How SME’s in Manufacturing Fail to Embrace Sustainability

Sustainability has undoubtedly become one of the most talked-about, and most misunderstood, topics in modern manufacturing.

Across the sector, particularly among small and medium-sized enterprises, sustainability is often framed as a destination rather than a direction. A label to achieve. A phrase to adopt. A promise to make.

But when sustainability is reduced to a soundbite, the result is rarely meaningful change.

The pressure on SMEs

Manufacturing SMEs operate in a complex environment. Rising raw material costs, energy pressures, compliance requirements, staffing challenges, and customer expectations all compete for attention. Unlike large corporations, smaller manufacturers don’t always have dedicated sustainability teams or the luxury of long-term R&D budgets.

As a result, sustainability initiatives can become reactive rather than strategic.

Common approaches include:

• Switching to materials that sound greener without fully assessing performance, lifespan, or compliance

• Highlighting isolated environmental actions while ignoring wider impact

• Relying on vague terminology to meet perceived expectations of stakeholders

These shortcuts are understandable, but they are also where sustainability efforts begin to unravel. This isn’t to say businesses don’t care, it’s more that complexity is replaced with oversimplification. 

The oversimplification of “green” materials

One of the most persistent misconceptions in manufacturing is the idea that biodegradable materials are always the most sustainable option.

In reality, sustainability is contextual, a principle embedded within lifecycle assessment methodologies such as ISO 14040 and ISO 14044, which emphasise evaluating environmental impact across a product’s entire life, from raw material extraction to end-of-life treatment.

Biodegradable materials can be highly effective in single-use or short-lifecycle products. But in regulated manufacturing environments (particularly those tied to safety, durability, and compliance), biodegradability isn’t always achievable without compromise.

Taxi licence plates are a clear example.

They must withstand:

• Prolonged exposure to the weather

• Daily operational wear over several years 

• Tampering and misuse

• Strict local authority specifications and enforcement standards

At present, the materials capable of meeting these requirements cannot be biodegradable without compromising longevity or safety. Suggesting otherwise doesn’t push sustainability forward, it instead obscures the reality of the product’s purpose.

When durability is essential, the most responsible environmental choice isn’t biodegradability. It’s reducing waste across the full lifecycle of the product.

Where “biodegradable” can mislead

One of the reasons biodegradable materials are so readily embraced is perception. The word itself implies disappearance; the idea that a product will simply dissolve back into nature, leaving no trace behind.

In practice, this is rarely how biodegradable materials behave. Outside of controlled industrial composting facilities, many biodegradable plastics do not encounter the temperature, oxygen, and microbial conditions required for complete decomposition. Industry estimates suggest that between 80-90% of compostable or biodegradable plastics entering landfill are not exposed to the conditions required to meet their design-stage standards, meaning they effectively fail to break down as intended (source).

Furthermore, as biodegradable plastics fragment, they can contribute to microplastic pollution, which has been documented in more than three-quarters of soil samples in recent studies (source).

In landfill environments, where oxygen is limited, biodegradable materials break down anaerobically and can contribute to methane emissions, with waste systems accounting for around 15% of global methane output in some climate assessments (source). At the same time, incomplete degradation may result in fragmentation rather than full mineralisation.

These outcomes are rarely visible to the end user, which makes them easy to overlook. But they matter.

Sustainability decisions cannot be judged by intent alone. They must be assessed by what actually happens to a material once it leaves use.

Recycling as an honest solution

This is where recycling plays a critical role, and where nuance matters.

Recycling doesn’t carry the same marketing appeal as biodegradable materials, but in many manufacturing contexts, it delivers a far more tangible environmental benefit. By keeping materials in circulation for longer, recycling reduces landfill waste, limits unnecessary remanufacture, and lowers the demand for virgin raw materials.

For manufacturing products with long operational lifespans, recycling is not simply an alternative to biodegradability. It is often the more responsible environmental choice.

Circularity over degradation

This is where recycling aligns far more closely with real-world sustainability.

By enabling materials to be returned, recovered, and reused, recycling supports a circular approach rather than a linear one. Products are designed with their end-of-life in mind, not as an afterthought, but as part of the system. This approach reflects the principles of the circular economy, as formalised in the ISO 59000 series, which prioritises material retention, value preservation, and waste prevention.

At MOGO, this principle underpins its recycling scheme for expired taxi licence plates. Rather than entering landfill or fragmenting into the environment, plates are collected and reprocessed, extending material life and reducing unnecessary waste.

Crucially, this approach also avoids the environmental trade-offs associated with biodegradation in landfill, including methane production and microplastic pollution.

The quiet risk of Greenwashing

As sustainability becomes a commercial expectation, greenwashing has followed closely behind.

Greenwashing doesn’t always take the form of outright false claims. More often, it shows up as selective storytelling, overstated environmental benefits, or even a reluctance to acknowledge limitations. 

For SMEs, this is rarely intentional. But even unintentional greenwashing can undermine trust, particularly with informed customers and public sector partners.

This is why standards such as ISO 14021 emphasise that environmental claims must be accurate, verifiable, and clearly defined. From this perspective, transparency is not optional, it is foundational.

The most sustainable organisations are not those claiming perfection, they are the ones willing to say “this is where we are, and this is how we’re improving.”

Transparency, not terminology, is what builds credibility.

Sustainability as a cultural mindset

Perhaps the biggest lesson for SMEs is that sustainability cannot be treated as a box to tick off.

It is not achieved through a single initiative or one headline claim. It is built through a culture of responsibility, where decisions are questioned, trade-offs are considered, and progress is measured realistically.

A sustainability focused culture asks:

• What happens to this product at the end of its life?

• Where can waste be reduced without compromising safety or quality?

• How can systems be improved rather than replaced?

This approach aligns with broader global priorities such as UN Sustainable Development Goal 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and Goal 13 (Climate Action), both of which emphasise systemic improvement over isolated action.

This mindset doesn’t deliver instant results. But over time, it delivers credibility, resilience, and genuine environmental benefit.

Moving the conversation forward

Sustainability in manufacturing will never be simple, and it shouldn’t be presented as such.

For SMEs, real progress comes from rejecting oversimplification, avoiding greenwashing, and focusing instead on honest, practical solutions that work in the real world.

Sustainability is not about being perfect, it’s about being consistently accountable.

And for manufacturing businesses willing to engage with that complexity, the opportunity isn’t just environmental, it’s cultural, operational, and long-term.