Monthly Archives: March 2019

Companies begin revealing their Plastic Footprint

For the first time, The Coca-Cola Company disclosed its total plastic footprint. It revealed that in 2018 it used three million tonnes globally.

This included data on both virgin and recycled plastics use in a single year. A further 35 corporations, including Colgate Palmolive, SC Johnson and Unilever, published similar information in the Ellen MacArthur Foundation report on New Plastics Economy Global Commitment (spring 2019).

Although the report only provides a snapshot into our use of plastics, from a limited number of companies, it does highlight the sheer volume that is used annually on global scale: and emphasises our need to cut back, recycle or reuse more of the product. Indeed, the impact of disclosing this information has resulted in many companies committing to increase the recycled content in their packaging, to end single-use plastic straws and carrier bags, and to increase their reuse and refill schemes.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a strong advocate for the circular economy (whereby materials can be reused and recycled, powered by renewable energy), has welcomed these efforts but calls for more action to eliminate unnecessary plastic packaging. As the first target within the vision statement states, companies should commit to the “elimination of problematic or unnecessary plastic packaging through redesign, innovation, and new delivery models is a priority”. Thus, to reduce their plastic footprint, companies need to move towards reuse delivery models that reduce the need for single-use packaging.

At Vesta, we agree that more needs to be done: and we believe that we can provide the necessary, radical overhaul required to address the logistical side of reusable plastic. We believe that with stronger and lasting incentives, that don’t just rely on consumers’ willingness to lower their environmental impact, is the way forward. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation report, and the commitment made by the signatories herein, is a positive step in the right direction: and we can help companies act on those commitments.

Coca-Cola admits it produces 3m tonnes of plastic packaging a year

Revelation comes as report calls on global firms to end secrecy over plastic footprint

Source: www.theguardian.com/business/2019/mar/14/coca-cola-admits-it-produces-3m-tonnes-of-plastic-packaging-a-year

Dash runs out of road

How value exchange is key when designing a disruptive service

We at Vesta were never much fans of the Dash button, and we weren’t alone. When you have to assure the world that your product isn’t an April Fool’s joke, it must be a rough day to work in marketing. Now the dash buttons are being withdrawn, there is value in assessing why this ambitious and bold, but flawed product missed out on mainstream adoption.

Dash was never claiming environmental credentials to be fair to it, but the rather glib one-button re-ordering of all that packaging was one of the things that inspired Vesta’s creation. However, the main reason behind its demise is about the experience and value it offered. A consideration of value exchange offers a useful way to understand service adoption, and we’ve voiced our concerns about Terracycle’s Loop in a similar way.

What did Dash offer? Simple ordering and a potential time saver. Sounds good, but what did it ask for?

Own a button per product
Don’t lose or break any of the buttons
(at some point) recharge the buttons (we never quite understood how that would work)
Restrict button access to responsible individuals
Buy the buttons in the first place

Listed like that, the convenience Dash was trying to deliver was clearly more than offset by the demands the service made on its users. A really disruptive service must offer more than it takes to be successful. The iPod is a wonderful example of this. It asked us to effectively burn most of our invested capital in music collections and go digital. For those of us with a giant pile of CDs (we might be showing our age here!), there was a process of copying them all to MP3. One by one. Which took hours.

But we did it, because it offered more. All of everything we wanted to listen to. Anywhere. It outweighed the inconvenience of the change.

At Vesta, our packages offer fully automated re-ordering that is completely integrated. A single scan of our packages through Vesta’s store room application is the only step end-users need to take, and everything else is taken care of. It remains to be seen if our value exchange is the right one for mass adoption, but we believe that combining real convenience with the chance to eliminate single-use plastic is one that will work.

Amazon scraps Dash buttons

Amazon stops selling its Dash buttons because shoppers are using other methods to buy products.

Source: www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-47416440

Don’t shoot the messenger

BP’s energy report looks alarming, but has some interesting insight for those looking to tackle the plastic problem

It’s easy to demonise big oil, especially when they publish something that seems as nakedly self-serving as an opposition to a plastics ban. However, the BP 2019 energy outlook doesn’t look like quite such a whitewash.

The point they seem to be making is that simply replacing plastics won’t necessarily be a big win for the environment, if it fails to be accompanied by systemic changes to infrastructure and fulfilment. The good folk at Herriot Watt university have done some solid-looking work to support this too. The energy involved in making glass, for example, would be a real problem if we had to make the half- trillion bottles a year currently made with plastic this way.

At Vesta we, cautiously, agree with this. We need a more intelligent packaging solution that allows us to make efficient use of the materials available. Our connected devices allow for orders to be made when they’re needed, and provide a permanent home for whatever they’re storing. This allows our customers to look at short life packaging for transit, allowing us to provide convenience for consumers and a viable business model for manufacturers.

A reduction in plastic use is essential, but we will have to think about smart solutions. We must make sure we change to a method of packaging our products which provides a lasting benefit for everyone.

Plastic ban could backfire says BP

The oil and gas company believes a prohibition on single-use plastic could increase CO2, but is that true?

Source: www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-47255249