Courtesy : sciencedirect.com
Green innovative product
Green innovativeness has long been considered one of the most significant components of economic progress, environmental sustainability, and improved living standards. Green innovation has developed as a strategic aim both in theory and practice because of the interaction between sustainability and innovation. The main objective of this study is to get a deeper understanding of the motivations behind, strategies towards, and problems of incorporating sustainable development issues into biodegradable plastic product innovation. Biodegradable materials have the potential to replace traditional petroleum-based plastics across a range of products and contribute to a more circular economy. The degradation might occur in the soil, water, anaerobic digestion facility, or compost, depending on the target application. However, the uptake of these materials will not succeed unless consumers, manufacturers, and regulators are convinced of their efficacy. Therefore, this study used a qualitative technique and numerous case studies to fulfil the research goals of getting more profound insights from biodegradable plastic firms and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to examine biodegradable plastic product innovation. To begin with, this study develops a conceptual model that highlights eight important environmental components of innovation in bioplastic products, such as saving energy, public policies, and reductions in material and pollution control, as outlined in product life cycles. Therefore, this research shows that firms are motivated to produce biodegradable plastic for various reasons. The findings also demonstrate that environmental rules may provide possibilities for risk mitigation, profitability and image preservation, and the establishment of new businesses and be a source of restrictions and regulatory compliance. The study’s findings are then summarized and incorporated into a concept that illuminates many elements of green product innovation while also answering the difficulties and dangers that businesses confront. Finally, the consequences for business leaders, academics, and policymakers are discussed.
Introduction
Since the Industrial Revolution, humankind’s environmental effect on the planet has become a worldwide issue. Preventive methods have been used to reduce environmental pollution concerns during the previous few dec. Furthermore, international environmental regulations such as the Kyoto protocol, Montreal Convention, and Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electronic and Electrical Equipment (RoHS) reflect the growing concern for international environmental protection as well as consumers’ increasing awareness of environmental issues and have had profound effects on industries around the world (M. Song et al., 2020). With the rise of the green economy and consumer awareness of environmental issues, protecting the environment has become one of a company’s social obligations and a profit opportunity. Bio-based and biodegradable materials have the potential to replace traditional petroleum-based plastics across a range of products and contribute to a more circular economy. Packaging materials and garbage collecting bags are two of the most prevalent uses for biodegradable plastics. Catering items, packaging, food containers, laminating papers, golf tees, sanitary items, and agricultural applications are among the other applications. All these biodegradable products have one thing in common: they can disintegrate into harmless end products within a specific time range at the end of their life cycle. The degradation might occur in the soil, water, anaerobic digestion facility, or compost, depending on the target application. However, the uptake of these materials will not succeed unless consumers, manufacturers, and regulators are convinced of their efficacy. Companies actively pursuing a higher degree of environmental protection may transform the danger of environmental laws into environmental opportunities, resulting in improved organizational performance and profitability (Awan et al., 2021).
In order to accomplish these goals, corporations will have to alter their business strategy while simultaneously redefining their corporate mission, resulting in a “green enterprise” (one that practices sustainability through significant sustainability initiatives while also engaging in green production and innovation) that aims to remain relevant in a competitive environment . This type of intention among businesses indicates a paradigm shift in the environmental discussion, showing that market-driven product innovation of new technology, rather than legislation alone, fosters change toward environmental quality and social benefit. Even while current developments indicate that businesses are increasingly developing biodegradable plastic products, there is still a lot of misunderstanding about what defines sustainable and green development .
Even though no consumer product has a zero environmental impact, the terms ‘green products’ or ‘environmental products’ are commonly used in business to identify those that attempt to preserve or improve the natural environment by energy conservation and resources and minimizing the use of harmful substances, pollution, and waste’ . As illustrated in a conceptual framework for bioplastic product innovation, this concept illustrates how various benefits of green products emphasize major environmental concerns such as raw material, pollution, resources, energy, and toxic waste (see Fig. 1).
Bioplastic product innovation, as presented in Fig. 1, is several faceted procedures in which eight key categories of ecological focus – government policy, manufacturing processing, efficient use of materials, efficient use of energy, buyers/end users, disposal, pollution control, and end-of-life options – are illustrated based on their significant environmental impact at various phases of the invention’s life cycle, use of the product, disposal and end-of-life options . It is vital to remember that not all products have such a substantial impact on the environment at each stage of the physical product life cycle. The footprint originates from all elements (energy, material, and pollution). Still, almost all products significantly impact the environment at least once. For example, the environmental impact of a furniture firm may essentially be on forests (material) . Still, the significant environmental impact of a washing machine producer happens during product use (water use, energy use, and detergent use). Other high-impact sectors, such as plastic, automobiles and oil and gas, may have a larger environmental footprint since they encompass all phases of the physical life cycle (use of product, manufacturing, and disposal).
