As some of you know, for the last 9 months I have had the privilege of teaching a project based course to 193 MBA students on sustainability at the China Europe International Business School.  Spliet into 35 teams, they have been focused their research projects across 25 seperate issues, and for the last 2 months have been working on developing strategic plans with corporations, NGOs, and social enterprises in China to turn the theoretical into the tangible.

Current Projects include:

• Market landscape and entry strategies for green building technologies, smart grid, water filtration, ewaste management, and cold chain logistics
• Business plans for improving small scale CDM project funding, food labeling, organic food and clothing, and natural cosmetics
• Capacity development for community enterprises focused on elderly care, migrant education, urban poverty alleviation programs,  and assisting persons with disabilities

They are projects where the students have had to think strategically in developing an understanding of the market and regulatory landscape, develop stakeholder and issue maps to develop partnerships, and work with the technical considerations of branding, human resources, and finance in order to bring their project to fruition.

But, I want to take this further. .. I want you to hire them as your interns, bring them in-house for 2 months, and let them  to help you understand the opportunities you have to improve on your current products, processes, or partnerships

How Could Hiring a RLP Intern help you?
Easy.  With the growing pressure that is on firms, the most tangible means for my RLP students to help you is to understand where risks lie of changing attitudes and regulations, or in helping research current opportunities to develop a product, service, or partnership that will have a direct positive impact for you, your firm, your customers, and your community.

Sample projects could include (but are not limited to):

• Analyzing cleantech market applications and investment opportunities
• Identification and research of new sustainable products and services in China
• Market entry strategies for foreign products and services within the sustainability sector
• Consumer and branding studies for consumer focused green products
• Industry level Regulatory, stakeholder, and risk analysis
• Developing community partnerships as part of a CSR outreach program
• Conducting life cycle analysis’s and constructing strategies for waste reduction

It is project that ultimately would leverage their work to achieve the goals you set.

What are the requirements of hosting an RLP Intern?
As graduate students at China’s top MBA program, our students are prepared for, and are looking to, work with firms that they can add real value to.  They are looking for internships that are by their very nature strategic, and hands on, and thus we would expect that any internship would have those basic qualities.

The duration of the internship should be planned for beginning of July to end of August, although some students (depending on their own time and location of internship) may be more flexible.

Internships should be paid positions with work related expense reimbursements

How To Get Started.
If interested in learning more about this opportunity, click here to see the full list of issues that students are currently engaged in, then download the internship template (right click here) we have constructed and would use to advertise these positions to the students, and then email the template to rlpinterns (@) collectiveresponsibilty.org with a brief description of the position and full contact information in the body of the email.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me or post a comment below.

Companies are riding the environment-friendly wave.
Pressure from the national government and tightening regulations in overseas markets are compelling a growing number of suppliers to modify their business strategies and incorporate ecologically safe processes. The transition is neither extreme nor desperate, but the impact could be widespread as many midsize and small companies are also taking “green” initiatives. Due to the sheer number of these suppliers, they account for a large portion of the pollution and wasteful practices in the country.

Irrespective of size, companies are introducing long-term strategies anchored on recycling, waste reduction and sustainable energy adoption.

Recycling is the most common practice among factories, one that is carried out internally or through third parties. This, however, goes beyond reusing offcuts and scrap materials. Highly polluting industries such as leather tanning have always been required to invest in wastewater cleaning systems, but very few actually do. Now, many are investing large sums in such facilities not only to comply with local ordinances but also as a marketing tool. This comes as an increasing number of buyers are including social responsibility as a criterion in supplier selection.

Fujian Guanxing Leather Co. Ltd in Shishi, a city under the municipality of Quanzhou in Fujian province, has invested $3 million in a 6,000-ton capacity wastewater processing station. Once operational, the facility is expected to save the company $1.4 million annually.

In fact, waste recycling is becoming the norm in the city, one of the major garment and textile hubs in the province. More than 20 manufacturers have now installed treatment systems such as those from Carrousel. The majority of Fujian factories that dye fabrics in-house have similar facilities for their sewerage as well. Moreover, several local governments have set up complementary wastewater recycling services to help ensure a continuous supply of fresh water.

When it comes to material refuse, many large enterprises contract professional disposal services. Small and midsize businesses often transact with recyclers and junkyard operators.

Guangdong Weiermei Underwear Co. Ltd, for instance, sells fabric cutoffs to waste collectors. Watch exporter Shenzhen Full Success Gift Mfg Ltd and lock specialist Make Locks Manufacturer Ltd vend metal scraps to recyclers.

Some companies involve customers in their green efforts. On request, Shenzhen FJY Electronic Co. Ltd uses recycled materials during production. Doing so has the additional benefit of lowering unit costs.

Adopting degradable materials, however, does not always bring a similar effect. In the beauty and cosmetics industry, bottles made from such substances are about 20 percent more expensive than conventional plastic.

