A round-up of the recent sustainability news stories from April and May 2008.
COCA COLA T-SHIRTS MADE FROM RECYCLED BOTTLES
Coca Cola have brought sustainable fashion one step closer with the launch of their new T-shirt line “Drink 2 Wear” made from recycled plastic bottles. The T-shirts, which became available in select Wal-Mart stores across the US, are a blend of recycled plastic and cotton and feature slogans such as “Rehash your Trash” and “Make your Plastic Fantastic.” Each man’s T-shirt reuses four PET bottles, while each woman’s reuses three. The company says the idea is to promote the recycling of used beverage bottles into renewable, reusable products. Stuart Kronauge, vice president, marketing Coca Cola North America said: “If the 200 million Wal-Mart shoppers in the US purchase their shirts, they will help us reuse and divert more than 700 million bottles from the waste stream.”
REPORT OUTLINES THE CHALLENGES OF ECO-PROMISES
Forum for the Future teamed up with Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) in April, to produce a guide for companies wanting to make green claims about their products and services. The report is titled Eco-promising: communicating the environmental credentials of your products and services and it outlines the problems customers and companies face in addressing the minefield of ‘eco-promises’ found on the labels of products. The guide makes suggestions about which issues to highlight, how best to communicate these issues and how claims can be aligned with broader business objectives. There is also consideration given to the increasing possibility of a consumer backlash.
COMPANIES FOUND TO HAVE LACK OF SUSTAINABILITY GOALS
There was a lack of quantifiable goals among the sustainable policies of 50% of the international companies surveyed in a recent poll by GCI-Infiniti. While 95% of the 150 corporations questioned had sustainable initiatives, only 34% considered their sustainable commitments would benefit them in a business sense. Commenting on the findings, GCI UK were keen to emphasise that there are strong arguments for involving entire workforces in sustainable efforts as improved communication leads to improved productivity. The WBCSD took this thinking further; stating that commitment to sustainable practices would attract and retain staff, customers and investors. GCI, a global public relations agency, and Infiniti Research conducted the poll of 150 US and UK based organizations from six different industry sectors – property, law, pharmaceutical, technology, consumer goods and government — to identify priorities on sustainable development within their overall corporate social responsibility initiatives.
GUIDE TO ETHICAL FOREST PRODUCT PURCHASING
A new guide has been launched to help business executives involved in the purchase of wood and paper based products do so without damaging the forests and communities from where they are acquired. Sustainable Procurement of Wood and Paper-based Products: An Introduction and its accompanying Guide and Resource Kit have been published by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the World Resources Institute. The guide is meant as an information and decision support tool to help companies develop sustainable procurement policies and provide information on existing approaches to buying wood and paper-based products from legal and sustainable sources. It is aimed at business executives who are significant users and purchasers of pulp, paper, packaging, timber and wood-based products who do not have ‘in-house’ forestry expertise.
Contact The World Business Council for
Sustainable Development 0041 22 839 3100 www.wbcsd.org
FOOD AND DRINK COMPANIES STILL TOO THIRSTY WITH WATER
Water sustainability is some way off for many food and drinks companies, according to a new report published by the Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility. Taking into account the water use policies and performance of fifteen leading British and Irish food and drinks businesses, Water Sustainability: Meeting the Challenge discovered that while some companies were responding to water sustainability issues, others were flagging behind. Diageo, SAB Miller and Unilever came out best in the analysis which included looking at agricultural supply chains and overseas operations. Food and drinks companies are among the top industrial water users. “Water-thirsty industries such as food and drinks processing have a responsibility to manage their water use accountably and sustainably,” says Suzanne Ismail, researcher at the ECCR. Those companies that are quick to address water sustainability issues may reap both financial and reputational benefits.
Contact The Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility
IRELAND OUTLINES ITS ORGANIC AMBITIONS
Irish Food Minister Trevor Sargent has announced plans to increase organic production in Ireland to 5% of land area by 2012. Launching the Organic Farming Action Plan 2008 – 2012 in April, the Minister said the target was “challenging” but “achievable”. The Action Plan outlines 60 actions, and has four main objectives: to increase organic production in line with market trends, increase knowledge, develop the organic market at home and abroad, and increase public buying opportunities for organic produce.
In Ireland farmers are given financial incentives to aid with the conversion period when turning organic. According to Minister Sargent there were several clear benefits in going organic including more food for each unit of energy input, retention of carbon in the soil, and encouraging a soil rich in microbes, root fungi and essential plant nutrients.
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