Solving sustainability concerns in many aspects, including materials selection, energy usage, and pollution prevention, is important at each product’s life cycle stage. Doing so may make such products stand out in the marketplace. However, introducing innovation will need a higher degree of company environmental obligation and a consistent degree of execution of the company’s climate regulations to put innovative green products into effect and overcome difficulties and uncertainties . During the literature review, it was discovered that most bio-based and biodegradable plastic film evaluations focused on just one dimension of sustainability, a few on two dimensions, and even fewer on three dimensions. Academic and industry interest in biodegradable polymers for sustainability has exploded in recent years. In general, biodegradable plastic film evaluations have focused on the product itself. As the utilization of biodegradable plastic film expands, more companies are focusing on long-term sustainability. The scope, analytical product systems, case decisions, and examining indicators differ in the research under evaluation.
Furthermore, a literature analysis indicates that little is known about why and how firms include ecological protection in developing new products (Dangelico and Pujari, 2010). Multiple stakeholders’ societal and environmental demands are causing a fast change in the economic climate. In order to attract, engage, and keep customers, marketers are confronting growing hurdles in addressing sustainability problems. Greenmarkets are growing and are expected to continue to grow in the future. Researchers must study biodegradable plastic product innovation considering these shifts and expectations. Organizations must also learn how to incorporate sustainability concerns into their product creation to meet their social, environmental, and economic interests due to new public expectations (Dangelico and Pujari, 2010). The main objective of this study is to get a deeper understanding of the motivations behind, strategies towards, and problems of incorporating sustainable development issues into biodegradable plastic product innovation.
In order to accomplish this, the article digs deep into biodegradable plastic producers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to learn why and how biodegradable plastic companies are reacting to sustainable development trials and integrating them into their newly formed product management and development procedure. We look at 1). various motives that influence entrepreneurs to produce biodegradable plastic products; 2). product environmental policies and targets; 3). various dimensions of biodegradable plastic product development (e.g., packaged food, manufacturing process stage, and environmental practices); and 4). challenges that company face in marketing and promoting biodegradable plastic products. The parts that follow give further information on the methodology as well as a discussion of the significant findings. Finally, in addition to analyzing the study’s results, a framework is created to aid in understanding the problems and potential solutions for incorporating environmental sustainability into biodegradable plastic product innovation.
The remainder of this article is formulated in the following way. Literature is analyzed in section 2 (green innovation, end-of-life and circular economy principles, methods of measuring biodegradation and environmental risks associated with the use of biodegradable plastics) are discussed in section 2. The research materials and methodology are stated in section 3, and some discussion and management implications in conjunction with the results and analysis are discussed in section 4. Finally, in addition to recommending more research directions, discuss the study’s conclusion and limitations in sections 5 Discussion, 6 Conclusions and implications.
Section snippets
Green innovation
According to the literature on green innovation, academics typically refer to internal sustainable development within businesses as green management (Singh et al., 2020). According to prior research on the subject (Seman et al., 2019), a modest modification inside a company might also be considered a type of innovation. As a result, organizations that implement green management and make improvements to their goods and processes, no matter how little, are engaged in green innovation.
According to
Methodology
Through interviews conducted, corporate records, and publicly available data sources, this study used a qualitative technique to fulfil the research goals of getting more profound insights into firms’ green product innovation. To address contextual or complicated multivariate elements of the phenomena of environmental sustainability of new product development, an inductive multiple case study approach is used (Dangelico and Pujari, 2010). Multiple instances give the researcher a greater
The Firm’s motivation for developing biodegradable plastic products
Greening the innovation process and incorporating environmental sustainability problems into corporate strategy is becoming a strategic potential for organizations. For this reason, environmental sustainability is becoming more popular among enterprises as strategic planning and establishing environmental plans increases. Dangelico and Pujari (2010)found that the factors that drive businesses to go “green” might be quite diverse. Researchers were able to understand better the reasons that drive
Discussion
Our research shows that firms are motivated to produce green products for various reasons. Our findings also demonstrate that environmental rules may provide possibilities for risk mitigation, profitability and image preservation, and the establishment of new businesses and be a source of restrictions and regulatory compliance. The literature has found several advantages to incorporating environmental sustainability considerations into product development and company operations, including
Conclusions and implications
This study looked at eco-design practice (biodegradable plastic) in organizations and non-profits that are committed to environmental sustainability. The paper uses a qualitative technique to shed light on the unpredictability of the procedure for developing green products, which includes macro and micro environmental concerns. This research contributes to the knowledge of the bioplastic product development process of green product innovation. A life cycle assessment may be used as a technique
Suggestions for future research
In light of the present level of research and knowledge, the author has given several recommendations that should be considered for future studies to discover a long-term solution to the problem. However, although biodegradable plastics have arisen as a potential solution to the plastic waste problem, there is a scarcity of information about the whole life cycle of these materials. In order to predict the real-time frame for complete biodegradation of these p at the end of their useful lives
