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The Sustainability Labyrinth: Navigating the Path to Meaningful Change
 

We all know the damage that humans have done to the planet’s eco-system, however, other than a top-line desire to do less harm, there is no consensus on the best way for brands, who ultimately want to keep producing goods, to limit or reverse their impact. The many and various approaches to this illustrate the incredibly nuanced, conflicting tensions between material extraction and pollution, abundance of supply, energy in manufacture, longevity of use, ability and energy to recycle, performance and weight.

The debate between the use of glass v plastic, film v paper, card v mdf is not easy to win because of the myriad nuances per case. It’s not possible to make sweeping declarations regarding what material is best, only what is best in a given scenario. Therefore, it’s down to brands to make a clear case both in 2D and 3D for the material choice so that consumers can feel secure in their understanding that they are making a conscientious choice.

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Image: Keep Cup

Consumers, who are generally not experts in this field are simply left in confusion, particularly since this is often overlayed by global differences in recycling infrastructure and legislation against single use plastics for example. Further, the many media interventions against plastic appear to simplify the issue, only to be re-complicated by bio plastics or mono plastics being re-framed by the industry as good. At the recycling end, consumers often feel frustrated by global brands that print a recyclable symbol on plastic or card and plastic cartons which are often in reality non-recyclable unless they are driven miles to a specialist recycling centre, leading to negative brand association.

There have been many studies which show that there is not much of a generational divide over consumer desire for brands to take steps to increase the sustainability of the products they offer for sale. Indeed, the same studies tend to show that a large proportion of people will actively turn away from a brand that is not clearly on a path to lower the impact of their products on the planet. Deloitte reported in 2023 that 1 in 3 people have completely stopped buying from brands that don’t meet their expectations on this.

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Image: Harsh Pandey

Because brands know they will be left behind, literally and metaphorically, if they don’t demonstrate their sustainability credentials, the race is on to be more clearly and overtly sustainable than rival brands, often resulting in accusations of greenwashing, for example non-recyclable paper straws at a behemoth fast food chain and non recyclable, branded as recyclable, mega brand coffee pods.

Outside of material choices changing the manner of consumption from single use to refill, from refill to regenerative, from regenerative to selling back, can often have a far bigger impact not only on the carbon footprint of the product, but on consumer perception of brand ethics.

All of our clients have a position on sustainability, often differing from each other in their strategies but united on their clear intention to waste less. We are privileged to work with some of the main global drivers of change, and see our role as expanding the horizon of possibility within each set of constraints, putting the consumer in the centre and playing with new and existing materials, experiences and services to achieve a balance that’s good for the planet the consumer and the brand and the business.

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