From the Managing Editor's Desk
Dan Bolton,STiR managing editor
By Dan Bolton
Sustainability initiatives took on new urgency and scale in early 2018. Ambitious commitments to reduce, repurpose, and recycle by Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, Danone, Evian, PepsiCo, Starbucks, and Nestlé may prove the tipping point as the combined reach of these global firms touches every consumer on earth. Progress is underway on three fronts:
Manufacturers: Evian pledged to make its bottles with 100% recycled content by 2025 (the global average is 7% recycled content). Coke’s “World Without Waste” goal to collect and recycle 100% of consumer packaging by 2030 and to use 50% of this recycled content in new bottles is more than wishful thinking. These initiatives are driven by strong consumer support. Adopting goals at this scale incentivises innovation in logistics, energy generation, conservation, and waste management. Sustainable packaging, for example, is predicted to grow into a $440 billion industry by 2025.
The lifecycle of a plastic sack is 12 minutes—followed by 500 years of decomposition in landfills, rivers, lakes, or floating on the open sea. Plastics made from plants once seemed ideal. But plant-based plastics are not benign. They degrade in soil, but at sea they act the same as conventional plastic, eventually breaking down into microplastics. In addition, allocating millions of acres to grow enough plants for plastic diverts land and water essential to the food supply. Ultimately manufacturers must follow the example of companies like McDonald’s and switch from petroleum-based foam and plastics to easily recycled sustainable fiber, certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.
Producers: Last July a half-million coffee growers in Colombia adopted a self-imposed mandate of 13 sustainable farming practices at the inaugural World Coffee Producers Forum. In the next few years, most tea and coffee production will transition to smallholders. That is already nearly the case in India and a 2000-year-old tradition in China. Tea from smallholders are already quenching the thirst of new markets like Rwanda where half the tea grown is consumed in-country.
Sprawling plantations will remain in many growing regions, but work will be mechanized and closely monitored. In coffee and tea, the recent merger of the Rainforest Alliance and UTZ certifying bodies under the (SAN) Sustainable Agriculture Network standards, provides a framework for 3.1 million farmers in 51 countries cultivating 5.8 million hectares of coffee, tea, and cocoa. Independent studies show that third-party certification can result in higher yields, lower production costs, and better economic conditions over time. A world served by artisans and local entrepreneurs is what consumers strongly prefer and what these lands need to prosper. In this issue see, Certifications: A Communications Breakdown, pg 28 for ways to improve agricultural stewardship.
Retailers: Single-use packaging is too convenient for our own good. Takeaway cups are a flashpoint as billions are manufactured, shipped, and then discarded within minutes. Currently, only 1% of these cups are recycled globally due to a plastic coating to seal the cup. It is at the very end of the supply chain where retailers will make a big difference. McDonald’s, which operates 37,000 stores, said it will recycle consumer packaging in every store in each of the 100 countries it serves. Starbucks is experimenting with charging a paper cup fee, an approach that has proved effective in curbing the use of plastic bags. Behaviorists say that mandating a fee “nudges” consumers to take personal responsibility and limit use.
Ultimately consumers must accept the fact that inconvenient solutions are often the best. The citizens of Frieberg, Germany set an example for us all. Instead of banning takeaway cups, or charging an unpopular fee, the city introduced the Frieberg Cup, a sturdy plastic hot cup with a disposable lid that tea and coffee drinkers “rent” for a Euro. They get their money back when they return the cup to any of the city’s 100 participating stores. The sturdy cups are dishwasher safe. Stores clean and disinfect the cups, which can be reused up to 400 times. Retailers easily brand the disposable recycled lid.
Once well battered and nicked with age, these reusable foot soldiers for sustainability can retire with distinction to be recycled and serve again.