Posted by Andrew Personette on November 12 at 12:40 PM
This past week, Jason Warnock and Stacy Richter of DMD Green, Calgary launched a brand new sustainable program and service –
SocialCycling.
Since the launch, I’ve had a chance to sit with Jason Warnock, Managing Partner of DMD Green Calgary and get his thoughts on this new service, and the impact it’ll have on companies and producers around the globe.
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Andrew Personette: Jason, when did the idea for SocialCycling happen?
Jason Warnock: Working for a number of years with manufacturers trying to articulate their "Green" messages, we always came up against the same challenges. The architectural product industry is constantly 'chasing numbers.' By that I mean, if one competitor has 10% recycled content, then someone is always working to get 15 or 20%. If one company has low VOC content, someone is always looking to get some lower, or no VOC content.
Ultimately I felt we weren't really differentiating our clients, just constantly trying to reach the greener number, which only lasted until the next company found a better one. That's why we wanted to change the conversation, talk about sustainability in a much broader sense, most importantly talk about the human, or social responsibility potential of products, rather than just the chemical composition.
AP: What need is SocialCycling fulfilling in the market place?
JW: The idea of recycling or re-use is not new. Nor is the idea of trying to find a humanitarian application for unused materials. I think SocialCycling and the SocialCycling certification pathways create a high degree of transparency and accountability in the process which is where the real value is for participating brands.
AP: Who would be the ideal candidate for the SocialCycling program?
JW: Could really be anyone. What we try to do through our material audits is create a business case and connection points between brands and converters, community groups or recyclers that makes sense; environmentally, socially and fiscally.
AP: In a nutshell, how does it work?
JW: More than simple recycling, SocialCycling is a process in which materials difficult or impossible to recycle are transformed by those in need to create new products for their communities. The SocialCycling certification process tracks chain of custody and ultimate transformation of materials to ensure no product ever ends up in a landfill.
AP: What checks and balances do you have in place to know that the
products/materials are really cycling?
JW: This is really the most important aspect of the certification process. Working on our experience in the energy markets and specifically oil and gas, there are a number of stories about companies claiming to be disposing of hazardous materials in an environmental fashion, only to be turned up as something far less responsible. In essence this is the main point of emphasis of SocialCycling: the material and converter audit process, continuous program evaluation and most importantly the chain of custody tracking of materials.
AP: How does SocialCycling fit into a brand's Corporate Social Responsibility strategy?
JW: Hopefully it augments or dovetails in, but realistically the program in many ways can be the start of how a supposedly difficult-to-recycle product manufacturer is able to develop a brand new corporate strategy.
AP: And, finally, how does SocialCycling fit into the big picture of environmental sustainability?
JW: Ultimately, SocialCycling is just one piece of a very large and complex puzzle. We have clients where we are converting pre-consumer PVC scrap into linings for back packs in Africa, these materials have been diverted from US landfills and have been used by communities in need to create new consumer goods… however ultimately the African consumer goods could end up in a landfill.
What we have done is solve a business problem for a US manufacturer, an African producer and hopefully, even helped some actual people along the way. To me that is the truly exciting part of environmental sustainability.
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For more information on DMD Green’s new SocialCycling service, please
visit our DMD Green SocialCycling page.
AP
Topics: leadership, recycling, strategy, sustainability SHARE: 
5 Comments so far...
This is a great description of how SocialCycling works. We are amidst a standardization of recycling and re-use. Organizations who recycle and re-use materials can no longer use that to market a distinct advantage. In fact, the 3R's (reduce, re-use, recycle) are now requirements to keep up with competition.
SocialCycling is a means for organizations to simply reduce their carbon footprint. This is an opportunity to do more for developing communities beyond writing cheques to charitable organizations.
Great job Jason and I am looking forward to the future of SocialCycling.
Posted by Stacy Richter on November 16 at 8:03 PMReflecting on learnings from Greenbuild, this is definitely one of the more enlightened programs discussed. So many companies are working diligently to improve their products and processes, and some are even making very impressive promises. But SC can make a big difference NOW. Not many, many years down the line. Looking forward to hearing of your successes.
Posted by Gina Miller on November 17 at 10:10 AMAlso reflecting on one particular discussion I had over lunch at Greenbuild and tied to SocialCycling; I had a discussion over lunch with a few architects (2 from Phoenix, AZ, and 1 from Iowa).
Each have been attending Greenbuild conferences for over 5 years so I asked them if Green building and design has now transitioned from a movement to standard accepted practice. Their answer was that it is in beginning stages and before I could ask them how they knew, they commented that because business people like myself are attending these conferences and to them, that is a clear indication that Green building is becoming a standard practice. If the conference is beginning to attract business people, it must be able to make money.
We discussed SocialCycling and they suggested that the program is definitely 'good for the soul' because of the societal benefits and admitted that anytime a firm can reduce 'waste' makes good business sense.
Posted by Stacy Richter on November 18 at 2:51 PMI have one question and I don't know who to direct it; Why is it stated that the repurposed materials and the products manufactured with them go to "other" communities? Why can't they be manufactured and used by the same communities that produced the waste? Wouldn't it be much less impact from transportation, storage, paperwork, etc?
Posted by Juan Lagarrigue on December 1 at 1:37 PMGreat question Juan, and certainly not totally clear in the blog post. During the initial SocialCycling material audit a Waste Management Plan (or WMP) is developed to examine the financial, environmental and social costs of the various reclamation streams. It obviously is better to use local resources if possible but many smaller community groups are unable to use, for example, 2000 pounds of vinyl wall coverings. Further to this example it does not make sense to send 20 pounds of vinyl to 100 different community groups. Therefore when we are compiling the WMP, economies of scale will often direct us to source larger organizations, normally in communities where they wouldn't otherwise have access to this type of material. However, having said all that, if a local community group has the need and capacity that would always be our first choice for SocialCycling.
Posted by Jason Warnock on December 1 at 6:42 PM