Page 320 - Design for Environment A Guide to Sustainable Product Development

296 Cha pte r Six t ee n

FIGURE 16.1 Scott Naturals products
combine post-consumer recycled fi ber
with virgin fi ber [1].

K-C has realized tangible benefits by applying DFE principles.
Examples include converting manufacturing wastes into valuable
by-products, reducing packaging mass and cost, and increasing the
useful life or utility of products. The environmental performance
advantages of K-C products are communicated regularly to key cus-
tomers, such as Wal-Mart or Tesco, who have a keen interest in sus-
tainability. K-C has been an active participant in several of Wal-Mart’s
Sustainable Value Networks (including Wood and Paper, Sustainable
Packaging, and Chemical Intensive Products) and was a beta tester
for Wal-Mart’s Sustainable Packaging Scorecard (see Chapter 19).
K-C has also extended DFE principles into its supply chain. In
2007, K-C issued Sustainability at K-C: Guideline for Suppliers, a docu-
ment available online that shares K-C’s practices and policies with
regard to sustainability. K-C is moving to incorporate environmental
criteria into procurement decisions, especially with contract manu-
facturers. In particular, pulp fiber suppliers, who represent a major
consumable within K-C’s tissue and personal care products, are
either in compliance with one of five certification schemes or are in
the process of becoming certified.

Using LCA to Develop Greener Baby Wipes
Kimberly-Clark has begun to utilize Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) as
a key tool to support DFE practices. A first step was conducting simple
LCA evaluations of material and process options to support technol-
ogy investment decisions. More recently, as inputs into their sustain-
ability strategies, each business unit has selected three principal
products and used LCA to develop preliminary “footprints.”
According to David Spitzley, the use of full-scale LCA in con-
formance with ISO 14040 guidelines, a rigorous and resource- intensive
approach, should be undertaken only when there is a need for a high
degree of scientific credibility to support major business decisions,
public communication, and/or policy making. An example is the
trend analysis conducted by EDANA, the European Disposables and
Nonwovens Association (see Figure 16.2), showing significant im -
provement in the environmental performance of baby diapers [2].