Abstract

As with quality, waste results when sustainability is not designed into a product or service. Sustainability uses long-term thinking and planning to meet the needs of the present without compromising future generations. Quality and sustainability are intertwined and provide win/win/win solutions for both the short-term and long-term effects of design on social responsibility, environmental performance and business results. These elements comprise a triple bottom line that sustainability pioneers William McDonough and Michael Braungart prefer to think of as a triple top line since such solutions can come about only by building them into a design up front. Great designs have quality and win/win/win built into them from the beginning, which may help alleviate the need for government regulation.