Despite sometimes knowing that businesses are taking harmful steps to manufacture their products, they tend to look the other way if their changing product means less profit for them. So, even if a company can be more sustainable, they can choose not to be.
Such was seen in the orange juice market. PepsiCo had conducted research to see if using tetrapaks, to package their orange juice, was more environmentally friendly than using plastic containers. Their competitor Coca-Cola was, at the time, using plastic containers. The researchers came back and the results showed that using tetrapaks were better for the environment. The news was then sent up to the big office and the research was basically tossed. Plastic containers made the juice look more 'attractive' and market research showed that people were more drawn to products they could see. So Pepsi made the decision to switch from using tetrapaks to using plastic containers. Seems like we took a step backwards there.
The battle between profit and sustainability seems to lead many corporations to make decisions that aren't exactly good for the environment. But how can we combat that? I envision a future where there can be a governing body that conducts such research and enforces companies to act on the results. If tetrapaks came out to be better for the environment, there should be a governing body that enforces the use of tetrapaks, bans the use of plastic containers and monitors corporations to ensure these changes are being implemented. I know this vision may sound too ambitious, but as someone in science, it's deheartening to see research, that has the power to may a good change, be disregarded.
Hi Arshi, I 100% agree with your point that companies and businesses should implement changes based on research and what they know is good for the environment. Frustrating how many companies know what they can do to be of less harm to the planet but don't implement these as the changes are less profitable.
Hey Arshi!
I empathize with your ambitious vision! It would be great to see companies implement the suggestions of researchers. It doesn't happen enough.
Your call for a governing body that conducts research and forces companies to comply with the findings is a very creative idea. This raised a lot of questions for me. If different researchers had different suggestions about what solution was the most sustainable, how would the body decide which solution to enforce? Also, I would imagine many companies might try to incentivize researchers to fabricate their results to the company's advantage, creating many conflicts of interest.
My general concern is with the potential risks such an institution places on the integrity of science. As we saw with the suggestion of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism, all it takes is one scientist with one conflict of interest to have devastating longterm consequences for the reputation of the scientific community (see article below).
Hi Arshi, I agree that letting government to enforce environmental policies is the most effective way to limit pollution from manufacturing because no company would voluntarily switch to more sustainable operation. Only fines and taxes that reduce their profit can constrain companies' behaviour.
Hi Arshi, I completly agree! I like the idea if having a governing body that researches and enforces the use of environmentally friendly options. I think having some sort of fine per product that uses a less environmentally friendly option shoud be implemented. If it is more costly to pay the fine than pay for tetrapaks then companies will probably make the switch
It absolutely stinks that multi-million dollar companies who don't need the extra money still chose to eek out a marginal profit rather than make more environmentally friendly decisions or keep the ones they currently have. Unless more people with the values we share sit on the board of a company, I don't know if businesses will ever chose the sustainable option over the profitable one. As it is, lots of companies choose to ignore environmental studies about their products :(((
Hi Arshi Malhotra, I too share similar sentiments, it is disheartening to see research protecting the environment be ignored. It would be interesting to see how a governing body could assume control over packaging materials. Do you have insight on its logistics or how to go about institutionalizing one?