Sustainability Management Strategies – Prepare a Sustainability Road Map for your Company

Sustainability will not be ‘completed’ in one or two years. It is a long-term program that will define and change how a company operates in the future. The sustainability road map a prioritized set of actions designed to get a company from where it is today (see Sustainability Management Strategies 3) to where needs to be in the future (see Sustainability Management Strategies 4). 

The road map is a fundamental part of this transition process. It will never include all of the actions but will prioritize the actions that a company can effectively complete with the available resources and technology. A sustainability road map will provide the best available guidance about what to do next and is an essential part of sustainability management. 

Sustainability will inevitably become ‘part of the environment’ rather than simply being ‘about the environment’. Companies need a strategy for this transition and not simply a set of aspirations and good words. Many large companies, especially those in the petrochemical industry, are fundamentally reinventing themselves to prepare for sustainability. The plastics processing industry is not exempt from this change and strategic planning for the transition is vital. 

Companies need: 

• To produce a road map and plan for a sustainable future.
• To understand and communicate their plans (internally and externally.
• To understand and communicate that sustainability is not simply about environmental issues but also about social and economic issues.

The sustainability road map is an essential part of doing this. 

Action:

• Use the ‘material’ actions to start to define the sustainability road map.
• The road map should include an ordered list of actions, a schedule for the actions and an approximate cost/benefit analysis of the actions.
• Use the road map as the basis for the Sustainability Management Program.

Note: Take time to plan carefully. Do not be in a rush to take complex action, sustainability is too multi-layered for ‘quick fixes’. There will be actions that are self-evident and should be completed as soon as possible, e.g., energy management, but many actions will require careful planning. 

Dr. Robin Kent is the author of ‘Sustainability Management in Plastics Processing’, published by the British Plastics Federation and Managing Director of Tangram Technology Ltd. (www.tangram.co.uk), consulting engineers for energy and sustainability management in plastics processing.

Also read:

• “Map Actions on Materiality”
• “Review where you are in Sustainability Management”
• “Sustainability Management Strategies – Top Management Commitment“
• “Create a Site Sustainability Management Policy“