Carousel Calendars, Tesco, Asda and Lego win Products Of Change awards
“We are a roomful of people who care,” began Products Of Change’s ceo and founder Helena Mansell-Stopher as she addressed an auditorium of 200 in-person guests and an online audience of 100 delegates at POC’s Sustainability Conference 2023 (SiLC) this week.
The contents of a jam-packed agenda at London’s Royal Geographical Society on Wednesday, 8 November, confronted many aspects of sustainability with a commercial slant, and was lapped up by attendees, who included representatives from Danilo, Carousel Calendars, UK Greetings, The Eco-friendly Card Company and Amscan as well as many other leading names from affiliated consumer product sectors, retailers and brands.
Setting the tone Caroline Petit, the United Nations’ deputy director for the Regional Information Centre, delivered a hard-hitting keynote opening address, stressing the urgency for the pace to be picked up in order to meet the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) adopted by the UN in 2015.
“We are halfway to 2030 and only 15% of the goals are on target. So, it’s half-time and we’re down, but not out. Every game is won or lost in the second half,” said Caroline before stressing the opportunity and urgency for companies, including those in the creative industries as well as retailers to play a part in “inspiring change” and sharing best practices.
The presentations and panel discussions that followed – from legislative changes impacting retail, packaging and manufacturing, to innovative new systems emerging across supply chains to facilitate better circularity as well as retailers such as Tesco, Asda, Nobody’s Child and Lush sharing their progress – saw everyone fully engaged and impowered to do more.
As Sue Morrish, co-owner of The Eco-friendly Card Company, posted on social media immediately after the conference: “Today’s visit to the Products Of Change Sustainability Conference was not all about hugging Wombles and gave plenty of food for thought – I’m going to share some of my key takeaways starting with reflections on the opening keynote by Caroline Petit from the UN.
“Have you heard of the UN Sustainable Development Goals? These 17 global goals were agreed to by all 193 member states in 2015. Caroline said: ‘We are off track, we are halfway to 2030 with some targets not going forward but backwards – we are seeing a crisis in climate change, in pollution and in viodiversity loss…more of you need to make bigger commitments and make more rapid change’.”
The conference also saw the presentation of the inaugural Products Of Change SDGs Members’ Awards.
Among these was the award aligned with SDG number 13 – Climate Action that was presented to Carousel Calendars, celebrated for its commitment to mapping its impact for a number of years, taking the lead in innovation within its sector by sharing its processes, and for becoming the first in the sector to have its science-based target reduction approved by SBTi.
The award was collected by Martin Rees-Davies, Carousel Calendars’ licensing and business development director, on behalf of managing director Steve Plackett.
“I would like to thank Helena and Rob and the whole Products Of Change organisation for the inspiring work they do,” said Steve. “We are pleased to be part of a great organisation.
“Our environmental efforts over the last five years have been a huge team effort so thanks goes to every single person in our team.”
The Partnership For The Goals award (aligned to SDG 17) was awarded to the Lego Group and collected by Sine Møller, sustainability transformation director, and sustainability lead Jakob Max Hamann for the team’s tireless commitment to sustainable development across its core business and consumer products operations, as well as the lead it has taken in driving cross-industry collaboration and partnership.
Asda and George At Asda was the winner of the Responsible Consumption & Production award, in alignment with SDG 12. The award was handed to Asda’s senior sustainability manager Jade Snart and George At Asda’s sustainability manager Jennifer Ward as the UK retail giant was championed for its ongoing sustainability strategy that includes concerted steps towards the repair, refurbishment, reuse, and resell of items and consumer goods.
“It was an absolute privilege to be one of the first winners of the POC SDG Members’ Awards,” said Jade. “I have had the pleasure of being a part of the POC community for the last four years and I felt incredibly honoured to receive it.”
The final POC SDG Member Award – aligned with SDG number 9 – is the Industry Innovation & Infrastructure award 9 went to Tesco and Wastebusters, which have both worked hard over the last three years to bring the cross-industry initiative Recycle To Read into stores earlier this year.
Wastebusters’ founder Katy Newnham was joined by Tesco’s Cheryl Thomson and Felicity Thomson to collect the accolade, awarded for the implementation of a pilot campaign to drive awareness of re-homing and re-selling plastic toys, rewarding the recipients by providing schools with reading books.
It was highlighted by POC founder Helena that, while the award was handed to Wastebusters and the Tesco team, the initiative could not have got off the ground without the support of key members and brands within the children’s publishing and toy industries, signifying a real cross-industry effort.
As Helena summed up: “The energy in the room was phenomenal. The connections and collaborations that were made will positively impact industry over the next year – how exciting it that?
“If you are a business wanting to be more sustainable and make changes then check out Products Of Change – a community of people all wanting to make change for a better world. The more we collaborate and share, the quicker we can fix things. The world is breaking and we all need to get on this mission quickly. We can do this.”
The Sustainability In Licensing Conference will be making its return in 2024 with a date to be announced in the coming weeks. Those who missed the event this week can still watch it all via the online platform and can purchase their tickets here.
