The term “sustainability” is often associated with environmental protection, historically rooted in the concept that actions today should not adversely affect the ecological conditions or resource availabilities for tomorrow. The same is true when thinking about a reusable packaging system; environmental impacts of eliminating waste and pollution and lowering greenhouse gas emissions are among the leading benefits that come to mind. But sustainability, and product reuse to achieve it, is much more than just “going green.”
Modern definition of sustainability has broadened the scope recognizing the interconnectedness between environmental health, social prosperity and economic well-being. The “Triple Bottom Line,” coined by John Elkington in 1994, describes a sustainability framework that encompasses a company’s impact on planet, people and profit. More recently, the United Nations Global Compact extended this sustainability triad to supply chains in explaining that the objective is to “create, protect and grow long-term environmental, social and economic value for all stakeholders involved in bringing products and services to market.”
Lasting economic value creation is essential for success with a sustainable supply chain. The challenge is that economic impact can be difficult to fully assess when determining the right products and processes to adopt for more sustainable distribution of goods. In the Harvard Business Review in 2018, Mr. Elkington acknowledged a shortcoming with the Triple Bottom Line when limited by corporations as an accounting tool to meet and report financial metrics rather than a “systems change for tomorrow’s capitalism.” A company’s short-term focus on profits may overlook or underestimate the range of economic opportunity associated with transformational action on sustainability. This is especially the case with companies still operating in a linear economic model, where disconnected supply chains and organizational silos do not reach beyond their boundaries to ascertain the accumulated effects and value from the systems change.
Reusable packaging offers a good example of a transformative systems change that can lead to both immediate financial returns and long-term economic value creation. However, in many cases, transitioning to a reusable system is dismissed as an option or not prioritized in management due to an incomplete picture of the greater sustainability potential. To help put the broader economic benefits from reuse into perspective, here are seven profit-growing areas that can be tapped into with a reusable packaging system for a sustainable supply chain: