About

In our opinion, environmental responsibility is not an afterthought or a marketing tool. It is a founding value that guides the development of all our products. We believe it is our responsibility as designers and engineers to actively reduce the environmental impacts associated with our products and to communicate these impacts to you.

Life Cycle Assesment

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a "cradle-to-grave" approach for assessing the impacts associated with our products. An LCA model considers the full lifetime of a product, which can be represented generally by the following stages:

Raw Material Extraction
Almost every material we deal with on a day-to-day basis has been extracted and processed from its raw form. For example, metals are derived from metal ores, which in turn are extracted in large mines. Plastics are derived from crude oil.
Manufacturing
Raw materials are turned into final products through manufacturing processes, which often involve multiple stages, each with its own associated impact. Recycled materials, while environmentally favorable, still have an associated impact as they must be collected and processed/manufactured into new forms.
Transportation
As a result of our complex global supply chain, many products have multiple transportation impacts associated with them. For example, raw materials are first transported to a manufacturing facility. Final products may then be transported to temporary warehouses, and then on to the customer.
Use
Many products generate environmental impacts when they are being used. Cars, for example, have a large use-phase impact due to the emissions they generate when they are driven. Electronics consume energy during their use phase.
Disposal
Ideally, a product's impact upon disposal would be reduced by recycling or reusing its materials. The reality, however, is that many products are difficult to recycle due to the materials they are made from or because it is difficult to separate these individual materials. In many cases, products are also incorrectly disposed of and end up in large landfills where they continue to have a toxic impact on the environment for many years.

We use simple LCAs during the initial phases of product development to decide between various design alternatives and to assess the impact of individual product features. We then conduct a more rigorous LCA, which is featured in the environmental report that accompanies each of our products.

We have strong past experience in sustainable design and use a holistic approach to assess the environmental impact of our products that extends beyond basic LCA analysis. We take into account other factors like human behavior and consider how these may affect our products’ impact.

Product Durability

One effective way to reduce a product's environmental impact is to extend its lifetime. This is a guiding value for our environmental efforts, which also complements our approach to craftsmanship in design. We use durable materials such as metals, which may have a higher initial impact associated with them than other alternatives such as cheap plastics. "Investing" in this initial impact pays off however, when the fact that these materials contribute to the longevity of our products is considered.

In future products, durability will also be promoted through easy repairability. We have plans for establishing comprehensive product repair and refurbishment programs to allow you to enjoy your LittleBonsai product for longer.

Local Production

By producing locally, we have more control and insight into the manufacturing processes that create our products and their associated environmental impacts. In addition, we control the sourcing of our materials, working with local suppliers when possible.

Environmental Report

As a cornerstone of our efforts in environmental transparency, we release an environmental report with each of our products. This report provides a detailed overview of the LCA analysis and describes some of the decisions that went into reducing the product's environmental impact. A summary of this report is included in the product packaging, along with instructions for appropriate disposal of the product.

The Importance of Terminology

We are very picky about terminology, but for good reason. You may have noticed that the word "green" cannot be found anywhere on this website. In addition, we are cautious about the use of the word "sustainability," as we often see it misrepresented in marketing campaigns. Our goal is to be as genuine and transparent as possible about our environmental efforts. We work by appreciating that every product and every material has an impact associated with it, derived from the material’s extraction, manufacturing, transportation, use, and disposal. With this foundation, we apply eco-design techniques and analysis to reduce the environmental impact of every stage of our product's life cycle.