Big business must respond to meet consumers expectations on sustainability

A relatively small (yet growing) group of caring and forward thinking consumers are doing their best to live in the most sustainable way possible, a lifestyle which should be celebrated and encouraged. Should it be solely down to the consumer to make that change?

Who is responsible?

Whilst we know that consumers are more concerned about their carbon footprint (and 87% of UK consumers say they are concerned about plastic), only 3% (!) think the responsibility lies with consumers themselves. And perhaps they’re right. We’re all trying to do the right thing, often going out of our way to deal with waste materials or find alternatives that cause less damage to the planet. But does that responsibility rely entirely on us, the consumer?

Business needs to step up

It’s now time for businesses to get out in front, solving the issues we now have, or better still avoiding using unsustainable materials like single use plastic altogether. After all, research suggests that 83% of people trust a company more if it's socially or environmentally responsible. In fact if your brand isn’t helping your consumers improve their environmental and social footprint, then you’re in danger of disappointing 88% of them. Recent research from the North London Waste Authority revealed that if two businesses were identical in every other way, 93% of people would shop at the one that had reduced single-use plastic.

Transparent and genuine environmental changes are key

With this knowledge comes caution. Transparency within business is key. Consumers need to be able to see that whatever eco or environmental changes businesses are making are genuine and are positively impacting the planet, rather than just being used as another marketing tactic to part them from their hard earned money. There needs to be consistency throughout the business, and where there isn’t, then businesses should own up to this or get ahead of it as a work in progress.

Do the alternatives actually make a difference?

The introduction of compostable packaging, for example, appears on the surface as a good alternative to the plastic problem. It makes it look like businesses are responding to the single use problem. However, the fact is that compostable packing cannot go in your at home compost or recycling bins. It should really be labelled as ‘industrially compostable’. But the bigger problem is, there’s only a handful of places in the UK that can handle compostables, so ultimately these eco ‘alternatives’ end up in the general waste where they’ll head to landfill (where they won’t biodegrade) or incineration.

Compostable and biodegradable packaging is therefore not the answer to reducing our single use waste, at least until appropriate, nationwide disposal is available. The compostable and biodegradable packaging trend is just a sticking plaster for a much bigger problem.

What should we do instead?

The only answer is to avoid single use packaging of any type. Join the reuse revolution. But again, this is down to consumers to deal with the end product and change the way they behave.

What should businesses do?

Businesses need to reduce the amount of single use plastic they are creating. And for many big businesses this will only happen if there is an incentive to do so or a tax is levied on what is produced. The Polluter Pays Principle should be enforced on businesses creating single use plastic which harms our natural environment.

Adopting a more circular economy is certainly one way of reducing single use plastics, or in the case of Germany, Denmark and Norway a deposit return scheme increases material recovery and it’s up to the manufacturer to deal with the waste.

Ultimately every business can make improvements to their carbon footprint, whether that be addressing food waste or the supply chain in a restaurant business; the energy consumption of a bricks and mortar property; making sure customers can access an event by public transport; ensuring fair working conditions and pay in every aspect of the fashion industry; mitigating plastic waste in the manufacturing of a product; sustainable delivery options for online businesses; or giving advice and tips on how to travel without using carbon reliant planes.

The options to make significant, sustainable changes are never ending. But it’s clear that business needs to take considerable action to meet consumers expectations.