Strategic CSR - Recycling plastics

The article in the url below contains some depressing statistics about plastics recycling:

“While some 52% of paper, 36% of metals, and 22% of glass get recycled, only 7% of all plastics do, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.”

In general, only No.1 or No.2 plastics are recycled. There is an insufficient market for Nos.3 to 7 to make recycling them sufficiently profitable. Most people, however, continue to throw all kinds of plastics into the recycling container:

“Sadly, all the things not labeled 1 or 2 get pulled out at the recycling facility and are trucked off to a big, smelly hole in the ground, where they will deposit their petroleum-based chemicals into the soil for the next 500 years.”

In addition to depressing statistics, the article also does a good job of explaining that there are no easy answers to this problem. The author describes how the environmentally aware firm Stonyfield Farm considered changing its yoghurt pots from No.5 to No.2 plastic, for example, but ended up rejecting the plan on the basis that it would increase the amount of plastic used in making the pots because No.2 plastic is less sturdy that No.5 plastic. In addition:

“… if Stonyfield switched, most communities wouldn't recycle them anyway -- turns out that No. 2 tubs can't be mixed with No. 2 bottles because they're made from different chemicals.”

And, of those firms that are recycling plastics, a lot of it is done off-shore, often in China, where reports indicate that:

“… employees in Chinese recycling facilities are exposed to toxic fumes from the materials they are recycling. Which means that my recycling options just got a whole lot more complicated. Some choice: noxious chemicals in the soil versus the health of Chinese workers. It really isn't easy being green.”

Have a good weekend.
Dave

Bill Werther & David Chandler
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
© Sage Publications, 2006
http://www.sagepub.com/Werther

Green Business: Plastic Potion No. 9
Recycling should be the easy way to get people involved in helping the environment. Too bad the businesses behind it are blowing it.
Fast Company Magazine
From: Issue 128 | September 2008 | Page 103 | By: Melanie Warner
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/128/green-business-plastic-potion-no-9.html

Strategic CSR - Patagonia

The press release in the first url below tracks the evolution of the cutting edge practices some firms are adopting regarding CSR reporting (Chapter 4: CSR Audit and Report, p72; Issues: Auditing CSR, p94):

“With its Footprint Chronicles, Patagonia is taking the next step in a broader trend toward greater transparency on corporate social and environmental impacts. A website that tracks and discloses “the good and the bad” in Patagonia’s supply chain, the Footprint Chronicles build on a history of bold actions by other companies seeking to be “candid and forthright” in their transparency.”

Greater levels of transparency allow a firm’s stakeholders to better understand a firm’s actions and compare it to expectations. Minimizing the information asymmetry that exists between firms that control access to much of the information stakeholders need to evaluate firm performance stands to reduce uncertainty and head off potential unnecessary clashes. Rather than see greater transparency as a burden or intrusion, therefore, the most progressive firms will view it as an uncertainty reduction and risk management tool in its attempts to meet the needs and demands of key stakeholder groups:

“Patagonia, like its predecessors, figures its customers and investors are savvy enough to know that problems exist in its manufacturing processes. So instead of glossing over them, Patagonia exposes the problems--in hopes of partnering with its customers to create solutions.”

Additional detail about Patagonia’s “Footprint Chronicles” initiative—“an effort to document and share with customers information about the environmental effects of every link in the supply chain,” is contained in the article in the second url below.

Take care
Dave

Bill Werther & David Chandler
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
© Sage Publications, 2006
http://www.sagepub.com/Werther

The Latest Corporate Social Responsibility News - Patagonia Takes Next Step in Corporate Transparency and Accountability
Borrows Elements from The Gap, Timberland, and Stonyfield
CSRwire Weekly News Alert
http://www.csrwire.com/News/11480.html

Measuring Footprints
A new program at Patagonia tells consumers about the eco-impact of its products -- and helps the company get greener.
Fast Company Magazine
From: Issue 124 | April 2008 | Pages 59-60 | By: Alissa Walker
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/124/measuring-footprints.html