While recycling and reusing are gaining more adherents, only a handful of operations are tapping sustainable energy sources such as wind or solar power. Cynthia Garments Making (Dalian) Co. Ltd has taken steps to do so by using solar water heating at its workers’ dormitories.

Management disciplines strengthen sustainable practices
In an effort to cement their commitment to environment-friendly manufacturing, many suppliers are acquiring ISO 14001:2004 certification and implementing ERP, 5S, 8S and 3R systems. Doing so lessens raw material wastage, management costs and delivery time. It smoothens production processes as well. “We calculate the exact unit consumption of fabrics and accessories,” Cynthia business manager Tony Tong said. “We purchase strictly in proportion with the orders to reduce wastage.”

Other production and purchasing decisions are also influenced by green principles.

Video phone manufacturer Xiamen Leelen Technology Co. Ltd cooperates with the environmental services group ABB, a global engineering enterprise that promotes sustainable industrial productivity.

Mindful of energy conservation, car amplifier exporter Shenzhen Actiway Electronics Co. Ltd included power saving as a criterion in selecting SMT machines.

Fujian Golden Vision LCD Science & Technology Co. Ltd has designated one of its engineers to be responsible specifically for developing ways to reduce power, water and raw material consumption during production.

Some factories outsource processes that are potentially hazardous to the environment. Lock companies in Zhejiang and Shandong provinces subcontract electroplating and paint coating to local specialists who are not only more capable but also use professional equipment that produces less pollution.

In some industries, higher productivity is correlated directly to waste reduction. Makers are emphasizing worker training to upgrade efficiency, trim down defects and reduce wastage.

But green manufacturing still has its obstacles.

Often suppliers are not motivated enough to adopt sustainable practices in production. Unless required by buyers, any effort to introduce ecologically safe processes is only deemed as an unwarranted cost. For such businesses, compliance with RoHS, WEEE and other regulations is sufficient in showing their environmental commitment.

Greenpeace keeping a scorecard
In October 2009, a report by Greenpeace highlighted the elevated pollution levels in the Pearl River in southern China. As the main source of drinking water for about 4.7 million residents, the estuary is where thousands of factories dump their waste as well. A high-level cocktail of beryllium, copper, manganese, BPA, alkylphenols and other hazardous chemicals were discovered in analyzed samples from eight cities around the river.

The report also enumerated the noncompliance of at least 18 major private locally owned and multinational companies in the Fortune Global 500 or the China 100 list with pollution disclosure rules implemented by the Ministry of Environmental Protection in May 2008. Samsung, Nestle, LG, Motorola and Sinopec were among the companies cited for exceeding emissions standards and failing to publish their pollution data within 30 days after being blacklisted as the rule required.

Greenpeace has been active in helping monitor and expose environmentally destructive practices in China. Its media reports have helped pressure manufacturers to adopt more eco-friendly systems and for local governments and enforcement agencies to implement laws and tighten standards.

The group, however, admitted its own limitations as it failed to include hundreds of thousands of small operations that are also heavy polluters.

This article was originally published by Global Sources, a leading business-to-business media company and a primary facilitator of trade with China manufacturers and India suppliers, providing essential sourcing information to volume buyers through our e-magazines, trade shows and industry research.

Unlike many of the other recent posts we have put up, this one is focused on non-terrestrial food sources – the aquatics.. and the first few minutes paint a very grim picture.

So what we have done is vacuumed out the seas for just about everything there is

2. Green Chengdu, 100 electric buses to drive on streets this year
This year, the program of actions on the promotion of the industrialization of electric vehicles of Chengdu City had finally settled, learnt the journalist recently from the Municipal Energy Office. The program fixed the execution of the “Hundred-thousand-ten-thousands” project, the demonstration and popularization of electric buses, namely hundred urban public transport, thousand taxis and ten thousand private cars. According to the program phased targets, in 2010, Chengdu will complete the target of putting into the demonstrational operation of 100 electric buses and 100 electric city sanitation trucks. The State Grid Corporation Sichuan branch then launched a supporting facilities construction project, and will build 3 electric vehicle charging stations and 300 charging stacks in Chengdu this year. In 2012, Chengdu will form a production capacity of 20,000 electric vehicles.

3. Chengdu plans to invest 43.85 billion yuan to build modern agricultural base
Chengdu recently has published the Construction Plan of Modern Agricultural Base Project of Chengdu (2010-2017), planning to invest 43.85 billion yuan in the construction of modern agricultural base, and to realize 8.5% annual growth of the average peasantry income and achieve 2.8 million tons of total grain output in 2017, striving to build Chengdu into a “Western China first and domestic leading” modern agricultural development demonstration zone and the country’s important modern agricultural base.

4. “Water city of Abundance Heaven”, Jintang awarded as first “National Garden County” in Sichuan
Recently, through the initial approval of the Ministry of Construction, expert review and publicity, Jintang County of Chengdu has successfully obtained the title of “National Garden County” of 2009, not only becoming one of the 31 honored counties throughout the country in 2009, but also being the first in Sichuan, which signified that the county’s constructing of a new livable landscape city had taken a milestone step.

