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Supply Chain Pivotwith Rob Shirley

Quality is well-known as being highly eective with ISO 9001;

the worlds ecology is also being improved rapidly with ISO

14001 boasting over 230,000 corporate members in 159

countries. The International Organization or Standards has

itsel grown through success to become a major business and

government inuencer.

The supply chain has become a strong advocate or sustain-

ability and carbon oset products. With the worlds popula-

tion now at seven billion, resources are being consumed at an

ever-expanding rate. This spring is being defned as the warm-

est in recorded history or our planet because o greenhouse

gases. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most noted contributor to

the problem, largely caused by our consumption o ossil uels.

However, another gas, methane (CH4), might hold an even big-

ger impact as it relates to global warming. Scientists report

Methane holds a 25X impact related to warming.

I recently talked with Spencer Brody, Founder and

President o Biolithe, ater his frm was awarded a US Patent

or their solution that reduces the creation o dirty meth-

ane rom packaging while it is decomposing in its fnal rest-

ing place. Methane is the most abundant organic compound

on earth, but the kind o methane produced by wood fbers

in packaging is called dirty because o the heat trapping

contaminants released into the atmosphere during decom-

position. Biolithes patent actually manages natural bacte-

ria to eat in a specifc way to reduce dirty methane beore

it becomes a greenhouse gas. Bacteria have been harnessed

previously to help the environment; or instance, at the

huge oil spill that occurred in Alaska ater the Valdez was

ripped open. Spencer and his team have been working on

this solution or fve years and this article is the frst time

it is being discussed on a national/international basis in the

open press.

The Sustainability Packaging Coalition welcomed Biolithe as a

new member this spring in Toronto by urther endorsing a thesis

authored at Rutgers University in their microbiology department

and a validation o Lie Cycle Analysis rom Yale University. The

Sustainability Coalition is all about protecting the environment

on a sustainable basis with complete transparency.

AT&T and the United Way have both used the solution to

produce brochures given to customers at marquis events like

the AT&T Pebble Beach National ProAm.

Reuse, Reduce and Recycle are the best methods o natu-

rally managing product packaging and boxes used to protect

merchandise in the transportation cycle, Spencer says. We

are an environmentally riendly company, and adding a low-

cost solution in a powder or liquid ormat into the paper-mix

ensures the limitation o dirty methane and eliminates the

hydrogen sulfde odor at the end o the lie cycle. This is a

classic demonstration o the sum being greater than the parts.

The component products used to make Biolithe are an FDA-

approved ood additive that is integrated into the composition

o packaging or adhesives when manuactured. It is truly a cra-

dle-to-grave product being added at inception and going to

work at the end o the packagings useulness.

Global corporations with large consumer ootprints spend

over $120 billion in packaging each year. Top companies are

estimated to spend $60 billion this year on true sustainabil-

ity; these same companies are avoiding greenwashing (pre-

tending to solve environmental problems through marketing)

like the plague. There are strong economic incentives to

true sustainability with a growing group o companies, con-

sumers, and governments wholly endorsing innovative solu-

tions that are sustainable. At the end o the day, the power

o brands is reinorced and made more powerul i it is com-

pletely sustainable.

Controlling bacteria in a way that benefts us all is really

quite remarkable. The supply chain should have a balanced

approach that pays respect to the economy and the environ-

ment. Our great-grandchildren in a century (2112) are depend-

ing on us to get this right. p

Rob ShiRley s presdet of ExresS, strtegc rter te gob s

c. Cotct m t rsxs@gm.com.

Innovation