Supply Chain and Product Stewardship
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Many companies identify their biggest environmental impacts in their supply chain and/or at the end-of-life of their products. Leveraging environmental improvements at the beginning and end stages of the life cycle means working with a web of suppliers, recyclers, and product recovery partners.
As companies and entire sectors look outside their factory walls, they see new opportunities to add social, economic and environmental value up and down the value chain. Supply chain and product stewardship not only manage and enhance brand reputation, but also unveil new opportunities for product development and cost management. Pure Strategies’ projects include:
- Redesign of Seventh Generation’s Supplier Auditing Tool
- Workshop for Walmart Suppliers on the company’s 15 question Supplier Assessment
- Product stewardship in the Paint Industry
- Green Seal standard for corporate environmental performance
Case Study:
Seventh Generation
Supply Chain Sustainability
Pure Strategies helped Seventh Generation launch its supplier assessment tool in 2006, and expanded it in 2010. Seventh Generation grades its suppliers on energy, carbon, waste, natural resources, people and community. The company’s program is one of the more comprehensive approaches we’ve seen.
Seventh Generation Supplier Assessment Areas
- Sustainability Plan/Environmental Management
- Energy Usage
- Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions
- Water Use/Discharge
- Air Pollution
- Materials Management/Waste & Restricted Substances
- Fair Labor and Workplace 8. Worker Health and Safety
- Supplier Sustainability Review
- Philanthropy/Local Community
- Ecosystem and Biodiversity
- Oppressive Regime
- Public Disclosure
Consider these issues when developing your own supplier evaluation program:
- Alignment & Communication: make sure your suppliers understand what you are asking of them and why you are initiating this program. On-site visits are key to communicating your expectations.
- Focus on Creating Value: Energy and waste are often the best places to start a dialogue with your suppliers since efforts there tend to have the shortest return on investment.
- Integrate into Your Overall Vendor Assessment Program: separating supplier evaluation from your other assessment programs sends mixed messages to your vendors. Seventh Generation integrates sustainability into its supplier evaluation process.
“Pure Strategies helped us build a comprehensive supplier assessment program that addresses all of the most important sustainability questions that third parties want to know about our products, and then created a simple tool that allows our suppliers to easily supply us with the information we need, often in a form they've already used to report it someplace else.”
Dave Rapaport, Sr. Director of Corporate Consciousness, Seventh Generation