Archive for the ‘Eco-biz’ Category

Make air travel eco friendlier

Sunday, June 13th, 2010

The search for industries which use huge amounts of plastic yields a few answers 35,000 feet above sea level . Airlines !

Airlines are notorious users of single-use plastic and paper – cups , food containers , cutlery , tissues . Practices established decades / years ago continue unquestioned . Some years ago a security scare caused airlines to switch from metal cutlery to plastic cutlery (which is frankly pointless . Metal cutlery posed no security risk ). Some airlines pack the blankets in plastic . To use the blanket the plastic has to be ripped apart . Needless to say this trashed piece of plastic will be immortalized somewhere on the planet.

The usage of plastic has reached new heights with an airline packing the in-flight catalogue and entertainment guide in a plastic cover that needs to be ripped apart to read the magazines. Entirely pointless and wasteful.

Here are somethings airlines can IMMEDIATELY do -

- switch to metal cutlery

- switch to ceramic or paper cups and dishes

- ditch packing the blankets , magazines in plastic

- encourage passengers to carry a reusable bottle in which the steward can fill water from a jug or at least hand out a bottle per passenger and keep refilling their bottles instead of getting a plastic glass every time someone asks for water.

- shift to bio degradable alternatives to plastic

- ask passengers for ideas on how to be more environ friendly , share information with passengers on their initiatives so far

The plastic generated chokes our planet . Food heated in plastic containers poses health risks . This gets multiplied for frequent travellers.

The next time you take a flight pl take a few mins to fill out the feedback form to the airline asking them to move to zero/minimal plastic (listing some solutions as mentioned above). Since airlines are not making the shift of their own accord we can and should use our voice as the customers to ask them to be eco friendly.

Your feedback counts . Pl choose to make a difference.

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Eco Biz @ Japan

Saturday, June 12th, 2010

Japanese carry a lot of stuff . Most folks carry between 1-3 bags . Women on an average carry 1-2 bags (some 3 ) . Men carry at least 1 bag.

This is a country where bags are sold extensively . All kinds of bags – leather , cloth , nylon , polyester , faux leather . Yet , in my visits to retail stores I seldom see customers declining the retailer’s plastic bag and taking the product purchased in their own reusable bag . There must be folks who do so . I’ve not witnessed it yet whether in a dept store , convenience store , people buying lunch boxes from stalls or any retail format for that matter.

The Japanese are geniuses at making products that fold up into a compact size . The customers can easily carry a folding bag in one of their bags and use it to carry items purchased . Thereby reducing plastic  ( Japan is a HUGE consumer of plastic . More on that in another post ).

Japan has a very high literacy rate + bags are easily available in retail . It’s puzzling why using a reusable bag for purchases is not a widespread if not default behavior .

Until few years ago Japanese men wore suits to work . No exceptions . I suspect that the Wachowski brothers got their inspiration to dress the agents of Matrix in suits after a few rides in the Tokyo metro . Until Cool Biz came along it was unthinkable that a Japanese corporate male employee could turn up at work in any other attire . Cool Biz was almost like legalizing wearing just a shirt  and trousers to work. Possibly Japan needs an initiative similar to Cool Biz to make it acceptable / necessary / cool/eco friendly to take a reusable bag to stores and use it to carry products.

They can call it Eco Biz.

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Posted in Eco-biz, Ideas we ♥, Make a difference | 1 Comment »

Supply as part of the solution..

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

Received yet another plastic enclosed mailer from the credit card company . This one I opened . A letter to say they have expanded the list of partner airlines etc . An email would have sufficed to communicate this information instead of the multi-color print on glossy paper and envelope covered in plastic.

I’m starting to suspect that the plastic industry is home to marketing geniuses. Think about it . They have managed to convince magazines that they need to cover every single copy in plastic . They managed to sell the idea that a sturdy envelope needs a plastic cover. They undoubtedly have the advantage of a product whose per unit cost is negligible in monetary terms when produced at a mass scale.

The interesting thing here is – one plastic company possibly paves the way by convincing a magazine to use plastic.Which opens the doors for other plastic companies to approach similar companies because the product (i.e plastic bag for these purposes ) is a commodity item.

The focus is largely on the demand side of the equation – inspire users to shift to alternatives to plastic bags , get retailers to make a shift to biodegradable bags. But , part of the solution can come from the supply side – the folks who make the plastic bags .

Plastic bag manufacturers are well poised to make the shift to bio-degradable materials – paper , bio plastic , cloth etc. They have the client base , they understand the economics of the biz and will focus on getting options that are cost effective (in monetary terms) alternatives to plastic.

Instead of a plastic v/s non-plastic face-off the situation can be altered by plastic manufacturers switching to earth friendly materials..to begin with progressively even if not completely.

* monetary – cost is mostly understood in monetary terms . A plastic bag is cheap in terms of money , expensive in terms of planetary impact. Most bio degradable alternatives today are relatively ‘costly’ in monetary terms while being cost-effective in terms of planetary impact

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How not to send a mailer

Friday, May 7th, 2010

Got this mailer yesterday from a credit card company . The envelope paper was thick and sturdy enough for it to survive a round-the-world trip . It was however covered in a plastic bag and stapled .The plastic would be discarded by the recipient. The mailer was sent by courier . Which means it got collected , transported and delivered in fairly safe condition.

Mailer in plastic bag x several thousand mailers = sheer , avoidable , pointless waste

And this equation pertains to one marketing initiative of one company . When extended to various companies and industries the resulting number would be mind boggling .

If you are a marketer or your company sends such mailers – pl STOP . There are more effective , intelligent , earth friendly ways to reach out to your customers and prospects.

If you receive such mailers from companies – pl take a few mins to send an email asking them to stop using plastic pointlessly like this.

I’ll sign off now…to send an email to the credit card company.

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Posted in Eco-biz | 3 Comments »

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