“We’re in pursuit of building the largest sustainable materials library in the Greater Bay Area,” said Chuqing Feng, the lead of DP LAB, an innovation arm of China’s ceramic and porcelain tiles conglomerate Guangdong Dongpeng Holdings.
Feng admitted that she had believed sustainability was remote. She did use disposable straws at coffee shops and rarely carried a reusable bottle – convenience came first. “One person doesn’t make a real difference,” she thought.
Working at China’s leading sustainability innovation hub has changed that calculus. Sustainability, she said, is not a grand cause reserved for specialists. It is a series of small, repeatable acts, from refusing a plastic straw, reusing a tote bag to sorting waste and finishing what’s on your plate. Alone, they seem trivial. At scale, they shift systems.