This week, we hosted a workshop on “Closing the loop on Waste in China” for 20 sustainability professionals from various industries, to help them understand the waste management system in China and how they can engage their stakeholders in the circular economy. Focusing on the circular economy of waste, and how businesses hold the power to address the waste issue in China and the potential for…
Shanghai’s “Closing the Loop on Waste” professional forum on Wednesday night brought together 50 young professionals who were interest in learning about how business was closing the loop on waste. Opening the forum, Collective Responsibility’s Director of Corporate Advisory Charlie Mathews spoke briefly about China’s virtually unparalleled rate of urbanization, and the mounting challenges he a…
Most people can make money from waste … They start work at five in the morning and get off at 10 at night; they never rest and don’t spend much money. In one year, about 72,000 RMB. After a little over a year, you can really make that much money. 10 years down the road, you can save quite a lot.” – Owner, Large Collection Centre The latest addition to our publications series “Informal Waste…
In this episode of #AsktheCollective, I answer questions about environmental sustainability, business innovation, and individual action. As always, we hope you find this series engaging, and if you do, please remember to like, share, comment, and SUBSCRIBE! #Timestamps 00:22 - As environmental issues are increasingly emphasized by government, and environmental protection is formalized,…
When building up networks of sustainability leaders and innovators, it often takes the progressive action of a single individual to catalyze real change. These individuals are Sustainability Ambassadors, and they have the capacity and the drive to inspire change at any level of an organization – from the new talent to the visionary executive. ABOUT Dr Lu Jianzhong Dr. Lu Jianzhong specialize…
In this episode of #AsktheCollective, I answer questions from university students about AI, the future of jobs, and teaching creativity and innovation. As always, we hope you find this series engaging, and if you do, please remember to like, share and comment! #Timestamps 00:20 - Will AI take away jobs, and if so, what are the industries that will be most heavily impacted? 07:10 - Are…
Plastic, it is one of the most widely used materials in the economy, and as we are coming to understand through various studies, it is quickly becoming one of the greatest challenges that need to be addressed. Many use cases for plastics are unrivaled in its properties and price. It is everywhere that we look and people continue to consume and make, from large uses to the small consumables th…
In this episode of #AsktheCollective, I answer questions from university students about following their sustainable dreams, design, and waste. As always, we hope you find these questions and answers useful, gain some new insights, and possibly help catalyze you to take your next step! #Timestamps 00:34 - I want to get into sustainable design, but my professors say that is impractical a…
In this episode of AsktheCollective, we answer two questions from one of our first interns, about innovation, developing leadership mindsets, empowered millennials, and the role of MNCs in developing Chinese talent. As always, we hope you find these questions and answers useful, gain some new insights, and possibly help catalyse you to take your next step, and if they do, please remember to Sub…
In the process leading to the 2016 Foreign NGO and 2016 China Charity laws, a lot of the articles were focused on the macro issues of what this meant for the development of civil society in China. On the ground though, the questions were more practical, with the most recent being focused on donating money to China as a foreign foundation. In part, this was due to the language of both laws lacki…
This video is of our August 4, 2017 presentation at the Asia Value Advisors Sustainability Trends and the Role of Social Entrepreneurship in Asia event in Hong Kong. In it, I speak about the environmental, social, and economic challenges that will be faced by the region over the next 25 years, and the opportunities for (social) entrepreneurs to build businesses built on solving these challenge…
As you may have noticed by now, we at Collective Responsibility have a special place in our hearts for migrants. Be it through our reports, blog posts, or profiles, we are devoted to understanding this population of people in large part because “they” are the mega trend that will test the limits of our systems and it is “they” that we need to be planning for when we look at how cities are built, f…
At Collective Responsibility, we believe it is our mission to help organizations and leaders move from a position of awareness of challenges to building organizations that are in the best market position to deliver solutions. It is a process that we requires education, and authentic engagement, but more than that for the movement from inspiration to action happen, we know that our platform needs…
A family incident brought her to Shanghai, and she hopes to find a change of scene and some distraction that can help her out of the sadness. Back at home, she owned a small convenience store, but now in Shanghai, she’s one of the millions of migrant workers bringing prosperity to the city. It is a change of scene that did not come easy, and may not have brought the better life she had hoped fo…
As a way to engage with you, our audience, we are happy to announce that Episode 001 of the #AskTheCollective video series is now live! This episode features topics ranging from food waste in China to the reality of China's pledge to become an "ecological civilization". Special thanks to our askers: Travis Opocensky, Hunter Lovins, John Dennis Liu, Ariel Muller, and Rob Watson. #AskTheCollectiv…
