Why Big Companies Are Moving Towards Zero Waste
After McDonalds announced that they are phasing out plastic straws from their restaurants, we take a look at what effect this could have on other businesses and society, Unilever’s contribution to sustainability, and why businesses are finally switching to zero waste.
Although the plastics industry maintains that its products are safe after many years of testing, there is evidence to the contrary. Richard Thompson, professor of Marine Biology in Plymouth University, and more than 60 of his peers contributed to a report in 2009, which aimed to present the first comprehensive review of the impact of plastics on the environment and human health, and offer possible solutions. As lead editor, Thompson said that “plastics are very long-lived products that could potentially have service over decades, and yet our main use of these lightweight, inexpensive materials are as single-use items that will go to the garbage dump within a year, where they’ll persist for centuries”. The report also listed out the potential dangers of single-plastics, including:
• Chemicals added to plastics are absorbed by human bodies. Some of these compounds have been found to alter hormones or have other potential human health effects.
• Plastic debris, laced with chemicals and often ingested by marine animals, can injure or poison wildlife.
• Floating plastic waste, which can survive for thousands of years in water, serves as mini transportation devices for invasive species, disrupting habitats.
• Plastic buried deep in landfills can leach harmful chemicals that spread into groundwater.
Plastic straws – why are they so controversial? Although no global usage figures exist, Americans alone use 500 million drinking straws every day. To help you comprehend this, 500 million straws would fill over 125 school buses. Over a year, this equals to 46,400 buses, and most of these straws will end up in our oceans! This is having a devastating effect on marine life. If we keep going at the rate that we are, there will be more straws than fish in the oceans by 2050. An estimated 71% of seabirds and 30% of turtles have been found with plastics in their stomachs. When they ingest plastic, marine life has a 50% mortality rate. In 2015, a shocking video of a turtle having a straw being removed from its nostril went viral. It seems that this video contributed to the movement to reduce straws and it seems that people are starting to take notice of this issue.
Recently, SumOfUs received over 400,000 signatures on a petition for McDonald’s to ‘lead the way in banning the plastic straws’ as they are ‘the most infamous fast-food restaurant in the world’. This is by no means an exaggeration. McDonald’s have 36,000 restaurants in over 100 countries, and serves over 68 million customers a day. In fact, has been known to influence society in the past through a process that has become known as McDonaldization. Coined by sociologist George Ritzer, McDonaldization occurs when a society adopts the characteristics of a the fast-food restaurant. Last week, McDonald’s finally announced that they were phasing out straws from their restaurants, and that they hoped to find a solution to a recyclable lid “within the next year.” UK CEO Paul Pomroy stated that customers were requesting that they remove straws and replace plastic lids.
In 2009, Paul Polman became chief executive of Unilever and launched a ‘Sustainable Living Plan’ a year later. Unilever’s website states: ‘Our vision is to double the size of our business, reduce our environmental footprint, and increase our positive social impact’. In a survey conducted by ‘sustainability experts’ GlobeScan, Unilever were named as the leaders in sustainability, ahead of companies such as Coca Cola and Nike. The company is largely reckoned to have the most comprehensive strategy of enlightened capitalism of any global firm. In 2012, Polman stated that “we think that businesses that are responsible and actually make contributing to society a part of their business model will be successful,” When asked about the higher costs, he suggested that “if what you do is properly planned and part of a business model, then it’s not a cost,” adding that climate change had cost Unilever over €200m in 2011.
Whatever the motives of these decisions, it is very encouraging and promising that these multinational companies are becoming more aware of their carbon footprint. Business can certainly profit from switching to a more zero-waste business concept. The graph below, which is from a survey conducted by global information and measurement company Nielsen in 2015, shows over 50% of people are willing to pay more for a brand that is environmentally friendly, known for a social value, and packaged with environmentally friendly materials.
Source: Nielsen, 2015 (adapted)
This evidence suggests that it may be beneficial for companies to switch to environmentally friendly products and to associate their brand as being eco aware. Although McDonald’s still has a long way to go, we hope that the influence of Unilever and McDonald’s, and the McDonaldization of societies, encourages more business, and people in general, to become more environmentally aware.
Sources:
Nielsen (2015) The Sustainability Imperative
Strawless Ocean, Understanding Plastic Pollution
SumOfUs, Demand McDonald’s to Ban Plastic Straws
The Economist (2014) ‘In Search of the Good Business; Unilever