it's decision time
This series is an insight-driven look at environmental issues facing the CPG industry. Each month, we survey media, handpick relevant stories, and interpret them for you. Sustainability Watch aims to spark conversation and inspire the CPG industry to help solve the planet's environmental problems.
What Sustainability Means to Consumers
Unveiled at the 2022 Clinton Global Initiative, Morning Consult has published an in-depth Sustainability Report that looks at industries ranging from financial services and technology to media and entertainment. Their Food and Beverage focused report highlights that 7 in 10 U.S. adults would consider purchasing from a food and beverage brand that prioritizes sustainability. While that statistic may not be all that surprising, some additional insights from the report are worth noting. For example, food and beverage placed second (behind automotive and mobility) as the industry in which sustainability is viewed as the most important. Additionally, consumers are more concerned about food and beverage brands’ environmental impact than their individual impact.
Despite the understood importance of supporting sustainable brands, at least 1 in 4 respondents admitted that they don’t know what makes a food and beverage product sustainable. From packaging material and production processes to ingredients used, there is still a level of education that is needed to help push consumers to make sustainable purchases. Luckily, what you put on your packaging can go a long way. According to the report, a consumer’s purchase interest and trust of a product increases when there is a “sustainably sourced” claim or label on packaging – highlighting how clear iconography, visual cues, and concise copywriting can make all the difference when a consumer goes to put a product in their basket.
Learn more here: Morning Consult
Creating a Culture of Transparency and Accountability
One topic that we haven’t touched on a whole lot in this series is deforestation, something that the CPG industry has a significant impact on through the use of soy, palm oil, and paper, to name a few. Recognizing the need to combat deforestation, the Consumer Goods Forum (a group of some of the world’s largest CPG companies) launched the Forest Positive Coalition of Action in 2020 with the commitment to “drive meaningful action at scale to help end this crisis and contribute to the regeneration of our world’s precious forests.”
Having just released its second annual report, entitled “Driving Transformational Change Throughout the Value Chain,” the Consumer Goods Forum outlines how they are going beyond public commitments to try and make a meaningful impact. “We recognise that previous approaches to tackling deforestation lacked specificity and follow-through on setting and meeting concrete goals, sharing actions publicly, and holding each other accountable,” they state. As such, a main focus of the publication is how coalition members have increased their reporting on KPIs and are learning through action. While this is all a positive indication of progress, the fact that coalition members are still only reporting on 62% of the 58 KPIs that have been outlined (a 6% increase from 2021) leaves room to be desired. Change doesn’t happen overnight, but transformational, systemic shifts require complete buy-in from a company and its stakeholders. It is the only way that trust and transparency can exist. Let’s hope the 2023 report has more tangible success stories and a more significant jump in the number of members participating in KPI reporting.
Learn more here: The Consumer Goods Forum
Plastic Recycling is a Dead-End Street
Now, for one of the more scathing reports we have come across since we started Sustainability Watch. The majority of plastic packaging simply cannot be recycled, says a new report from Greenpeace USA. Of the estimated 51 million tons of household plastic waste in the U.S. in 2021, only 2.4 million tons of that was actually recycled. “The world is at a decision point on single-use plastics and packaging,” Greenpeace states. “Will we allow companies to continue to promote the failed, toxic plastic recycling myth, or will we demand a pivotal change that dramatically reduces the production of single-use plastics?” They have called on companies to take the following steps:
· Urgently move to reuse systems and packaging-free approaches
· Commit to collaborating with others to standardize reusable packaging
· Phase out all single-use plastics
· Be transparent
· Advocate for political action to drive industry-wide transformation
It is, of course, worth noting that responsibility is not solely at the feet of CPG companies but also governments and consumers. That being said, it has become increasingly clear that recycling is not the silver bullet solution that many hoped for and promoted. Though moving to reusable packaging may seem like a daunting challenge, the opportunity to create something branded that lasts an extended amount of time should be viewed with excitement – think of the constant interactions a consumer would have with your brand and the repeat purchases reusable packaging could lead to. No more focus groups – the time for change is now.
Learn more here: Greenpeace
Find and read all of the Sustainability Watch issues on our website.
