• A diaper company applies cradle-to-cradle principles to its products
• It creates a reusable, disposable and partly biodegradable diaper

gDiapers, a company producing diapers (nappies) decided to reduce the environmental impact of its products. Indeed, diapers are largely made of synthetic materials most of which are not reusable. In Europe, 22 billion are made yearly.

The company tried to answer the following questions:

Clever 'post-mix' cleaners

• Company rethought its domestic cleaning products to reduce waste and costs
• They changed the composition and packaging of the product

Replenish, a company producing domestic cleaning products, wanted to rethink its products to better meet consumers’ needs.

The firm observed that while traditional cleaning products are usually a mix of 10 % chemicals and 90 % water, they could simply provide the chemicals and let customers add the water at the moment of use.

Life cycle map points the way forward

​Unlikely tie-up delivers the goods 

Glossy project

• Successful project refines a plastic-moulding process to deliver a better finish at less cost
• New process is 30 % more cost-effective than traditional glass-reinforced plastics

The project's aim was to develop a more resource-efficient and cost-effective manufacturing process for hard-wearing exterior plastic body parts fitted to vehicles, such as fire engines.

Bring in the experts!

• Farms traditionally own costly equipment, yet use them rarely or seasonally
• Specialist services, such as integrated pest management, can be paid for as and when they are needed

Pest control requires a lot of equipment that is often only used during a certain season or stage of the harvest, and the season varies from one crop to the next. Owning all of the equipment as a farmer does not always make economic sense, especially for smaller farms.

Getting into the flow of asset-sharing

• Sharing under-used assets makes economic sense 
• Returns depend on the asset type, value and times it is shared

Once a company identifies assets that it can share or would like to be able to use but cannot justify the expense of buying, the most logical solution is to make conact with other firms in a similar situation. FLOOW2 is a platform designed to facilitate these sorts of asset-sharing transactions.

Long history of sustainability on display

• Clever scheme to promote end-of-life product remanufacturing
• Almost no waste sent to landfill, and huge reductions in energy and water use

Caterpillar is an American heavy machinery- and engine-maker with a strong brand and long history in remanufacturing dating back to 1973 when it realised that keeping products in-house allowed them to retain ownership and associated value, and reduce material costs.

Managing commercial fleets of cars, vans, trucks, trailers and specialised vehicles used for work purposes is a time-consuming and resource-intensive task. Fleet management covers a range of functions, such as vehicle financing, maintenance, telematics (tracking and diagnostics), driver management, speed management, fuel management and health and safety issues. Improving the way a company manages its fleets, especially those relying heavily on transportation, is critical to its bottom line and the environment.

Xerox sees the 'green' light