Thursday, March 26, 2015 by Cheryl Baldwin

It can be daunting to ramp up a sustainability program. This is especially the case when moving from an operations focus, where most programs start, to successfully leveraging the many opportunities associated with product materials and sourcing, design, and production. Yet companies that take aim at their products and measure, improve, and communicate the environmental and social attributes across the life cycle are able to achieve significant improvements that dwarf those they could realize otherwise.

Companies following product sustainability best practices are gaining benefits that include reduced costs, improved employee engagement and productivity, and increased consumer trust and brand enhancement. What are these best practices and how can companies get started developing product-focused programs?

New self-assessment tool available

A new self-assessment tool, launched in February 2015, is available online to help companies hit the bull’s-eye with their product sustainability programs by learning from leading companies’ best practices. The free tool quickly takes respondents through nine short questions to determine where they are on the spectrum from just getting started on product sustainability to using proven best practices.