Do we have/need a free global repository of sustainability ideas?
David O'Flynn, CEng, MBA, MSc
Posts represent my views - Sustainability Director at Teleflex
I have recently noted the Ugly fruit (& vegetable) campaign growing. I don’t know for sure where it started but I first heard about it nearly 1 year ago being introduced by Intermarche in the France. I next heard Asda in the UK were trialling it and today I heard that Loblaw’s in Canada are to roll it out. It got me thinking about how much additional food waste could have been reduced if both Asda and Loblaw started the initiative at the same time as Intermarche??
We often talk about sustainability being pre-competitive but are we missing out on huge savings now just because some of the best ideas are not widely known.
Other industries, particularly in the areas of medicine and science have well established systems for sharing ideas so other researchers can build off them rather than wasting time to find that they have just replicated something that was proved or disproved in the past.
Two other 'sustainability' ideas I like are high efficiency transformers and the economic benefits of soil testing. Certainly neither idea is new but I estimate that there are many more companies and farms that can benefit from both these ideas then are enjoying them at present. The particularly disappointing aspect is like many other ‘sustainability’ ideas they are win win. They both save the company or farm money and reduce the impact on the climate and demands on natural resources.
How many more missed opportunities are there to save millions of tonnes of CO, millions of KWH, millions of tonnes of food that are not being taken up due to a tragic lack of awareness – the tragedy being the risk of irreversible damage being caused to the planet.
CAN YOU HELP?
It would be great if YOU could share YOUR ideas here that you think are being under exploited and that are also win win’s!! Also if you know of such a collaborative open source platform where ideas can be shared please can you also post that here.
Posts represent my views - Sustainability Director at Teleflex
9 年It appears the appeal of Ugly fruit knows no limits. An article in Sustainable Brands yesterday flags how "...the fervor around reducing grocery store food waste has finally made it Stateside: West Coast supermarket chain Raley’s has partnered with Oakland, Calif., startup Imperfect to pilot an initiative called “Real Good,” aimed at — you guessed it — espousing the virtues of less-than-pretty produce". It is great to see this campaign continue to grow but it does show how slow ideas are to spread around the globe. We really need a new INTELLIGENT internet, possibly along the lines of the 'internet of things'; perhaps the 'internet of ideas' that somehow connects NEED and INSPIRATION.
QA/QC Manager Teri Soil Remediation Project KOC at The Energy and Resources Institute
9 年Sustainability is the need of the future
Inventor at BLANK SPACE.
9 年Yes, but the need is strong business side of IP. There are many viable ideas but no political or private will.
Facility Management - Certified Translator
9 年ugly fruit symbiosis, that's a great idea but can be ensured by strong stakeholder engagement?
Author/Conservationist, Co-founder of KurtHahn.org, archive for Outward Bound founder Kurt Hahn, College of the Atlantic alum
9 年check out Project Drawdown