Marketing and design targets as stepping stones to more sustainable products

摘要

Most approaches to the production of more sustainable products tend towards either 'Incremental' - those which strive to increase sustainability by way of increasing efficiency, or 'System' - analogous to biological systems with little waste, or when one operation's waste is another's raw material. The 'System' approach may be perceived by consumers as a more 'genuine' attempt at improving sustainability, but the change from an 'Incremental' to a 'System' approach is a major challenge for a company. This paper proposes three targets which help manage this challenge effectively: 'Controlling User Behaviour', 'Engendering User Concern for Sustainability' and 'Successfully Communicating Sustainable Credentials to the Consumer'. Consideration of these targets reveals the scope for a number of manageable steps.