ISM AND ISEG MBA - Développement durable

Numerous conceptual innovations followed the arrival of the Green Product; relating mainly to
the product application level, these concerned the entire life cycle from conception (by eco
design) through its intended purpose in life (employing eco efficiency) through to its eventual
recycling stage.
The fruit of these diverse concepts was the birth of ecological strategy, a revolutionary way of
company thinking. The most accepted of these concepts appearing to be Green Packaging, which
concerns the external packaging materials and its distribution, rather than directly concerning the
product itself.
b. Green Packaging
Packaging presents a visible image of the company; it immediately reveals to the customer what
the product is and from which source. However, packaging is often bulky, and is responsible for
creating an ever increasing source of harm to the planet. Companies are producing more and
more waste products. Employing environmental friendly materials, ecological packaging or
Green Packaging has found its way onto today's supermarket shelf. This packaging has been
specifically designed to facilitate later waste product recycling or reuse, or to reduce the quantity
of waste, or alternatively to impart biodegradability to the waste material.
The time has come to provide more and better information relating to packaging materials so that
the customer (buyer, manufacturer and final consumer combined) can intelligently select the
appropriate material: to save space; to pollute less by reducing road transportation; to facilitate
waste separation at the recycling stage; and especially to consume less raw material (cardboard,
aluminum, pallet wood, etc.)
An alternative idea is to establish a close working relation between the different actors in an
effort to find solutions to distribution problems. One such idea is that the product remains in
storage until needed to avoid transportation costs. Nevertheless, there are other problems to
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