The Growth of Sustainability

More companies are developing a long-term strategic view of the environmental impact of their products.

In the past, a product usually ended up in a landfill because manufacturers devoted little thought to sustainable design and practices—the pursuit of an entirely closed-loop process in which parts return to the earth or become another, new product. Creating goods with minimal or no negative environmental and health impact has become the guiding principle of a growing number of firms. A major textile manufacturer, for example, derives nearly 75% of its sales from sustainable, fully recyclable carpets and wood flooring. The company's production methods keep up to 300 million pounds of carpet from landfills every year. Sustainability practices are becoming more than a way to develop brands and reputations—an increasing number of executives see them as providing operational and growthoriented benefits that help cut costs and develop new markets and products.

The Car of Today inCludeS The Materials of Yesterday This model, which will be on the road in the coming months,
shows the integration of recycled and plant-derived material into design.

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Illustration by David Foster