Innovation+Sustainability. When objects make the world a better place
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Innovation + Sustainability. When objects make the world a better place

Fridays for Future, a number of extraordinary climatic events and now the health emergency have refocused attention on the question of sustainability. 

So says the National Observatory on Sustainable Lifestyles, which for the sixth consecutive year was conducted by LifeGate in collaboratiojn with Eumetra MR. The analysis found that in 2020, 38 percent of Italians said they were “passionate about sustainability” with another 34 percent saying they were “interested” in the subject. It also emerges that 36 million Italians (out of 50.6 million aged 18 and over) feel involved, more than double the number of people in 2015, when just 21 million expressed a feeling of involvement.

 

The subject of sustainability started to be widely discussed in 1987, when the WCED (the World Commission on Environment and Development) published a report entitled Our Common Future, also known as the Brundtland Commission Report (after the Norwegian Prime Minister, who was the president of the commission). On that occasion it was established that: “sustainable development is one that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. From that point on, the issue began to spread into the collective consciousness, even if it has at times been trivialised and reduced to a fad, a fashion that would eventually pass.

 

“When it comes to sustainability it’s all about empathy: we need to rediscover how to build in a way that is more effective and has less of an impact. Training and expertise are very important: these two factors will make all the difference over the next 20 years,” says Mario Cucinella, the architect, designer and academic known for his work in the field of sustainability and for his works with a low environmental impact. His Building Objects collection of vases, table centrepieces, rugs and dinner services – made in collaboration with masters in the arts of working with glass, marble, solid wood, ceramic, terracotta, brass, steel and fabric – is a demonstration of both a return to ancient handicrafts and the development of manufacturing processes based on technological innovation.

 

So now, more than ever, it is time for the take-make-dispose model to be replaced by the reduce-reuse-recycle model. And that is the principle Embacollage follows. This Danish firm specialises in packaging solutions that start from an examination of the lifecycle of products to make recyclable items, using FSC-certified paper, eco-certified cotton and hemp, recycled polyester and recycled plastic. Another significant example is Closca, whose products and services “help to inspire a change in people’s attitudes and to create a better world.”

 

Entrepreneurs are well aware of the fact that incorporating environmental concerns into innovation can bring about economic development. In this way the ability to combine the pursuit of profit with environmental and social care – otherwise known as CSR, or Corporate Social Responsibility – becomes a strategic choice rather than a superficial advertising message and marketing tool.