Name: Mehr Un Nisa Javed
Professor: Marcela Godoy
Date: 6th November’ 2019
Objective:
Document and post your discoveries and thoughts on the workshop and readings.
Read the two readings;
- Collective Responsibility Social Innovation in China
- Circular Business Models Developing a Sustainable Future, Mats Larsson Multiple-Helix Collaboration for the Development of a Circular Economy
Workshop:
Adele from “Precious Plastic” came to give a workshop on making us help make a stool. We started with the introduction about Precious Plastic and how it was started in Shanghai. It was very interesting to hear how they started from a small scale and took it to a larger scale. This shows that you just need motivation to keep moving forward even though you would face many setbacks in the way.
For making the stool we first sorted out all the plastic and then we had to shred the plastic. After shredding the plastic we put it in the oven and then heated it on 180 degrees. After that Marcela and Adele pressed it an added more shredded plastic and then put it in the oven again. After that the plastic took a long time and I waited until 5pm to see the results and then the plastic had melted and then they took it out and then pressed it again. They left it in the press for a long time so that the it could be a smooth surface. The stool however, could not be fully completed due to time constraints so we just got the upper seat part of the stool and did not work on the legs of the stool.
Here are some photos from the workshop:
Readings Response
I really found the two readings really interesting and my takeaway from the first readings “Collective Responsibility Social Innovation in China” is that China is a very big country in size and population therefore, in order to address the big problems in China which are being addressed by the social enterprise, many stakeholder would need to work together and then only the will be able to Bring a collective impactful impact. But, we know that as this would bring a vast amount of opportunities so then we must not be hesitant to fact the challenges which are brought up with the opportunities. Thus, we can only stay positive and look forward to more and more opportunities for the social innovation by non-profit and profit organizations.
The second reading was also very meaningful and the biggest takeaways for me were; that different authorities play different role for a project and for me the individual role was very important because as they are the real buyers of the products produced. “Through purchases, people every day decide which companies to support. Every time a person goes shopping he or she selects a number of products. Purchases could be viewed as votes in favour of some companies and votes against others, the ones that a particular customer decides not to purchase goods or services from.”Therefore,”One of the challenges related to the development of a circular econ- omy is to persuade the powerful community of consumers to increasingly demand products from companies that apply circular models and buy less from companies that do not. Without large numbers of consumers or procurement officers at companies that put circularity ahead of other criteria, it will be difficult for the circular economy and companies with offerings based on circular flows to grow.” Here, we can see that the main key players in the industry are actually the consumers and we play the biggest difference. I myself, being a consumer need to reflect on my practices because my decision would affect the future of the industry and would decide if the circular model will be prevalent or not. This made me realize about my importance as a buyer and how I need to be really careful and in future shift my choices If I want to have a change and bring a positive impact to my community. Thus, we need to be more cautious and focus on what Mats Larrson said, “The enemy, as many people have already realized, is us!”
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