Trubridge designers: Sustainability good for both the planet and business

David Trubridge Design general manager Josh Lynch thinks sustainable practices can be good for both the planet and business. Photo/Duncan Brown.

It would be disingenuous for those at David Trubridge Design to say the company's sustainable practices were solely about helping the planet - they make business sense too.

David Trubridge Design general manager Josh Lynch said sustainability was an integral part of the Hawke's Bay company's story.

"It is the right thing to do for the planet; there's so much plastic ending up in our water systems, whether it be fresh water or the sea.

"What also helps is that it's a very big part of our story. One of the main components of the sales of our products is the story behind them; where they're made, how they're made, sustainable materials and so on."

Mr Lynch said while the company couldn't attain a zero-waste status it was working to minimise it, with factory production making just one domestic wheelie bin's worth of landfill waste per fortnight.

"We can't be zero waste, I think it's effectively impossible for any business to be. But what we can do is minimise it as much as we possibly can.

"That starts right at the design phase with thinking about the material choices we're going to make for products, how we can minimise waste from them and what type of material it might be so if there is waste generated it isn't toxic to the environment."

Aside from what little went to landfill the rest was recycled; right down to sawdust which was collected and clean burnt by Pan Pac in Whirinaki.

The company had set an ambitious goal of dropping all plastic from their products by 2020 but this was proving difficult, Mr Lynch said.

"It's a goal we've set which is somewhat idealistic because there's a couple of things we're really struggling to remove; with our product being kit set it uses little nylon clips which attach that parts together.

"As a percentage of the object that's a very small part of plastic but we can't get find an alternative that's non-plastic to fix them together...they either degrade too quickly or they don't have the right strength properties."

Mr Lynch said David Trubridge Design recently dropped some design products because they had a large plastic component and introduced greener products such as the Navicula light.

"Part of the reason was to find an alternative to replace our wing light which is 100 per cent polycarbonate plastic.

"So it's that kind of thinking where we not only consider what happens with the waste if we produce it, but actually stop that waste even being produced by changing products."

Mr Lynch said he believed the Government needed to take steps to encourage other businesses to adopt sustainable practices.

"I think New Zealand as a country relies so heavily on our image as a clean, green destination for tourism or our food products so yes the Government should purely do it based on that.

"It's going to damage all New Zealand businesses when people offshore and onshore start to realise how flawed that image is."

In the meantime younger generations had a keen interest in making sustainable purchasing decisions, he said.

"The rise of younger generations and the power they have with the money coming through; they are choosing to spend with businesses that are making these types of decisions that are better. The old guard who don't care so much are dropping away."