Eco-design reduces costs

INCORPORATING environmental design can reduce waste and improve your company's financial position.
That's according to a leading Dutch eco-design expert. Delft University applied environmental design Professor Albert Stevels told a recent Innovate SA seminar while so-called eco-design is intended to reduce a company's environmental impact, it must also fit into its overall business strategy, reduce costs and give it a competitive advantage.

"You want to be better than the competition, you want to use eco-design to be better," he said.

But Prof Stevels said there was an existing prejudice among many businesses that "green" strategies were expensive, while consumer studies showed that - despite what they say - customers won't buy products simply because they are "green".

"A lot of people are thinking `green always costs money,' which is not true," he said.
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