Product Footprinting: Challenges and Solutions

SOLANA BEACH, CA (September 15, 2011) – Source 44 LLC, the world’s leading provider of Sustainability data services and Product Footprint Data Sheets (PFDS)™, is pleased to once again serve as Title Sponsor for this year’s Retail Sustainability Conference – a conference that is filled with so many great sessions and activities that I find myself wishing it was already October 12!  It’s an exciting time for many reasons – not the least of which is a subject near and dear to my heart: the opportunity to differentiate the products you manufacture and sell.

Consumers are increasingly demanding that the products they purchase be produced in an environmentally friendly manner – production that limits or eliminates any negative impact on our planet’s resources. This trend has been fueled by several studies that focus on the impact of humans on climate change, as well as the negative impacts of industrial pollution on the environment.

Retailers who attempt to respond to this higher level of consumer environmental awareness face a myriad of concerns and questions, especially when addressing the challenges and opportunities associated with product footprinting.

Challenges
Conducting an accurate life cycle assessment (LCA) for goods and services requires capturing supply-chain emissions. Only with this information can a company accurately determine a product’s carbon footprint, further enabling the retailer and supplier to communicate the whole story about their products – a story that more and more customers are demanding to know.

And yet, while countless products and services move each day through an ever-changing global network of supply chains connecting product inputs to outputs, all too often the associated sustainability data are left behind.

Many companies are only focused on measuring and monitoring their direct emissions, which account for a very small percentage of a product’s complete footprint. In turn, those same retailers are hard-pressed to answer questions like:

• How much carbon and waste is produced when our products are manufactured and distributed?
• How much water is used in the creation of our products?
• Are we sure there are no restricted substances or conflict minerals residing within our products?
• Are there hidden cost-savings buried deep within our supply chain?

Solutions
To bridge this gap in the supply chain, companies like Source 44 now offer comprehensive Product Footprinting services. At Source 44, our team of scientists collects and stores data about the environmental impact of goods and services throughout their life cycles.  By continuously accessing this data, we’re able to ultimately deliver an affordable footprinting solution for retailers that sell tens of thousands of products.  In turn we ultimately help companies create, protect and grow long-term environmental, social and economic value for their consumers and stakeholders.

Come See Us!
I hope you’ll come meet the Source 44 team at our booth # 217 when the Exhibit Hall opens Wednesday night.  I also hope you’ll attend the Thursday morning breakout session, “Leveraging Lifecycle Analysis (LCA) to Improve Your Product Footprint” that I’ll be co-hosting with Levi Strauss & Co.’s Director of Global Environmental Sustainability, Colleen Kohlsaat.  Our discussion will focus on the challenges and opportunities for retailers who chose to footprint their products.

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About Source 44

Source 44 delivers supply chain sustainability as a continuous flow of subscription services to meet your ever-changing product stewardship needs. We examine your supply chain through the lens of sustainability, and when we identify an opportunity or risk we alert you. Regardless of your products’ complexity, we deliver affordable technology, resources, creativity and expertise to rapidly improve your supply chain sustainability—no matter how your needs change. Source 44 derives its name from the molecular weight of carbon dioxide – 44 – the measuring stick of Greenhouse Gases, and is based in Solana Beach, CA, with offices in San Diego and Dallas.

About RILA

The Retail Industry Leaders Association is the trade association of the world’s largest and most successful retail companies, whose executives participate in RILA for its unique educational forums, its effective public policy advocacy, and its advancement of the retail industry.

For More Information

Source 44 LLC

Lauren Gambaccini, Marketing Communications Manager

Email: marketing@source-44.com

Phone: 877. 916. MFDS (6337) ext: 1007