Support a sustainable supply chain

- We have a lot of physical things in our lives. Things we need, things we think we need, and probably things we can't remember why we have. Why do I have a dinosaur-shaped taco holder? I have no idea. These things are all made from Earth's resources. We take the resources from the Earth, make something with the resources, and get rid of the things once we're done with them. That's the essence of our take, make, waste linear economy. When the era of disposability emerged in the 1950s, we lost our inherent creativity towards innovative reuse, because we became enamored with shiny, new, and often cheap products. What a mess that's created. Earth's resources are not infinite. As we demand more and more things, we put increasing pressure on the precious, finite resources we share with the other living things on our planet. For example, we estimate that only nine percent of all plastic ever made has been recycled. The rest has been discarded in ways that negatively impacts our natural world. In addition to the harmful waste, the linear economy perpetuates the need for the ongoing extraction of virgin materials. So, how can we still have things in our lives, while ensuring that we and future generations have a healthy planet to live on. Let's start by thinking in a more circular way, making sure that we reuse or upgrade materials for as many lifecycles as possible. And you are an important part of this journey. What does the supply chain look like at your workplace? Are products made by extracting virgin materials? Is it more cost-effective to do that? Will it be the same story in 10 years? Maybe not, and that's where embracing a more circular economy can set you ahead of the curve. A circular product process uses materials that have previously had other lives. Materials that have been recycled, up cycled, or transformed in other ways to keep the molecules in a usable state as long as possible. There are new examples of the circular economy emerging every day. And I encourage you to explore ways that your workplace can be more circular. For example, many brands have partnered to create Loop, a global, circular shopping platform. Loop takes products and packages from single use to items we can use every day, without waste. Similar to the home milk delivery model from the 20th century, Loop products are delivered directly to your home, and the empty packages are picked up, cleaned, refilled, and put back in to use. That's pretty exciting stuff. Moving towards a circular system won't happen overnight. But I've worked with companies making the transition to a more circular economy, and it is inspiring to see stakeholders at the table from the very beginning. From the designers to the marketers, engineers, sales people, and the buyers. Who might you bring together to start to think differently about the ways that products are made in your workplace? And how might you examine your purchasing and procurement processes to ensure that your workplace is supporting companies making products that do more good rather than just less harm? We invented our take, make, waste system for disposability and convenience without really factoring in the environmental impacts. We now have the incredible opportunity to reinvent our production systems to ensure that our products stay in use as long as possible and are turned into something else at the end of their life.