Category Archives: Sustainability

McDonalds and their supply chain visibilty strategy

Posted on April 26, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in Bloombergbusinessweek(April 23, 2012) describes pressures on McDonalds to identify its food supply chain. Chipotle focuses on its meat being obtained from pen free and cage free organic cources and vegetables from farms within 350 miles. Five Guys … Continue reading →

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The global garbage supply chain

Posted on April 26, 2012 by aviyer2010

An essay in the Wall Street Journal (April 18,2012) describes computers as the top export from China to the US, and garbage as America’s greatest export to China. With Americans generating 7 lbs of garbage per person per day, New … Continue reading →

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Coal supply issues, power supply and supply chain impact in India

Posted on April 26, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (April 19,2012) describes coal supply difficulties in India due to price controls on power, rising prices of Indonesian coal and lack of incentives to use natural gas. The impact – erratic power supplies … Continue reading →

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Wal-Mart, the Environmental Defense Fund and sustainable supply chains

Posted on April 15, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (April 14, 2012) describes a partnership between the Environmental Defense Council (EDF) and Wal-Mart, as the retailer attempt to make its supply chain more sustainable. Wal-Mart would like to get to zero waste, … Continue reading →

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Pepsico’s “water positive” schemes and Jugaad Innovation

Posted on April 7, 2012 by aviyer2010

In a book titled “Jugaad Innovation” Radjou, Prabhu and Ahuja write about Pepsico’s water positive supply chain in India i.e., the company saves more water than it uses. The secret – enabling a “direct seeding” rice planting process, thus saving … Continue reading →

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Renewable energy server farms in Iceland

Posted on April 7, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in Bloombergbusinessweek (April 2,2012) describes a server farm on solid bedrock, close to the airport, in the midpoint of the Atlantic, fueled by renewable geothermal energy and cooled by fans that blow in cool air from the outside. … Continue reading →

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Unilever’s Sustainability Measures for its Supply Chain

Posted on April 3, 2012 by aviyer2010

A white paper by Verdantix Ltd (http://www.verdantix.com/uploadedfiles/products/Verdantix%20Unilever%27s%20Strategy%20Leverages%20Value%20Chain%20Influence.pdf) describes specific measures at Unilver e.g., measurement of its environmental impact per unit of consumer usage i.e., per tea bag or per dose of detergent, with a goal to decrease that impact by … Continue reading →

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The reuse vs recycling decision at Starbucks

Posted on April 2, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in Sustainable Brands (http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/articles/starbucks-increases-recycling-backs-away-reusable-mugs?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=businessweekly&utm_campaign=april2) describes a decision by Starbucks to shift from reuseable to recylclable cups. Reuseable mugs were related to a 5 % increase in water usage in 2011, after and 17 % drop from 2008 to … Continue reading →

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The Impact of New Emission rules for power plants

Posted on March 28, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (March 28, 2012) describes new EPA rules that limit the CO2 emissions of power plants to 1,000 lbs per KWh. The new rules are easy to meet for new natural gas fired plants. … Continue reading →

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Increased recycling by manufacturers to help themselves and municipalities

Posted on March 28, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (March 23, 2012) describes plans by Coca Cola to recycle 100 % of its cans by 2015 and by Starbucks to enable paper cup recycling at 100 % of its outlets by 2015. … Continue reading →

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