ISM AND ISEG MBA - Développement durable

a. New product concepts
These new concepts of Green Products are present in all steps of the product life cycle, from its
conception to its ultimate destruction, and also extending to recycling and reuse. There now are
green concepts for the life cycle of green products, inciting companies to endeavor to play a role
in all steps of the product's life cycle.
At the production step, companies have to limit the consumption of non-renewable energy or
polluting fuels, and to avoid using materials which require their consuming polluting fuel or child
labor (this also relates to sustainable development).
Turning attention to the product itself, this has to be designed to facilitate its consumption,
storage, transportation, and its packaging, for example to limit the consumption of cardboard or
shipping costs (with inherent reduction of pollution).
Finally, forward thought at the design stage can facilitate product recycling at the end of working
life by the careful choice of materials, or its proportions in order to reduce the space it occupies in
the trash can for example.
The “3R” concept is a directive concerning the product at the end of its life cycle: Reduce, Reuse,
and Recycle, these three alternatives being proposed in order to favor environmental protection
by such means as recovery of used products. This constitutes increasing the intrinsic value of
what would otherwise be waste product. Three methods of achieving this are proposed below.
First, waste reduction would permit space saving so limiting the volume of polluting
materials in the garbage dump, alternatively the product might be manufactured from
biodegradable materials which will naturally decompose to harmless by-products without
human intervention.
Second, products might be redesigned in order that they can be redeployed at the end of
their working life, either by integrating them into another product life cycle or by easily
repairing them to produce a remanufactured product.
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