On November 17-18, 35 bright young students from China’s top design schools gathered at the Kohler Design Experience Center to compete in the 2017 Kohler Hackathon, where they were challenged to re-invent the bathroom experience for the Chinese elderly. The six student teams are from China’s leading design schools – China Academy of Art, Tongji University, Donghua University and Shanghai Institute…
Last week, Collective Responsibility held two training sessions, in Shanghai and Shenzhen, to help packaging manufacturers in China incorporate sustainability into their products through innovations in design, materials and the production process. 60 participants from paper, plastic, and wood packaging suppliers joined the sessions to find out more about the business case for sustainability, an…
Last week, to understand more about the eWaste issue in China, we have organized a tour to TES-AMM, a eWaste factory in Jiading, Shanghai. 15 guests with an interest in sustainability area from Shanghai and Suzhou joined us for the tour. Opened in 2005, TES- AMM (Total Environmental Solutions Asset Material Management ) has established an Integrated WEEE Management Solutions for recycling e – w…
Last Tuesday Collective Responsibility hosted "Telling your sustainability story through social media" forum to discuss how social media can be used to improve transparency in value chains and to engage employees internally and external stakeholders. In this session we will look at how firms should use social media as part of their sustainability strategy – both internally and externally – but…
Businesses that rely on food, water, and energy as necessary production inputs are very sensitive and dependent on a robust supply of these resources. As such, they are exposed to risks that need to be carefully managed: physical risks related to the constraints of FWE, which can affect direct operations or supply chain; reputation risks; and regulatory risks. Sometimes the physical risks initi…
From supporting marriage equality to climate change, corporations are taking an increasingly prominent public stand on political and societal issues. While the risk of doing so is enough to keep some companies out of the ring, those who decide to take a stand are becoming stronger from the inside out. Decades of academic and market research show that consumer and employee trust, identification,…
With 25 megacities, with populations of at least ten million people, currently dotting the Earth, and an expected thirty more coming by 2025, the next few decades will see unprecedented movements of people into the city. Movements that are fueled by the hope for opportunities, but are themselves posing some of the greatest challenges as megacities commonly struggle with issues such as unsustain…
To accomplish the mission and goals that we have set for ourselves, for our clients, and for the community, we are constantly on the look out for people with the passion and tools to solve big environmental, economic, and social challenges, and this month we are specifically looking for: Marketing & Communications Manager Events & Logistics Manager Account Manager Marketing…
In this episode of #AsktheCollective, I talk about where individuals can have the greatest impact as entrepreneurs or employees of NGOs, multinational companies, or as government officials. As always, we hope you find this series engaging, and if you do, please remember to like, share, comment, and SUBSCRIBE! #About the AsktheCollective Series: As a way to engage with you, our audience,…
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 Zhang Hui As the Director of UT…
In this episode, we speak with Patrick Riley, the former General Manager of Interface China, to discuss the influence of Ray Anderson, the culture of sustainability in China, and leadership. We hope that you will enjoy this episode, and if you do, please remember to like, comment, and share! To learn how to foster similar leaders in your own company, check out our Building a Sustainability A…
In this episode of #AsktheCollective, I talk about the scale of China's market for Selling Sustainability Solutions, and leverage the success of pilot projects to build a scalable business model As always, we hope you find this series engaging, and if you do, please remember to like, share, comment, and SUBSCRIBE! #About the AsktheCollective Series: As a way to engage with you…
In this episode of Sustainability Ambassadors, we speak with Echo Bao, Sustainability Manager at DSM, about how she developed her career in corporate sustainability. A career path that was unexpected at first, but through which her flexibility, curiosity, and ability to engage her business leaders, has allowed her to drive the value proposition of sustainability further in a company that already h…
In our extensive research into the informal waste systems of Shanghai over the last year, we have recently begun to explore the inner workings of a specific branch of this system: the e-waste stream. As the fastest growing waste stream, with over 16Mt generated in Asia, e-waste is hazardous, complex and costly to treat. It is also incredibly valuable with a thriving economy set up around it. Du…
The past 40 years of China’s economic transformation has drastically changed the relationship between its rural and urban populations, and through this process, more than 277 million rural migrants have moved to the cities to find work. Migrants who do not lack access to social services like healthcare, housing and education because they hold a rural Hukou, and thus are not considered urban reside…
