Sustainability: is it real or a marketing ploy?

Sustainability:   is it real or a marketing ploy?

2-minute read

"Pray-cycle" (verb): The detrimental act of placing questionably recyclable, improperly dismantled, or unwashed items in the recycling bin, eliciting a fleeting dopamine response—an effect that is often followed by lingering guilt."

 

     Sustainability is a word that gets tossed around a lot these days. Marketing departments everywhere are churning out ads that tout their product as being "sustainable", "green", "eco-friendly" or “clean.”  While there are some efforts being made to live up to these expectations, most companies either fall short of fulfilling these promises or in some cases just create new problems.

 

Eye opener:

Take for example the Styrofoam Xaxby’s cup made by Viofoam which they have labeled biodegradable. When you read the fine print or do some research, you discover that the cup must be discarded into a bioreactor landfill in order for it to break down and even then, the best you can hope for after 4 years is 92%. The 8% that is left over?  No amount of research will uncover that information until it is independently tested but it is likely dispersing micro-polymers which eventually end up in our bodies. If the cup left no residual toxicity behind, then they would have sought out an ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) compostability certification, which unlike biodegradable, is a regulated term.

To Zaxby’s, none of this matters, however. Their marketing department knows that it makes people feel good to believe that they are participating in environmental stewardship. The dopamine response the guest receives when they see that heart shaped earth and green writing makes it more likely that they will return sooner and more often. After all, it’s a win win for the consumer, right? They get their delicious meal without a side of guilt.

 

For s*** and giggles:

Here are the nation’s 13 bioreactor landfill sites.

• California
• Yolo County
• Florida
• Alachua County Southeast Landfill
• Highlands County
• New River Regional Landfill, Raiford
• Polk County Landfill, Winter Haven
• Kentucky
• Outer Loop Landfill
• Michigan
• Saint Clair County
• Mississippi
• Plantation Oaks Bioreactor Demonstration Project, Sibley
• Missouri
• Columbia
• New Jersey
• ACUA's Haneman Environmental Park, Egg Harbor Township
• North Carolina
• Buncombe County Landfill Project
• Virginia
• Maplewood Landfill and King George County Landfills
• Virginia Landfill Project XL Demonstration Project

 

 

 

Where to give your attention and support.

We must, as a society, begin to open our eyes and support businesses that are taking extra measures to minimize their impact on our world. To be clear, I said minimize, not offset. Devoting our attention toward neutral-impact brands is how we foster them and help them grow against the giant odds placed before them.

 

Look for companies which operate under strict environmental and ethical parameters:

Zero waste: not just reducing but entirely eliminating non-compostable waste outputs.

Circular economy: a system where there is no waste, and materials are composted, reused, or recycled perpetually.

Social betterment: projects that not only are sustainable but also make significant contributions to social equity and community well-being.

Zero toxicity:   brands that employ a methodology which ensures that they do not contribute to the growing amount of volatile biologically destructive compounds found in our environment and in our bodies.

 

 

I hope that these words have inspired you to think differently about consumerism and how we might work together to decrease the impact we have on our world. Brands like illumenase will make it much easier for the consumer to participate in the conservation of our world and the dopamine response is included!

Have a quality day!

Mathew B Mayer