Redefining Consumption Habits for a Sustainable Future

Are you ready to redefine your consumption habits and build a sustainable future? We'll be your guide on this environmental odyssey in the latest episode of Chain Reaction, where we unmask the degenerative nature of our industrial society and propose practical solutions. We'll be sharing everyday changes you can make to aid in this plight, such as using reusable containers, purchasing second-hand items, and composting organic waste - simple actions that when multiplied, can trigger a powerful chain reaction towards an eco-friendly future. 

But that's not all, folks! We're also diving headfirst into the world of material extraction and the implications it bears on our planet. We'll unpack innovative and eco-friendly extraction techniques like bioremediation and electrokinetics that are shaking up the industry. We'll also untangle the concepts of the circular economy, inventory optimization, and green energy principles that can help to streamline our supply chain strategies. This episode is guaranteed to challenge your perspective and empower you to make more conscious decisions that will pave the way for a healthier planet. Strap in and get ready for a ride on the green side!

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Chapters

• 0:00 Improving Sustainability in the Supply Chain
• 8:42 Sustainable Consuming Futures and Waste Reduction

Transcript

Tony Hines: 0:00

Sustainable, consuming futures. That's what I want to talk about today. So stay tuned, hi, it's Tony Hines here and you're listening to the Chain Reaction Podcast All about supply chain advantage. Thanks for dropping by today. Every day, the machine starts again, and what I mean by that statement is that every day, we enter a life where resources are extracted, consumed and, of course, we make decisions about how those resources are extracted, transported, consumed and what we do at the waste, at the end of the cycle, in the end to end supply chain. So today I want to talk about how we could improve things, do things better and, of course, have a consuming future that's less consuming. The way we organize production, the way we organize transportation, the way we organize our operations and, of course, the way we organize the end to end supply chain all have a part to play in how we can improve things. So let's think about where we are right now and what we could do to make things better.

Tony Hines: 1:22

Industrial society is complex and, of course, when we think of industrial society and the process, it's become known as degenerative. And when we use the term degenerative, it's take, make use, dispose, and those are the processes that are involved in how we think about the world or have done in developing that industrial society. And this generates mass consumption and of course it's on a grand scale and it pushes the wheels of capitalism around as incomes are generated, profits are earned, and well, the rest is beneath the radar, or has been until very recently. Industrial society is what we refer to as the take, make use and lose economy. We take energy, we take materials, we make something, we use it and then we lose it. We waste heat and we waste matter or material. So that's what the take, make use and lose economy looks like Meaning that we take resources, maybe metal, out of the ground and we work with those metals through industrial processes to turn them into something useful in machines that we develop or use materials to create other products that we want. So that degeneration, it depletes the metal. Once we take it away, it's no longer in raw form, it's gone into a process that's manufactured and turned into something else and at the end of its useful life as a product that we initially wanted, it has to be got rid of.

Tony Hines: 3:01

And in the process of decommissioning plant or equipment, then we have to obviously have processes in place that deal with waste, so, for example, we might extract oil, coal, gas and other materials, such as metals, from the ground and, in the case of energy oil, coal and gas that we pull from under land or under sea in the extraction process we burn it and we create carbon dioxide which goes into the atmosphere. Turning nitrogen and phosphorus into fertilizer and offloading it as effluent from agricultural runoff and sewage is something else we do. We take up the forests and we mine the metal and the minerals and we create products, and then we produce goods that we might also turn into some form of waste, which could be e-waste in the case of computers and electrical goods, or it could be toxic chemicals that leak out into the soil, the water and the air. Now, many of the products that we've made from the industrial processes have improved our lives immensely, and that's because the products that we have needed to exist to make lives easier. Think of all the household appliances that you have around. You've got washing machines, you've got cookers, you've got dryers. They're all made out of metal and copper, wire and minerals that come from the earth and, of course, they're driven by electric energy or, in the case of some cookers, they might use gas, so they're burning fossil fuel to generate the energy to drive them, and nobody denies that those things have made lives easier for people and they are, of course, useful products while they're in existence, but once they come to the end of their useful life, then those materials have to be repurposed, refocused, reused in some way if we're not to create waste and that's a tricky part of the supply chain to manage, and we'll talk about that a little more.

Tony Hines: 5:09

Well, let's consider some of the practical things we can do for ourselves to help the planet, the people, the profit and, of course, protect the planet and have those materials used in a sustainable and responsible way. We talked about repurposing and reusing materials, and that's a great way to reduce the waste, and we can do simple things like use containers that we can use more than once. So instead of having a container maybe a milk carton or a glass bottle and simply disposing of it, we use it again and again and we'll probably better at this. In the past, when milk was delivered on a daily basis in a bottle, then we used to put the empty bottle out for the next day and the milkman would pick it up and they'd clean the bottle out and reuse it, and that helps reduce the waste. So reusable containers is one very good way to think about cutting the waste.

