Environmental Initiative’s Business & Environment Series wrapped up this year with their third and final program – Practicing Product Stewardship: Drivers, Challenges and Strategies.
Best Buy hosted the event at their headquarters in Bloomington, MN. A panel of experts addressed drivers ranging from customer demand to regulatory mandates, and discussed challenges facing manufacturers. Additionally, strategies were offered to minimize a product’s overall environmental impact.
Some common themes arose throughout the presentations and breakout sessions. Product stewardship is one contributing factor to the overall sustainability efforts of successful companies. Integrating it into the vision is key to ensuring it’s engrained in all processes and not perceived as extra work. Regulatory efforts can be effective, however industry-leading companies tend to stay ahead of looming governmental mandates as their core values guide them towards long term success.
Next year’s topics are in the works and will continue the theme of covering issues relevant to organizations, NGO’s, governmental agencies and individual citizens alike. Environmental concerns like water consumption, energy use, air quality and others know no boundaries. The consensus is that solutions addressing these issues require collaboration. We commend Environmental Initiative for their successful work in bringing all parties together and implementing solutions that work for all.
