2.1.

Environmental Sustainability
- Sustainability: refers to the avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an
ecological balance.
- The human impact on the natural environment has already reached unsustainable levels in many aspects
and is increasing each day due to population growth and increasing per capita consumption.
- Our Common Future was a report requested by the United Nations and dealt with a global agenda for
environmental change. It is often referred to as the publication that popularised the term ‘sustainable
development’. Since its release, sustainable development has come under notable criticism because of the
broad ways it has been interpreted.
- Sustainability is always one of the first concepts to enter the discussion when theorising the future.

- The following definition defines Environmental Sustainability in terms of human behaviour: “Meeting the
needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
→ There has been debate surrounding the interpretations of the words ‘needs’, ‘development’, and the
phrase ‘compromising the ability’.

- Sustainability is the characteristic of any activity, and ultimately an aggregation of all activities, that allows
the activity to continue indefinitely without significantly impacting the earth system’s functioning or
curtailing any other sustainable activity.

- An example of an unsustainable activity is burning oil. Oil is a finite resource and it impacts the earth system
functions by emitting CO2 when it is burned, and thus negatively affects the environment.
- At current rates, fishing is an unsustainable activity. It can, however, become sustainable if fish are caught at
an acceptable rate and the health of the ocean was assured.
- Much of human activity is unsustainable due to one or more of the following reasons:
• It involves a non-renewable, finite resource.
• It involves the emission of waste that damages ecosystems.
• A renewable resource is used at a rate that makes it not replenishable.
• It is done in a socially irresponsible way such that ethical codes are violated (e.g. use of child labour,
inhumane working conditions).

1
Environmental sustainability image: https://diversityinsteam.com/2017/11/move-toward-environmental-sustainability-10-
inventions/
What Makes a Product Sustainable?
- It is important to understand what exactly makes some products and services more sustainable than others.
Sustainability is not a dualistic concept (it either is or it isn’t sustainable) but is rather a spectrum. Even the
most sustainable products in the world are still going to require some sort of unsustainable materials or
process.
- For a product to be sustainable, it must be able to be produced without causing harm or destruction to the
environment.
- Products will generally be considered sustainable given that they meet the following criteria:
• No non-renewable resources are required for its production.
• The health of ecosystems and the environment is maintained.
• They were produced in a socially responsible way.

- Sustainability can be achieved in two ways:

• Companies can strive towards optimising their processes and resources to become more sustainable.
• Companies can become more sustainable by changing their actions.

- When purchasing a product, it is not always immediately obvious whether a product is sustainable or not. In
becoming more environmentally conscious consumers, it is important to be able to identify sustainable vs
non-sustainable products. This is how to tell if a product is sustainable:
• It was manufactured from recycled materials.
• It was made from renewable resources.
• It is 100% biodegradable.
• It was manufactured through ethically sourced labour.
• No animal testing took place in its development.

- The European Commission put into action a Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP) in March 2020, which aims
to make products fit for a climate-neutral, resource-efficient and circular economy through a Sustainable
Products Initiative (SPI).

2
Sustainability labelling: https://dr2consultants.eu/sustainable-products-initiative-more-than-just-ecodesign/
Case Study: Patagonia
- Patagonia is a popular American outdoor lifestyle and clothing brand, who pride themselves in producing
sustainable clothing and products. The company was founded in 1973 by Yvon Chouinard in Ventura,
California.
- Since they are an outdoor brand, they lend themselves to being environmentally conscious and eco-
friendly, which is reflected in their marketing campaigns.
- Patagonia have achieved a commendable level of sustainability in several ways, as highlighted below:
• Recycling: the brand uses recycled fabrics, including wool, polyester and nylon. By recycling these
materials, the need for more raw materials from the natural environment is reduced, thereby decreasing
their environmental footprint.
• Reuse and repair: Interestingly, Patagonia offer a lifetime guarantee on their products. This means that
if anything breaks and needs repairing, they will repair it free of charge at any Patagonia store in the
world, no questions ask. This encourages customers to buy products that will last for a very long time,
thus decreasing the amount of clothes that they need to buy, further decreasing the adverse human
impact on the environment. In addition to this, if you no longer want your item of clothing, Patagonia
will buy it back from you (for recycling and reuse) and offer you that amount off a new Patagonia
product.
• Rejection of fast fashion: Fast fashion brands refer to those who usually design clothing based on
popular trends. Clothing quality is generally lower and is not made to last for more than a season or two.
Patagonia are vehemently against this and ensure that the clothing they make is durable and long-
lasting, which significantly reduces the human impact on the environment, as fewer clothes end up going
to waste.
• Environmental marketing campaigns: On Black Friday in 2011, Patagonia famously released a marketing
campaign that said: “Don’t buy this jacket”. The aim of this campaign was to raise consumer awareness
over the products they were buying, and Patagonia encouraged consumers not to buy too much. In
consuming less, the environmental damage will be far less too. As consumers in a largely capitalist
society, many of us are guilty of owning far more than what we actually need to get by.3

3
Patagonia advert: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Dont-Buy-This-Jacket-print-advertisement-Property-of-Patagonia-Inc-
Used-with_fig1_281150826
Case Study: Adidas Ocean Plastic Campaign
- As the world becomes more environmentally conscious, many brands are starting initiatives where they
actively use recycled materials to make more eco-friendly and environmentally appealing products.
- This has unfortunately also led to unethical marketing campaigns, where companies make themselves look
very environmentally conscious without doing much in reality – this is known as Greenwashing. For example,
a company may produce a product that contains only one component that is environmentally friendly, while
the rest of the product is made from unsustainable materials using unethical labour. By focusing on the
single eco-friendly component, companies market themselves as being eco-friendly in order to sell more,
without actually doing much to save the environment.
- In contrast, it could be argued that by simply bringing awareness to climate change and recycling
initiatives, companies are doing a good job by raising consumers’ awareness on the issue.

- Adidas manufacture in excess of 400 million pairs of shoes per year. This scale of production will obviously
create a significant impact on the environment, especially if the practices are unsustainable.
- In 2015, Adidas partnered with the environmental organisation, Parley For Oceans, with the goal of recycling
ocean plastic and turning it into shoes. The goal was to produce 11 million pairs of shoes from recycled
ocean plastic in 2019.
- Parley and its partners collect trash from coastal areas such as the Maldives. The waste is sorted, and the
collected plastic is sent to an Adidas processing plant where plastic bottles containing polyethylene
terephthalate (PET) are used. All recyclable material that Adidas cannot use (such as caps and rings) are sent
to recycling facilities.
- The processing plant breaks down, washes, and dehydrates the recycled plastic, leaving behind small flakes
which are heated, dried, and cooled, then cut into small resin pellets5. Adidas melts these pellets to create a
filament, which is spun into what they call Ocean Plastic, a form of polyester yarn. Adidas uses Ocean Plastic
to form the upper parts of shoes and clothing like jerseys. Each item in the Parley collection is made from at
least 75% intercepted marine trash – without compromising performance and comfort standards. Recycled
polyester uses less water and fewer chemicals and helps prevent plastic pollution.
- Adidas’ end goal is to replace all virgin polyester with recycled polyester by 2024.

4
Adidas|Parley Ocean Plastic initiative advert: https://www.marketingmag.com.au/news-c/news-adidas-ultraboost/
5
There was an enormous spill of these pellets last year, and there are still organisations cleaning them up to this
day. The following article explains more on this: https://www.iol.co.za/capeargus/news/watch-transparency-called-
for-after-plastic-nurdle-spill-contaminated-cape-coastline-38fcc6d5-3858-45c8-a9fe-42ce8254c261