Tony Hines: 6:07

We can also donate any used goods, such as clothing, furniture, electronics, to charities or thrift stores, and that can help extend the life of the products as they are to reduce waste. Or it might also be the case that those items find the way to be broken up and some of the material extracted and reused again repurposed in another way. We can buy second hand items instead of buying new all the time, and some second hand items will still have useful life. It just happens to be that the person that might have bought them new doesn't need them, doesn't want them anymore, and that way we can reduce waste by giving a new life to those second hand items, rather than simply just throw it away and it gets put in landfill. Composting at home is a great way to reduce waste, by turning food scraps and other organic material into nutrient rich soil, and that's a very important process really, to compost materials and to compost food particularly, rather than simply put it in a waste bin and it gets put in landfill, where it gives off methane gas and there's other stuff that we don't want it to do.

Tony Hines: 7:28

We should avoid single use items. Now there are a lot of plastic bags and plastic straws and plastic utensils for takeaway food, and all those kinds of products should really be avoided, and actually that would force the companies that use them to do the right thing and have reusable items rather than items which are just used once and thrown away. There are, of course, laws in some countries that stop people from doing that, but when you see the amount of plastic waste there is around the film plastic that's on a container that brings your food in another plastic container some of the plastic is obviously recyclable, but much of it isn't. You have to throw it away, and then you could shop locally to reduce air miles or transport cost and the pollution that that causes, and so many people might prefer to shop at local markets rather than have their goods imported from faraway places around the globe, and that makes sense where it's possible to do so, and you should think about everything that you buy so that you're having much less of an impact on this waste process. So there's a few practical things we could all do.

Tony Hines: 8:42

Waste, of course, has many negative impacts on the environment. It can cause climate change, releasing greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere, which we've talked about. It can impact the health of people and animals and, of course, plant life through the improper waste disposal, which leads to soil and water pollution, and it's harmful to wildlife and, of course, to plant life. So when we talk about sustainable consuming futures, we need to find better ways to repurpose, reuse, refocus those materials that we've once used to be used again, so that we don't commit them to waste by simply putting them back into landfill sites. So what else can we do? Let's go further up the supply chain and look at the first stage in that process, where we actually extract the materials from the ground.

Tony Hines: 9:45

Extracting materials from the earth can have a significant impact on the environment. However, there are several ways to extract materials without causing pollution and waste. One way to reduce the environmental impact of extraction is to reduce, reuse and recycle, which we've talked about. This involves reducing the amount of waste generated by reusing and recycling materials. Another way to reduce the environmental impact of extraction is to use environmentally friendly methods such as bioremediation, phytoremediation and electrokinetics. Bioremediation is the use of microorganisms to break down or remove contaminants from soil and water, and phytoremediation is the use of plants to remove contaminants from soil and water. Electrokinetics is a process that uses an electric field to move charged particles through soil and water, and these methods can help reduce the environmental impact of extraction.

Tony Hines: 10:43

We can use renewable energy sources solar, wind to reduce the environmental impact of extraction by reducing greenhouse gas in emissions. So if we can just switch from what we're used to using and generate reusable energy which comes from the sun or from wind, that could improve the processes. Reducing water usage during extraction can also help reduce the environmental impact of extraction. So use sustainable mining practices such as reducing waste, minimizing water and using renewable energy sources, as we've suggested, all reduce the environmental impact. We can also use green energy principles, such as reducing waste, using safer chemicals and minimizing energy usage to help reduce the environmental impact of extraction. Biodegradable plastics made from renewable sources, such as corn starch, can be used to reduce the environmental impact of the plastic production. In medicine, we can simplify the synthesis of pharmaceuticals using green chemistry principles. Green solvents or bio-solvents such as water and alcohol can replace petrochemical solvents. All of those things will reduce the impact on the environment. Polystyrene alternatives made from starch or cellulose can be used to reduce the environmental impact of polystyrene production. Painting pigment chemistry that reduces the use of volatile organic compounds and heavy metals can also be made using green chemistry.