One of the more recent Asia Society videos caught my eye, Organics in Asia, as it contained within it several bits on China. The first of which was from Stoneyfield CEO (chapter 2) , who says he spent time in China from ‘79 – ‘86 (a true old China hand) who focused on the pure numbers and scale of organics in China.

Tongchu organics is on a road off a main road and surrounded by other local farms and a natural water canal on one side. Upon arrival we were shown their vegetable packing room, pretty well set up with glass windows and a group of ladies with aprons and caps working inside on the vegetable washing conveyor belt machine. Tongchu supplies many of the supermarkets, restaurants and hotels in town and they have always had a large lettuce and leaves supply to meet the demand for salad ingredients for Western tastes. This leaf washing was quite a novelty as it occurred to me that we weren’t shown the washing/packing area in the other farms. So far so good, we were impressed.

Next we went out to check out the water supply and a small pump/purifier machine which purifies the natural water sources. Again the quality of water and cleaning process is one I know people are interested in and all I can report is that all farms purify the water, just how safe it is for vegetable watering and us eating raw vegetables  I don’t know but as Tongchu produce a lot of salad mixes the leaves are pre-washed and then packed in bags/plastic boxes.

Tongchu is 100 hectares, in between in size of the previous 2 farms we visited, and is only 2 years old. Previously the owners sourced and imported organic products such as shampoo, dried foods etc. We were told the soil has been cleaned and that they use a combinations of soils and organic soil from Canada and Mongolia. Also reassuring was that the organic certifiers had come the other week to take soil samples and do ongoing tests. (the certification and ongoing monitoring of the industry is still not clear to me yet)

We walked around the farm, again most vegetables are grown in the tent/canopy enclosures and were told that because its winter they don’t grow out of season vegetables. We learnt that corn isn’t traditionally winter food and we shouldn’t eat it in this season. Lots of cabbage, lettuce, leafy greens, spinach, radishes could be observed and even though I’m no soil expert this soil did look very healthy and rich. Could have something to do with the newly installed watering system I spotted up above, and turns out its only 2 months old. Tongchu organics use a raised sprinkler system, similar to the other farms, and the similar hanging boards to catch bugs inside.

One thing we were pleasantly surprised with was the variety of herbs they have, Tongchu organics has one large tent in which they grow a comprehensive range of potted herbs. Everything from lemongrass, dill, basil, parsley, chocolate mint, to spearmint and rosemary, and one of their owners is working on home herb growing system which is pretty neat, so later this year people could have their own herb garden on their balconies. Also impressive was that all the vegetables and herbs in every tent were well labeled and identifiable for visitors. Tongchu organics also showed us another new glasshouse nearby on another property, inside they grow more leafy greens and a wide variety of young lettuce to supply to the restaurants and hotels.

Tongchu does do home deliveries like the other farms and are welcome to visitors at the farm by appointment. Their vegetables are readily available at City Super branches in Shanghai. http://www.tongchu.com.cn/

Overall whilst I’m no expert I think the farm visits so far have been worthwhile in starting to understand the nature of organic farms in and around Shanghai and answering the question on everyone’s mind; is it worth paying more for organic fruits and vegetables? My answer is yes. I don’t eat organic 100% yet but from hearing stories about Chinese farmers growing a patch for sale and a patch for themselves and all the potential pesticides and growth inducing chemicals on regular vegetables I’m more inclined to check out the organic suppliers and options in Shanghai. Again, I believe it is all relative and we can only do and buy what we believe is clean, healthy and affordable.

Check out the site here. or click on the individual activities below:

• Merry Countryside Tour in Baoshan Oriental Holiday Garden Zhangshu Village
• Fengxian Metropolitan Vegetable Farm
• Fengxian Yuhui Green Garden
• Merry Countryside Tour in Chongming Qianwei Village
• Jiading Huating Farm-Maoqiao Village
• Songjiang Wushe Agricultural Leisure and Sightseeing Park
• Jiading Malu Grapery
• Nanhui Shuyuanrenjia

For those of you who missed out on the first Coolbike Shanghai ride, you can relive it through the clip above, a 5 minute teaser into the background, goals, and motivations of the organization.

Website is on the way, with the next ride on April 18

A bit of a rant here, but why is it that within many of Shanghai’s restaurants it is still considered acceptable to smoke a cigar?  Over the weekend, while enjoying my lunch with a friend in a cafe where the entire menu is “healthy” a patron came in a lite up a cigar, which naturally polluted the entire 40 person space that was the main area of the cafe

And it was not the first time that this has happened.  In fact, it is something and while the city’s planners are debating a city wide ban on smoking cigarettes, I find it sad that its restaurant owners and managers lack the sense to ban the smoking of cigars in their main dining rooms.   Well documented health issues (PDF here) and impact to indoor CO2 levels aside, any restaurant that is willing to accept cigar smokers in its establishment simply do not care about the quality of their food or the experience the taste of their food is supposed to be providing.