We've heard the term "sustainability" more than ever in the last few years with a prediction from Steven Hawking in 2017 saying we only have 100 years left on Earth. Why does this matter and what does it have to do with your business? As we mentioned in our previous blog post, we, at Phoenix Systems, have made some sustainable changes to ensure an environmentally friendly office.
It all comes down to this reality: we're all in it together. Climate change and global warming are real, concrete problems we are experiencing on a daily basis. Yet, there tends to be this doomsday rhetoric surrounding the issue—deterring and hindering individuals from thinking their actions can make a difference. Further than just individuals, environmental and sustainability efforts fit right in with the four types of corporate social responsibility.
What we are starting to see, more than ever before, is this move towards reusable, sustainable packaging and away from single-use plastics. New in 2019, Loop Industries is launching their sustainable packaging initiative which delivers goods to your door in reusable containers which are then returned, cleaned and repackaged after you are finished with them. They charge a small deposit fee which is returned to you once the containers are picked up. This initiative is making its way to Toronto in 2019 and will be available up to 300 km from the city centre. Partnering with multi-national companies such as Proctor & Gamble and Nestle, Loop Industries is definitely disrupting the single-use plastic industry.
So, what can we learn from companies like Loop Industries? For one, they are encouraging a circular economy with this reusability of plastic containers they are proposing as opposed to the more traditional linear economy where only a small percentage is actually recycled. We don't quite have to disrupt the plastic industry as Loop Industries has done to be sustainable, but we can do our best to do so in attainable ways. So long as we do our part, as businesses and individuals, perhaps the wicked problem of sustainability will not seem so dreadful.
