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…
As parents crowd outside the door, a classroom is full of excited six-year-olds ready to go home. The teacher passes out homework books for the students to practice their characters and mathematics. When the students leave, the teacher doesn’t have much time but to remind the parents and students to bring back the homework books the next morning. It is a scene that plays out every day at thi…
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…
You might be forgiven for thinking that politics is politics and food and resource provision is left to business, but more and more so implications of politics on a country's ability to feed and power its population are increasing. The current scenario in the Gulf states is proof of this, on 5 June, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries severed ties with Qatar and moved to cut off land, sea and…
For this month’s Beyond Business As Usual series on “Closing the Loop on Waste”, we have three events in Beijing and Shanghai that will look at how China is managing its growing supply of waste, the implications for business, and some best practices for how firms in the retail and manufacturing sector are closing the loop in China. To help drive depth of insights into the current systems, as we…
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. One excellent example of such an executive sustainab…
With China’s growing number of urban consumers, more and more pressure is being placed on the system to account for the outputs of cities, particularly on its food systems. One of the growing concerns is the issue of managing the sizeable amount of food waste that is coming from restaurants, canteens, and households. It is a concern that is increasingly strained by the poor waste management pr…
Following a two-week period of desk and field research, the Target Design an APP for left-behind children hackathon was held in Shanghai last weekend. Six student teams brainstormed for 24-hours straight to design an innovative APP that transforms the way migrant worker parents communicate with their children left behind in rural China. The outputs at the end of the 24-hour deadline were some h…
About the Sustainability Ambassadors Series For quite some time now, we at Collective Responsibility have been identifying and interviewing leaders who have stepped up within their company to inspire and drive effective change. These leaders, who we call Sustainability Ambassadors, have the capacity and the motivation to inspire sustainable practice at any level of an organization – from the new…
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…
As the gaokao has come to pass, let’s talk about promoting the education of all children in China. The National Higher Education Entrance Exam, or the gaokao, is a prerequisite for almost all higher education undergraduate institutions. Students take the gaokao to access the next step of their educational careers. However, one group of students is systematically prevented from taking the exam that…
As the largest city in China, Shanghai has an important role in innovating and contributing to a global solution to the problem of food packaging waste. With over 24 million people living in Shanghai, materials sustainability, particularly that of plastics, is a significant issue. Waimai or food delivery, which is extremely common in Shanghai, creates large amounts of waste due to the plastic c…
