Working At The Margins To Conserve Is A Game Changer

Conservation, like innovation can occur at the margins. To me this means making small changes in existing practices that add up to big changes.

Last week in a meeting, I noticed the water bottles from Deer Park had a message noting then had made the screw top caps smaller, just as they have done the amount of plastic in the bottles themselves. This adds up to millions in savings both for the company and the environment and the caps fit just as snug.

Now Puma, a mega producer of shoes is doing away with the traditional shoe box. At first it doesn’t look like it but the outside shown in the photo is a bag and all that exists of the once fully enclosed box is an insert. The bag is PET plastic.

Encouraging these kinds of changes by major manufacturers can add up to even more conservation that some of the big game changers.

For the statistically-minded among you the “Clever Little Bag” concept will help PUMA reduce the water, energy and diesel used in manufacturing by more than 60% per year.

• Approximately 8,500 tons less paper will be consumed
• 20 million Megajoules of electricity will be saved
• 1 million liters less fuel oil will be used
• 1 million liters of water will be saved
• 500,000 liters of diesel will be saved during transport, and
• Up to 275 tons of plastic will be saved thanks to the replacement of traditional shopping bags with the lighter built-in bag

Oh and the clever little bag is the idea of an enviornmentalist!