Tony Hines: 12:15

Designing better supply chain strategies and operations can help reduce waste, and here are some of the strategies we could consider to do that. We start with the end point first, when we design our supply chain and we consider what happens at the end of life for the products we're about to make. This will help our decisions and it will determine the waste volume that goes to landfill, and we need a strategic plan to deal with the waste at the end of life that minimizes the impact of the waste. We need to be efficient in the way we manage our resources. We have to evaluate the whole supply chain, not just a piece of it, not just our piece of it, but from start to finish, the end to end. Supply chain needs to be considered and efficient resource management can help businesses reduce waste by optimizing processes throughout the supply chain, from the point of extraction to the point of consumption.

Tony Hines: 13:10

Explore, evaluate and implement the right waste equipment, tools and strategies. Lower the carbon footprint. Think of ways that that can be done. Maybe it's better environmental, social and governance aspects of that supply chain that become a focal point for what happens within it, and enterprises have to explore the right types of equipment that they can use and the right strategies to reduce waste in the production processes. You have to get all the suppliers, everybody in the supply chain, on board. All the partners in that supply chain have to be brought together to think about ways in which the whole supply chain can reduce waste and its impact on the environment. Optimize inventory, reduce waste through overstocking, reduce lead times and improve order accuracy All of those things. Reduce waste and force upstream and downstream reporting. Get the information, get the data so you understand what's going on in your supply chain and how you can affect that by doing things better, or you can take corrective action if you know something's going astray. Cut your carbon footprint. Businesses with lean manufacturing and distribution models will positively impact brand image and customer experience.

Tony Hines: 14:26

And when you look at some of the research from Gen X, gen Y, gen Z, they often say in the surveys that they change their buying habits and the way in which they consume resources to make sure it doesn't damage the environment, and they're looking for sustainability. Sustainability is right at the top of their agenda. So if you're not going to change, because you want to, you might at least think about whether you want to exist into the future and how your products are going to be consumed, purchased and used by Gen Z, gen Y and future generations. Now, what's different in the circular economy is we take renewable materials and when we make things, we think regeneratively at every stage. And so what that means we regenerate and capture value at each stage where decomposition takes place in those materials. We think in a different way about the way in which materials flow through the system.

Tony Hines: 15:33

So regenerate and restore is the focus, and when we talk about restoring, we think repair, reuse, refurbish, recycle, and this way we have minimum loss, both in energy terms and in the material. So we've got energy, water and food at the center of our social foundation, because that's the stuff of life, isn't it? And beyond that we have the ecological ceiling and that's the link where we've got safe and just space for humanity to grow, and it's a space in which we can have a regenerative and distributive economy. So a place where we can do things but we don't do damage. So we don't affect climate, we don't acidify the oceans, we don't pollute the atmosphere with chemicals or nitrogen and phosphate, we don't deplete the water supplies, we don't convert too much land, we don't lose biodiversity, we control air pollution and we don't have ozone layer depletion.

Tony Hines: 16:44

As we think about our sustainable consuming future and some of the important messages contained in this program so far, we can perhaps distill it into a manifesto for action. And so here are 10 principles. If you recall nothing else from the episode, remember these 10 principles, the central to securing that sustainable future. Number one reduce, reuse and recycle. Number two use renewable energy sources. Number three protect biodiversity. Maintain that healthy ecosystem. Number four promote social equity. It's important that everyone has access to resources they need to live a sustainable life. Number five support local communities. Local communities help promote sustainability by reducing environmental impact of transport and they promote the local economies.

Tony Hines: 17:41

Number six minimize waste. Begin right at the start by thinking how can I minimize waste in my daily life and for everything I produce and everything I make? Number seven promote sustainable agriculture. We need better ways to protect the environment, better ways to produce food and, of course, give access to that healthy food, and you might want to listen to my special about food. Number eight reduce carbon emission. If you can reduce the carbon emissions, that's essential to protect the climate and to promote sustainability. Now. That needs to be happening right now. Number nine protect natural resources. We need to make sure we've got sufficient water, good quality air and soil. Those are the essentials of life.

Tony Hines: 18:31

And finally, number 10, promote innovation. Innovation drives progress to more sustainable futures and to more sustainable consuming futures, which is what we've talked about today. When it comes to sustainable, consuming futures, each of us has our part to play, whether we're involved in procurement operations, in supply chain strategies and the design of those systems that we work with on a daily basis, or in transport and logistics. In those particular aspects, before managing the way in which we move goods around, then we all have an opportunity to lower the bad effects on the planet and its sustainability. So I hope you'll remember the points and try to put those points into actionable practices in your own supply chain. So that's it for today. Hope you've enjoyed the episode, hope you found it useful and I'll see you next time in the Chain Reaction Podcast. Bye for now. You've been listening to the Chain Reaction Podcast, written, presented and produced by Tony Hines.