Sunday, September 28, 2025
23.5 C
Lagos

NESTLE: Building Sustainability into Product Design Process

nestle productThe Nestle Brands

The way a product or service is designed determines its use of resources and can help to minimise waste throughout its lifecycle.

As Head of Sustainability for Research and Development at Nestlé, I recognise the important role good design can play in the preservation of our natural environment.

We’re the world’s largest fast-moving consumer goods company and a sizeable part of our contribution to environmental sustainability depends on our ability to evaluate the impacts of our products from the moment we begin to design or redevelop them.

This means going far beyond simply looking at a product’s packaging and how it is disposed of. It’s about examining everything from agricultural production to ingredient sourcing, processing, manufacture, and the product’s use by consumers.

 

Faster and More Economic

Life-cycle assessments are the most widely-used methodology for achieving this kind of in-depth evaluation, but they can be costly and take several months to complete.

That’s why we’ve been working hard to find quicker and more economic ways of analysing environmental impacts much earlier in the design process.

We recently made a significant step forward with the development of a new web-based tool called Ecodex, which we’re just starting to roll out across our worldwide business.

We’ve been working consistently to reduce the environmental impact of our products since 1990, but this new development will allow us to make even more progress.

 

Complex Data

Ecodex was created by our own life cycle assessment experts in partnership with an information technology company called Selerant.

The tool uses information specific to the food and beverage industry to provide rapid and accurate data that allows our product development teams to assess sustainability performance across multiple product lines.

Importantly, it presents complex results in a simple, user-friendly format, so you don’t have to be a life cycle assessment expert to use it.

We’ve helped Selerant to make Ecodex commercially available to other companies because we think it can add considerable value to our industry as a whole.

 

Sustainable by Design

In parallel with the development of Ecodex, we’ve also reinforced the way we train our product developers to encourage them to take a holistic approach across all the different stages of the value chain.

Over the past two years we’ve set up and trained a global community of sustainability champions within our worldwide research and development network. Part of their role is to support the introduction and deployment of Ecodex.

Moving forward, we’ll continue to educate our teams involved in different stages of product development. This will include holding specific ‘design for sustainability’ sessions, led by our designers, to help the teams think about where the key opportunities are in our value chain to reduce environmental impacts.

These sessions will allow our designers to help solve problems in areas that their work would traditionally not touch.

We’ve already made substantial improvements to the environmental performance of many of our popular products and systems, such as Nescafé Dolce Gusto, and this new approach should enable us to go further, and faster.

By linking our designers to the life cycle assessment process, and providing them with superior tools and a more flexible way of working, I believe we’re putting them in a better position to create even more efficient, lower-impact products for our consumers.

spot_img
spot_img

Hot this week

AIICO Deepens Bond with Retirees, Holds Annuity Forum in Lagos, PH

Mr. Gbenga Ilori, Head, Retail Business at AIICO, in...

Sovereign Trust Insurance Holds 30th AGM

L-R: Eric Balogun, Independent Director, Emi Faloughi, Director, Kayode Adigun,...

Unity Bank Shareholders Approve Merger with Providus Bank

  EGM: From left: Mr. Usman Abdulkadir, Executive Director, Risk...

NNPCL: Ogoni Re-entry is a Beacon of Reconciliation through Collaboration

The re-entry into Ogoniland marks a historic turning point...

NLNG, NCDMB Celebrate 122 Graduates of Train 7 HCD Training Program

NLNG in collaboration with the Nigerian Content Development and...

Topics

EBOLA: The $100m World Bank War-Chest for Stricken Countries

The World Bank Group announced an additional $100 million...

Ghana President, Obasanjo, CEOs of BOI, AFC for Afreximbank Annual Meetings 2023

  Ghanaian President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and other leading...

Niger Insurance Plans Strategic Transformation, Injection of Capital

Niger Insurance Plc is set to restructure its Board,...

MTN Nigeria Board Condemns Xenophobia in South Africa

The Board of MTN Nigeria wishes to add its...

Fitch: MTN Group’s Outlook Negative on N1.04tr Nigerian Fine

Fitch Ratings has revised the Outlook on MTN Group's debt ratings to Negative from Stable and affirmed the IDR at 'BBB'. The Negative Outlook reflects the risk of a significant cash outflow due to a substantial fine imposed on MTN's Nigerian operations to the tune of N1.04 trillion, which could increase leverage and pressure MTN's credit metrics.

NNPC Projects Fuel Price of N950 Per Litre for Lagos, N1, 019 for Borno

The NNPC Limited has released estimated prices of Premium...

COVID-19: Ecobank Nigeria Supports States with Food Items

Ecobank Nigeria has donated food items to several state governments across the country as contribution to various initiatives aimed at cushioning the effect of the current lockdown on citizens. These palliatives are targeted at the most vulnerable members of the society who have been the hardest hit economically as a result of the current crises. Speaking in Lagos, Executive Director Commercial Banking, Ecobank Nigeria, Carol Oyedeji said this action would also go a long way in supporting members of the community who earn a daily wage and may not have the opportunity of working under the present environment. She noted that the donations are part of the bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and focused on providing support as best as possibleShe remarked that “as a bank we give strong priority to people’s welfare. We are determined to assist ordinary Nigerians during the current difficulties and this is one of the ways we are achieving this. We are also offering concessions to our SME Lending customers at this time given the strain on their cashflows and creating ease for the general public to transact digitally while at home”. Ecobank Group has so far contributed over US$3 million to the fight against COVID-19 across its footprint in Africa in line with the Bank’s commitment to the Region. The Institution is supporting governments, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and partnering with private sector operators to alleviate the effect of the pandemic on citizens. These have been in the form of cash, healthcare equipment, donation of supplies, awareness campaigns while also using digital platform to provide funds to beneficiaries of various funds being distributed. The Bank is particularly mindful of the needs of its communities and remains committed to providing the appropriate support required.    

Union Bank Unveils Brand New Sonic Identity – The Sound of Union

Union Bank of Nigeria has launched a brand-new sonic...
spot_img

Related Articles

Popular Categories

spot_imgspot_img