Company Attempts To Go Greener
By robertludvig on Nov 19, 2008 in Trends
The CEO of Nestle Waters NA, Mr.Kim Jeffery, and his peers in the bottled water industry have been under intense scrutiny in the media recently over the effects bottled water is having on the environment. With most empty bottles ending up in landfills, Mr.Jeffery seems to be on a campaign to turn around this negative press. As he points out in this video, courtesy of Advertising Age, only a few short years ago bottled water was being recognized for its health benefits, now its negative enviro-impact is being targeted. Mr.Jeffrey does list a few ways Nestle Waters is attempting to lessen its impact on the environment:
1) Using less energy.
2) Releasing fewer emissions.
3) Building LEED certified green plants
4) Recycling more in their factories.
5) Light-weighting their packaging.
I’d like to point out that the efforts Nestle’s making to lighten their carbon footprint also reduce their costs, lending more than a hint of greenwash to their recent PR push.
Plus, Nestle’s not under attack simply for green reasons; their treatment of small rural towns (the sources of the spring-water bottled water brands) has been abysmal, and their legal bullying of opponents has also earned them some notice.
I applaud companies really going green, but packaging water in plastic bottles and transporting it long distances simply isn’t an activity that qualifies as a”green” in any sense of the word.
TC | Nov 20, 2008 | Reply
The way Kim Jeffreys is trying to market Nestle Waters’ environmental impact is a common theme for many firms seeking to capitalize on Green or stave off enviro-critics. This post begs an important question. What distinguishes attempts to build sustainable business practices from greenwashing? My experience leads me to believe that accusations of greenwashing should be tempered by an understanding of the dynamic synthesis required to make a business profitable and sustainable and profitable. In the long term there is no sustainability without profitability.
I enjoy your blog and respect its content. Keep up the good work!
SBC | Nov 20, 2008 | Reply
TC & SBC,
Thank you both for your comments.
robertludvig | Nov 20, 2008 | Reply
I agree with SBC. Moving different elements of a business towards sustainability can be challenging and in some cases not even possible. Sustainability is a journey of ongoing learning, it’s not a destination you arrive at. So it’s true, we should try to look at many of the current greening efforts as the first steps in a longer process. We should try to support companies taking these steps as it’s not always easy…we are learning as we go. Greenwashing is a concern, but if we attack every company’s greening efforts because they’re not perfect, it’s kind of like stamping out seedlings as they are trying to grow.
Toby Barazzuol | Jan 4, 2009 | Reply