FORCE Technology developed a model for environmental assessment of products for Re-bag. The tool which is based on cradle-to-grave environmental calculations (LCA), are now used actively in sales and marketing of i.e. reusable shopping bags.

Danish Re-bag, founded in 1999, sells reusable shopping bags, mule bags, boxes and other packaging and accessories for companies. Re-bag focuses on exclusive, environmentally friendly and recyclable products and they therefore need documentation of the environmental load.

Environmental assessment, knowledge sharing and marketing 

In a project supported by the Danish Agency for Science Technology and Innovation knowledge coupon scheme, FORCE Technology has developed a tool for environmental assessment on behalf of Re-bag A/S. 

The environmental assessment tool is to be used in sales as documentation for the products’ environmental impacts, thus supporting Re-bags and their customers’ ”green” identity and brand. We held a workshop for Re-Bags’ employees where they were trained in marketing of ’green products’ based on solid documentation from the tool, thereby avoiding ’greenwashing’.

We have tailored an Excel-model based on data collection and analyses, in which the products’ environmental impact from manufacturing, use and disposal are included. The model is very flexible, e.g. you may compare the materials’ environmental impact paired with the information as to the products expected lifetime and various countries’ waste disposal policies. 

We have trained the employees with Re-bag A/S using the model, so that they may research and document the environmental impact from the products on their own. They have subsequently translated the tool into Danish and Italian and expect to get it translated into French and Flemish for use in their subsidiaries.

Implementation in organisation

According to Mette Vinding, CSR- and marketing responsible with Re-bag A/S, throughout the project focus has been on the specific use of the environmental assessment as part of the sales- and marketing activities: ”We expect that it will have a favourable impact on our business and of course on our environment”.   

According to Mette Vinding, Re-bag A/S is very determined to get more customers ”to make the conscious environmental choice”: “When our customers in retailing opt in for the environment, their customers will also opt in for the environment, and why not tell about it? It is brand and identity building, when performed honestly and correctly without being shallow”.