Sustainability ABC

Welcome to “The Dictionary of Sustainability”. Here, we explore the landscape of terminologies related to sustainability, offering a clear and comprehensive understanding of the fundamental concepts and emerging practices in the field of environmental, social and economic responsibility.

Recycling

Circularity often refers to pillars (The 3 “Rs”) which can be very useful for educational purposes to explain the characteristics of an innovative economic system compared to a linear model. This is the first of three posts in which we will dissect the most important ones. The first of the 3 Rs is recycling. It, as is well known, consists in obtaining secondary materials or secondary raw materials following a specific process. From recycled materials it is possible to obtain a product with a lower value (downcycling), just as one with a higher value can be obtained (upcycling). We must then distinguish between a closed cycle, in which the recycled materials are always part of the same product category, contrasted with the open cycle, a case in which the waste, appropriately processed, enters the production cycle of another supply chain. Recycling, within the textile and tannery sector, plays a fundamental role in promoting sustainability. A concrete example of Biodermol’s commitment on this front lies in its participation in the Ri-Leather project, aimed at developing products and technologies for the reduction of polluting and dangerous substances, as well as for the reuse and recycling of leather waste. It involves the reduction of sewage sludge and wastewater, as well as the reuse and recycling of tanned leather residues.

CARBON FOOTPRINT

Carbon Footprint
The carbon footprint can be defined as the quantity of CO2 equivalent resulting from the overall greenhouse gas emissions associated directly or indirectly with a product, service or organization.

Monitoring and committing to reducing your carbon footprint promises several advantages; some more immediate, others less:

Cost savings: In the face of an investment or process optimization it is clear how the costs per functional unit can decrease significantly.

Internal accountability: Entering into the perspective of having to study one’s carbon footprint means referring to the UNI EN ISO 14064 standards and the GHG Protocol for Project Accounting, standards that allow for an understanding of how company functions and assets contribute to formation of emissions with a consequent awareness of where to improve.

Reputational aspect: It is no mystery that the market is giving more and more importance to green reputation, especially with a view to involving stakeholders. Supply chains therefore have every interest in communicating their actions and intentions in a transparent manner.

We at Biodermol also recognize the usefulness of reporting our actions aimed at making our business project sustainable and this indicator is a fundamental piece.

CRADLE TO CRADLE

Today we explore the “C” in the alphabet of sustainability, and there couldn’t be a more fascinating term: Cradle to Cradle. This concept complements the previously mentioned industrial symbiosis and finds its meaning in rethinking the product life cycle.

The expression “Cradle to Cradle,” first coined by Swiss architect and economist Walter Stahel in the late 1970s, should be paired with the concept of biomimicry. Biomimicry involves studying biological and biomechanical processes as a source of inspiration for improving human activities and technologies. It represents a very useful way of studying natural phenomena if one aims to transition towards a circular economy.

It is well known that all ecosystems operate according to principles different from those of prevailing industrial systems, relying on extremely effective and efficient metabolism of by-products and nutrient flows that do not include the notion of waste.

In essence, biomes represent systems in which what is created is eventually reused in other forms so that energy is preserved within the ecosystem’s cycle. This best explains the “cradle to cradle” concept, or if you prefer, “from cradle to cradle.”

Adapting an economic system, which is in an identity crisis and less globalized than in the past, to natural systems may seem like an unattainable dream. However, one should not underestimate the power of a vision inspired by such principles in creating value for communities.

Biodermol and many other private and public entities would not exist if there were no idea of sustainable development to strive for.

INDUSTRIAL SYMBIOSIS

Industrial symbiosis by definition is the mechanism that occurs when multiple companies share underutilized resources or waste materials in such a way as to obtain mutual benefits.

The term symbiosis (from the Greek σύν «with, together» and βιόω «living») belongs to the lexicon of the biological sciences and encompasses a range of ways through which various life forms select mutually advantageous behaviors during their evolutionary history that they lead us to live together by exploiting each other’s characteristics.

The endless literature on the history of industrial districts perfectly illustrates how company ecosystems sometimes mimic their natural counterparts.

With a bit of imagination it feels like listening to David Attenborough’s documentaries while discovering the events that led actors of various kinds to find socio-economic contexts in which knowledge, capital and entrepreneurial skills could come together in order to generate wealth.

Today the world of districts, particularly in Italy, has shrunk and in some cases has lost the innovative energy given by local specificities, yet some of the keys to their relaunch could lie precisely in the search for solutions that combine sustainability objectives with those of cooperation in a market where value chains have undergone epochal upheavals in recent years.

If Cicero wrote Historia magistra vitae in De Oratore, the same could be said of nature and the ability it still has today to inspire innovation.

UPCYCLING

When we talk about Upcycling we are referring to the process that allows you to convert one material into another of higher quality.

There are many examples of this mechanism; from the old firm jacket in 70s fashion enriched with skilful patchwork work to processes more rooted in the history of the manufacturing industry such as the use of bovine hides as raw material.

Some might raise an eyebrow at this statement, given the media coverage that the complaints against intensive farming with the aim of growing future furs have had, however we need to recover another central definition, namely that of by-product.

The cowhide industry illustrates how a waste (or more technically “production residue”) from the food industry destined for landfill can actually be transformed into a high-quality material for aesthetics, functionality and durability.

Biodermol is an entrepreneurial project that insists on the search for low-impact biological solutions to be alternated with the more classic auxiliary chemical products used in the pre-tanning phase, which represent a crucial moment in which the leather is processed in order to be placed in the conditions to have new life.

This is the objective, in particular, of the White Line: a line of agents based on an enzymatic recipe implemented in 2015 and which to date has the beauty of six different products according to customer needs.

KPI

Key Performance Index

Keep people Interested, Informed, Involved, Inspired

Anyone who frequents this platform will have read this slogan at least once, often followed by a criticism of the coldness of the numbers as opposed to the priority to be given to people within the company.

We can only agree with this position, however it is worth explaining why the sustainability of an organization must necessarily pass through a system of certified indicators and how to circumvent the conflict mentioned above.

Let’s start from the basics.

Definition of KPIs:

KPIs are quantitative measures that allow companies to evaluate the progress and success of their initiatives. In sustainability, they become the precision tool for measuring concrete impacts and progress towards ethical and environmental objectives.

KPIs are therefore a crucial map, but, like any other competitiveness tool, its potential depends on the people we entrust it to and the context in which we use it. The choice of indicators is not discretionary, but linked to criteria of relevance, measurability and consistency with the company mission.

The risk is otherwise that of carving certain metrics in stone and binding ourselves to them, underestimating both internal needs and changes outside the organization.

It follows that the right KPIs and their pursuit are nothing more than the natural consequence of an evolved company policy that constantly listens to the needs of its stakeholders.

The mission of Biodermol and of those who choose us lies in the search for increasingly cleaner and innovative solutions in order to contribute to leaving the planet more liveable for the new generations.

It is time for the private and public sectors to become aware of the importance of being able to have a positive impact on the life of their community and their planet.

Only once you understand their dimension in relation to this, will the KPIs have a meaning that goes beyond the cold numbers to be discussed in a Board of Directors meeting.