Product Development Roles Make a Sustainable Impact

Sometimes the biggest wins can spring from the smallest moments. Who would have thought that a short conversation with a coworker would lead two employees to develop the Freecycle@Work recycling model that gets folks at over 2,500 companies to turn one employee's trash into another's treasure.

Tom Cushna, Staff Business Analyst at Intuit, heard a colleague fretting over traditional recycling models like Craigslist and Freecycle: I'm single, live alone and don't want strangers coming over to my house to pick up an item. Tom realized that if people could exchange their belongings in an environment where they felt safe, like their everyday office, they'd be much more likely to keep these items out of landfills.

And that's how Tom and his colleague Greg Collins, Senior Marketing Manager, came up with Freecycle@Work. Building from an existing Intuit product then taking it a step further, the Freecycle@Work platform allows employees to establish recycling programs in their own workplace by setting up an online exchange board where one person posts an item they'd like to get rid of, and another can claim it (for free). Ultimately, the goal is to reduce landfill waste and educate coworkers about reuse. Even though Freecycle@Work is now in use at places like Netflix, NASA, and the United Nations, the path from idea to reality certainly wasn't a cakewalk. They needed top-level buy-in at Intuit. Tom explains that a program like this has to be an explicit priority.

ut while buy-in from upper management helped get the program launched, it's success is due largely to the fact that it capitalizes on that emotional connection people have to their possessions. Tom and Greg knew that it's hard to let go of items that hold precious sentimental value. But when participants know their items are going home with someone they may already know through the office, or to a needy organization, they're more likely to donate items. Tom cites the example of the employee who felt really good when my dad's old desk found a new home with an Intuit engineer moving to a new apartment.

Have a similar project in mind for your company but aren't sure how to get it off the ground? Join Tom and Greg on March 20 for Driving Sustainability from a Functional Role: Product Management. Part of a special Issues in Depth series moderated by Jo Mackness, Executive Director of the Center for Responsible Business at Berkeley's Haas School of Business and outgoing Net Impact Board Chair, this online dialogue will give you the opportunity to speak directly with the founders of Freecycle@Work and get your questions answered. Because you don't have to be a CSR Manager to redefine how your company does business.