Green Packaging…It’s a Start

“Green” guru Darrin C. Duber-Smith wonders why so few personal care companies have adopted a comprehensive model for sustainable business.

Written by Darrin C. Duber-Smith, MS, MBA, president
Green Marketing, Inc., and visiting assistant professor of marketing, Metropolitan State College of Denver

Author bio: Since 2000, Darrin C. Duber-Smith, MS, MBA, has been president of Green Marketing, Inc., a Colorado-based strategic planning firm offering marketing and sustainability planning, marketing plan implementation, and other consulting services to companies in all stages of growth. He has almost 20 years of specialized expertise in the natural and sustainable products industry and is visiting assistant professor of marketing at the Metropolitan State College School of Business in Denver, CO, and adjunct professor at the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado-Boulder since 2006. Duber-Smith was the recipient of the Wall Street Journal’s Distinguished Professor Award for 2009. He can be reached at [email protected].

In the 20 years that I have been involved in natural, organic and “green” products, I have waited patiently while companies begin to “get it” and adopt sustainability initiatives for improving stakeholder relations. It has been a very slow burn indeed, ladies and gentlemen, and I honestly thought that this “no-brainer” business model would have been adopted much more rapidly than it has.

It is clear now that most organizations are content to simply pay lip service to the idea of environmental sustainability and corporate social responsibility even though the return on investment of such activities has been clearly established by both academics and successful organizations. The primary problem with finished goods manufacturers, and really the personal care industry as a whole, is the incomplete and haphazard way in which strategists address the growing assertion that businesses are indeed responsible to entities other than their shareholders…society and the natural environment.

A perfect storm of factors is now present: the pressures from steadily increasing social and environmental attitudes; a target market of over 50% of the population in the U.S. that demands more sustainable and healthier products and corporate practices; increasing government scrutiny and regulation; supply chain pressures such as Walmart’s green initiative; public relations and media reasons; employee relations and morale; engaging proactively with non-government organizations such as the Sierra Club; shareholders, especially the activist kind; competitive pressures to become greener; etc., etc. If this is so compelling, why then have so few personal care companies adopted a comprehensive model for sustainable business?

Most organizations, if they address sustainability at all, are content to pick from a “green buffet,” choosing the initiatives that are either easy to do or ones that tend to generate buzz. Short-term strategies such as these are ineffective. Packaging is a great start since it’s so obvious to the consumer, and it is true that a combination of demand and technological innovation allows us to become more sustainable every year. Yet, packaging is not nearly enough.

Strategists must address:

-Ingredients
-Energy
-Waste
-Water
-Emissions
-Supply chain policies
-Human resources and organizational policy
-Cause related and community involvement
-And other areas

Once a majority (if not all) of these areas have been assessed, and measurable objectives for annual improvement have been established, then you are truly on a path to sustainability (a journey, not a destination) and you can safely begin to communicate your activities to all stakeholders, for competitive advantage. Do it halfway and you open yourself up to accusations of “green washing.” One thing the BP situation has taught us is that simply changing your name and logo to appear more environmentally friendly has its consequences when there is little to substantiate such claims.

Remember that sustainability is a biz model first and a marketing
strategy second. Failure to recognize this can do irreparable harm to your brand.