April 9:  Efforts in sustainability –

a discussions of tools

and cooperative initiatives across industries

Abstract:

Many large retailers and brands are looking to improve the sustainability performance of their suppliers (where the majority of the life cycle impacts of the products they sell actually occur).  However, due to the lack of direct control over the methods of production, retailers and brands are using targeted questionnaires and Indexing to collect relevant data to measure performance and work to motivate improvement in the supply chain over time.  Two examples of indexing in the US (in the apparel and consumer goods retail sectors) will be touched on.

Michael will also give an overview of Life Cycle Assessment / Life Cycle Thinking, a driving tool in sustainability, and share how the Business & Institutional Furniture as well as Electronic & Electrical products industries use LCA and Environmental Product Declarations to communicate to B2B or consumers.  A connection will also be drawn from these tools to the LEED program and potential cost savings.

About the Speaker:

Michael Richardson, P.E.,LCA & Sustainable Design Sr. Project Manager

 Michael obtained his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University, and has his professional engineer’s license from the state of New Jersey.   As a sustainability consultant at SGS Michael supports clients’ sustainability efforts by helping them measure, reduce and communicate their environmental impacts, though Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and other tools.  He also coordinates with the SGS global sustainability team, to facilitate execution internationally when expertise is needed within supply chains. Prior to joining SGS Michael worked in the environment engineering field for over 10 years: modeling contaminant generation; implementing site remediation; as well as conducting LCIs and LCAs, on products ranging from packaging to flooring.

Currently Michael is supporting clients in: the electronics Industry to prepare Environmental Product Declarations; and the cleaning product industry for environmental labeling. He has also been an active member of the Outdoor Industries No-Harm-Down working group and is co-representing SGS on the verification committee for the Sustainable Apparel Coalition.

Date

 Tuesday April 9, 2013

Agenda  
                                    Registration           6:00 PM 
                                    Dinner                    6:30 PM 
                                    Program                 7:30 PM
Location

Snuffy’s Restaurant
Mountain and Park Avenues, Scotch Plains

Price

 Members and Guests …………………..………..$30

Unemployed/Retired Section members…. $15
Students………………………………………………No Charge

Reservations

 Call Andy Soos at (908) 604-2670 or e-mail at rsvp@njaiche.org by Friday 4/5/13. 

Executive Committee Meeting

The Executive Committee meeting for April will be held on April 2 th at Paisano’s Pizza at 6:30 pm. All members are welcome.

Sponsorship

Some meetings of NJAIChE have been sponsored. If you would like to sponsor this meeting or a future meeting please let us know.  Many levels of sponsorship are available.

Future Meetings

Have you heard someone speak that would be of interest to our group?  Would you like to speak?  We’re interested in both technical and general interest presentations. Let us know.

PDH credits will be awarded when applicable