Turning plastic problems into brand wins

My 4-year-old son is in a major dolphin phase, ever since we encountered the pod at the Baltimore Aquarium and learned all about our new favorite word: peduncle. Ten points if you can find an excuse to use that word in a sentence today.

I left him this wake-up note last week (check out those artistic skills… this is why I collaborate with actual designers, people).

He took the liberty of adding some embellishments: fish swimming, a ubiquitous hand tracing, and those orange blobs floating in the water.

I asked for assistance IDing the blobs, and he nonchalantly answered “oh, that’s litter.”

“Really? Garbage in the ocean?”

“Yes, it’s plastic.”

Is it devastating that a kid sees this addition as the status quo? Or heartening that his school focuses so much education on pollution, recycling, and protecting the planet? Probably both/and, as always.

The good news is that grown-ups are well aware of this issue too, and there are some amazing solutions in the marketplace right now working to combat plastic pollution. 

CleanHub enables brands to sponsor clean-up efforts

One company doing a fantastic job of approaching plastic pollution from a win-win-win perspective is CleanHub, a global solution partnering with brands to implement waste recovery to avoid those orange blobs – er, plastic waste – ever entering the ocean in the first place. They pass the “triple bottom line” sniff test, leveraging an innovating technology to protect the planet, developing waste treatment facilities in communities lacking trash infrastructure, creating meaningful employment opportunities (there’s the people piece), and in the process have developed a fantastic solution for conscious brands to integrate into their positioning on their quest to attract consumers and increase profits. 

CleanHub is a third party solution that enables brands to collect more plastic than they produce – meaningful when working toward a carbon neutrality or net zero designation, or simply signaling the brand’s values to consumers who care. And there are many. According to CleanHub, 64% of consumers want better schemes for removing plastic and packaging and (here’s the kicker) expect brands to help them.

They offer multiple business models that allow brands to promise genuine impact with every purchase, including collecting plastic for each product sold; sourcing verified ocean-bound plastic feedstock to reduce the impact of brands’ plastic packaging; or philanthropic support.

Especially for brands whose product includes some element of plastic, whether in the packaging or the product itself, partnering with a solution like CleanHub can be a meaningful way to overcome any buyer doubts at point of purchase, signal the values of a brand that customers are proud to support, and make a genuine impact.  

Terracycle provides a package recycling solution

Another brand partnership solution that’s been around for a while now is Terracycle, an innovative company that “recycles the unrecyclable”– think baby food pouches, contact lens blister packs, Brita filters, and more. One of their offerings is a brand-sponsored free recycling program, where consumers can ship their product waste to Terracycle to be transformed into new materials. Some brands stipulate that only their product or packaging is eligible for recycling through their sponsored program, but others welcome any products within the category, even those from competitors – a great opportunity to steal market share and boost loyalty.

To be clear, the best solution of all would be a full-scale switch to a circular economy that no longer produces the hard-to-reuse plastics that require a solution like Terracycle. But until we achieve that goal, sponsoring a Terracycle program (and earning that recognizable logo on your product packaging) is a strong short-term solution.

Rothy’s manufacturing innovations repurpose plastic into the actual product

One brand demonstrating the power of a circular economy in action is Rothy’s. The company has diverted nearly 630,000 lbs of ocean-bound plastics to manufacture the signature thread used in their shoes and accessories. In their case, sustainability is central to their brand – it’s nearly impossible to think of the shoe without thinking about the innovative practices that went into making it.

However, people don’t buy shoes to clean up the ocean – they’re motivated by comfort, aesthetics, price point, ease of maintenance (Rothy’s are even machine-washable… someone was paying attention in an R&D focus group!) They’re a deeply consumer-centric brand, and the planet-centricity is an added bonus.

Their value proposition is so compelling because they’ve done a great job of blending category claims – the product-specific benefits that cater consumers’ inherant ego-centricity – with sustainability claims, using those as an amplifier and differentiator. 

How does your brand think about plastic waste reduction? If you think that might be a cause category that aligns with your values, let’s chat about partnership possibilities and messaging strategy.

Your customers — and the dolphins — will thank you.