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terms of providing customers with information
to support their recycling behaviour. For exam-
ple, labelling plastic containers to indicate the
type of plastic used makes the recycling process
simpler.
Labelling programmes vary in terms of
whether or not they are mandatory or voluntary
within a particular industry, whether they
involve single or multiple issues, the level of
information they provide, and the level and
style of verification that underpins them. Each of
these dimensions has provided ample opportu-
nity for controversies about labelling schemes
within industries and between companies, reg-
ulators and NGOs. The EU eco-labelling
scheme, for example, has been mired in political
wrangling for much of the last decade, and has
had relatively little impact on consumption and
consumers within Europe as yet.
The evolving agenda – from green
products to sustainable value
The early years of green marketing, much like
the early years of industrial growth after the
Second World War, have been dominated by a
focus on products. Initially, greening centred on
specific physical products such as lead-free
fuel, recycled paper, organic food or cruelty-
free cosmetics. The key difference lay in the
emphasis on how the product was made, both
as a product attribute and as an influence on
consumer demand.
Gradually, the focus in green marketing
has broadened to include services such as
tourism and financial services. Globally, ser-
vices account for the majority of economic
activity and of economic growth, yet there is
little research on the sustainability impacts of
services, coupled with a lack of methodologies
to pursue sustainable service design and
development. Yet some elements of the
service economy, such as transport, travel
and hospitality, have considerable social and
environmental impacts. Typically, services are
a combination of intangible elements (services)
and physical elements (products) supported
by an infrastructure (systems). Viewing the
delivery of value to customers holistically as a
product service system (PSS) is an increasingly
common approach in research communities,
but it is an approach which most businesses
are, as yet, unfamiliar with.
Taking a holistic PSS-based view is impor-
tant, because increasingly there is a blurring of
the edges as to what exactly represents a
‘service’. Also, the extensive use of outsourcing
as a service in many industries can obscure
the nature and distribution of the socio-envi-
ronmental impacts of production. To make
progress towards sustainability, supply chain
management and service design will become
increasingly important business processes. It is
important for people involved in the design
of any product, service or PSS (including
marketers, design engineers, industrial design-
ers, procurers, supply chain managers and
entrepreneurs) to take account of life cycle
impacts to determine environmental and social
impacts, and to seek strategies to minimize
negative impacts.
The blurring of the distinction between
products, services and systems means that, for
the future of green marketing, perhaps we
should be thinking more in terms of ‘sustainable
solutions’. Sustainable solutions are products,
services or system changes that minimize neg-
ative and maximize positive sustainability
impacts (economic, environmental, social and
ethical) throughout and beyond the life cycle of
existing products or solutions, while fulfilling
acceptable societal demands and needs. In
improving these aggregate impacts, these solu-
tions are delivering ‘sustainable value’. These
concepts allow us to take a more holistic view of
the economy and its outputs, process and goals.
Sustainable solutions (whether products, ser-
vices or PSS), represent the outputs, and green
marketing and sustainable design represent the
processes which aim to deliver those outputs.
However, the ultimate goal should be to deliver
higher levels of net sustainable value (that satisfy
customers and other stakeholders) through
those outputs (Charter and Clark, 2002).