these questions is a real opportunity to leap forward as a product rather than wait and see what others do and be a market leader.
It would be great to get details of the "green" ethos. For example – it is really great that the bottles are recycled packaging but details on how this is sourced and the "green-ness of the making the recycled plastic into new bottles" for example because there is of course an energy cost (I am guessing this is still a good thing to do – I am just trying to illustrate some of the questions to ask – not just accept that its recycled so it must be better. The plastic vs paper debate is a classic one of this), details on how people are encouraged to recycle the packaging themselves – initiatives to encourage people to keep reusing the packaging like sending it back to be refilled for example (this may or may not work out the best but we are wanting to see evidence of looking at this as an option), also details of the sourcing of the components of >>>>>> and whether each of these components are green and also socially sustainable too. How much waste are each of these companies producing and how much is >>>>>>>> producing to make the end product. So you can see that I am wanting to go the level deeper – so we can see that the base components are sourced sustainably.
Also manufacturing creates lots of waste – documented stuff about what is being done to reduce the waste – targeting zero waste and carbon neutrality for example. Is the power source that is used to produce the product from a renewable source for example, is all old equipment including electronic equipment fully recycled. Then the other side is the social ethos – are the employees of the company treated fairly etc. Also thinking about how you encourage the end product user to be sustainable in its use. Where it is not possible to reduce waste any further or carbon use, what offsets are in place – for example planting trees. The list of questions goes on.
I appreciate these are all hard questions – and answers might not be currently available - we are asking these questions of lots of companies and many are struggling to answer them, however we believe these are questions we should now be asking for answers for and we are educating our students to ask these questions. It is essential now for companies to look seriously at this. It is no longer ok to just say "we are green because we use recycled packaging". We need to know about the whole package – which means the company need to know the whole package too.
If you click on the link in my signature to our sustainability blog, you can see some of the things we are talking about (the blog is just a weekly tip designed to start getting our students engaged and is only part of the package) – I have only recently started the blog, so lots of the stuff we have talked about and done are not on there yet. There is also a post about sustainability and a link to a video called "How stuff works" – this is a great eye opener and in some ways helps to visualise the consumer/throw away society and start thinking about different ways. One of the concepts that has really got me on board is that "rubbish doesn’t go away – it becomes someone else’s problem".
Many thanks and I look forward to any further information that can be provided.
Kind Regards
Francesca
Many thanks for this. It definitely does begin to answer our questions and we don’t have any intentions of changing at this stage. It is great to see components have been changed as concerned were raised.
However, in order to be really open and transparent about what we are doing, it would be great if we could get some copies of the trial work showing its safety. I am not doubting the word but we are increasingly being asked to prove and document what we say/use. My other thing that I would say now is that it is important that those involved with >>>>>>>>, understand the opportunity now to investigate answers to these questions is a real opportunity to leap forward as a product rather than wait and see what others do and be a market leader.
It would be great to get details of the "green" ethos. For example – it is really great that the bottles are recycled packaging but details on how this is sourced and the "green-ness of the making the recycled plastic into new bottles" for example because there is of course an energy cost (I am guessing this is still a good thing to do – I am just trying to illustrate some of the questions to ask – not just accept that its recycled so it must be better. The plastic vs paper debate is a classic one of this), details on how people are encouraged to recycle the packaging themselves – initiatives to encourage people to keep reusing the packaging like sending it back to be refilled for example (this may or may not work out the best but we are wanting to see evidence of looking at this as an option), also details of the sourcing of the components of >>>>>> and whether each of these components are green and also socially sustainable too. How much waste are each of these companies producing and how much is >>>>>>>> producing to make the end product. So you can see that I am wanting to go the level deeper – so we can see that the base components are sourced sustainably.
Also manufacturing creates lots of waste – documented stuff about what is being done to reduce the waste – targeting zero waste and carbon neutrality for example. Is the power source that is used to produce the product from a renewable source for example, is all old equipment including electronic equipment fully recycled. Then the other side is the social ethos – are the employees of the company treated fairly etc. Also thinking about how you encourage the end product user to be sustainable in its use. Where it is not possible to reduce waste any further or carbon use, what offsets are in place – for example planting trees. The list of questions goes on.
I appreciate these are all hard questions – and answers might not be currently available - we are asking these questions of lots of companies and many are struggling to answer them, however we believe these are questions we should now be asking for answers for and we are educating our students to ask these questions. It is essential now for companies to look seriously at this. It is no longer ok to just say "we are green because we use recycled packaging". We need to know about the whole package – which means the company need to know the whole package too.
If you click on the link in my signature to our sustainability blog, you can see some of the things we are talking about (the blog is just a weekly tip designed to start getting our students engaged and is only part of the package) – I have only recently started the blog, so lots of the stuff we have talked about and done are not on there yet. There is also a post about sustainability and a link to a video called "How stuff works" – this is a great eye opener and in some ways helps to visualise the consumer/throw away society and start thinking about different ways. One of the concepts that has really got me on board is that "rubbish doesn’t go away – it becomes someone else’s problem".
Many thanks and I look forward to any further information that can be provided.
Kind Regards
Francesca
So as you can see there are lots of questions to ask to get the company thinking. If we can achieve that and the company itself starting to make inroads into documenting what they are doing and the safety and green-ness of the company and its products, we have a win-win situation. Lets see how they reply!
Certainly in the short term it is hard to imagine that the consumer society is going to change, so as a sustainable practitioner, once you have identified that you really have a need for a specific product you need to be asking the hard questions to the person who is marketing the product. This then gives the person marketing the product and therefore the company an education to some degree in improving their sustainability over time.
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To finish, a quote I borrowed from the recent NZVNJ, that originated from Mahatma Gandhi
“Be the change you want to see in the world”.
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Have a great and sustainable week!
Francesca
Please note: This posting is in no way meant to be offensive to or to pick on the company I have been corresponding with. This posting is designed to help educate people and companies on the answers that they need to be asking and seeking answers too and the changes the may need to make to improve their sustainablilty. The end result should be a more sustainable company now and in the future and a more sustainable future for everyone.
Earth in hands - Image source
Rubbish pile - Image source
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