Products of Change has launched a new step-by-step framework on how businesses and brand owners can start their journey of sustainable development. Product of Change’s editor and community manager, Rob Hutchins, explains the benefits.
“Products of Change recently launched its cross-sector collaborative project to the brand, licensing and consumer product industries. Its aim is to deliver an open resource to be used by brand owners, manufacturing partners, retailers and service providers as a step-by-step guide to forging a clear-cut pathway to sustainable development.
Devised to help businesses and individuals – wherever they are on their journey – with sustainability, the framework features a break-down of processes, and a suggested timeline of incremental and impactful change to implement across operations.
Pure Table Top’s sustainability division, led by Tom Sellicks, is already recognised for a robust ESG strategy that takes into consideration the measurement of emissions, strategies to reduce environmental impact, and plans to adopt more circular solutions for products that have reached ‘end-of-life.’ In his pursuit of strengthening this approach further, the team has already started using the Products of Change resource.
‘Having any sort of framework or guidance specific to an industry is absolute gold,’ Tom told Products of Change. ‘I’ve been working in sustainability every week for the past two and a half years and haven’t yet come across something so comprehensively relevant to what is really a very widespread and varied industry.’
The Framework does this by breaking-down the approach into three parts. Part Oneoffers businesses a guide to implementing the basic groundwork and initial processes to prepare for a period of transition. Part Two helps set goals and ambitions to hit across critical areas of business within a timeframe, from Waste Reduction, Packaging Design and Product Design to Material Selection, Supply Chain and Purchasing, and Facility Management. Part Three offers suggested contractual language for brand owners to start collecting and nudging sustainable behaviour across their partnership base.
‘Legal requirements to report and improve sustainability performance are not yet in-line with the shifting attitudes within business so this couldn’t have come at a better time,’ says Tom. ‘As well as this, the Framework has been positioned nicely to fit within the wider context of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Science Based Targets, which will only become more relevant in the coming months and years.’
The POC Industry Framework was unveiled to the industry in the build-up to Licensing Expo 2023 and launched in association with the Global Licensing Group. Its creation is rooted within the brand licensing sector and has – over its two years in development – utilised the insight and expertise of industry names including the Natural History Museum, the LEGO Group, BBC Worldwide, Hasbro, Paramount, Art + Science, Golden Bear, George @ Asda, and the Products of Change Advisors team.
Claire Bates, marketing manager at Danilo, a member of the Products of Change community, and a forerunner in the sustainable development within the gift and greetings space, says: ‘This Framework will be a great resource for any company, no matter where they are on their sustainability journey. Particularly where there is an overwhelming amount of information on sustainability, it can be difficult to know what to focus on, but this guide helps to break it all down into short-term, mid-term, and long-term steps.’
With big changes in legislation heading our way in the coming years, businesses looking to get ahead of the curve are training their focus on their journey with sustainability and more responsible practices.”
Products of Change is a membership organisation that acts to empower businesses and individuals by educating to inform positive and sustainable change across the products sectors. Gift industry members are encouraged to discover more via the Products of Change website and download the complimentary Industry Framework to take the next steps along the journey with sustainable development today.
To learn more about Products of Change, contact Rob Hutchins at Rob@productsofchange.com
Top: POC’s Rob Hutchins with ceo Helena Mansell-Stopher.
