Take, make, and dispose鈥攆or years that has been the developed world鈥檚 economic model. This consumption cycle led the World Bank to estimate that the globe was on track to produce 6 million metric tons of solid waste per day by 2025, up from 3.5 million metric tons in 2010.
But there are signs the take-make-dispose paradigm is shifting, and some of the world鈥檚 largest companies are helping to drive change through their scale.
础迟听贵辞谤迟耻苍别鈥檚聽Brainstorm E conference in Carlsbad, Calif. on Monday, the chief sustainability officers of Ikea, Walmart, and Coca-Cola discussed what they鈥檙e doing to improve their companies鈥� and consumers鈥� environmental footprints. Here are some of the coolest ideas we heard.
滨办别补:听The furnishings giant has instituted a 鈥渟ave the furniture program鈥� in Belgium. People bring in old furniture, are given a voucher, and Ikea then sells the furniture for the same price that is on that voucher. Chief sustainability officer Steve Howard says that the company will implement a U.S. pilot program next year, which won鈥檛 be just for Ikea furniture but an 鈥渁mnesty for pre-loved furniture.鈥� To encourage people to fix broken furniture rather than throw it away, the company is now shipping a million spare parts to repair products.
Read the full story at .