The General Merchandise Sector Working Group is the coordinating body for creating and reviewing Sustainability Measurement and Reporting System work related to product categories considered “general merchandise”. This group covers products that are durable, discrete manufactured goods that do not mesh well with our existing working groups. This requires coordination across multiple sectors since these products can combine a wide range of materials such as plastics, wood, glass, electronics, and textiles. Due to the lack of published work on many of these products, our research team uses life cycle modeling approaches to understand the issues and opportunities within these product life cycles.

To further understand the issues related to general merchandise product categories, efforts are underway to better understand the supply chain impacts of key materials used in these consumer goods. Starting with plastics and metals, the working group is developing Key Performance Indicators to enable consistent communication of the social and environmental impacts of these materials. Future materials work under this working group will focus on other common materials such as glass and ceramics.