Bang Energy and its chief executive Jack Owoc have found themselves in the legal crosshairs of Monster Beverage Corp after capturing vast swaths of market share. Bang must defend itself against a wide variety of allegations, one of which involves allegations of false advertising.   Monster alleges that Bang Energy’s growth can be attributed to “deceiving the public about the product’s ingredients and the benefits of consumption.”   In turn, Vital Pharmaceuticals – the parent company of Bang Energy – has countersued Monster for trademark infringement, claiming that Monster’s new product line “Reign Total Body Fuel” copies the flavor profiles and ingredients of Bang Energy.   An analysis of the numbers may provide insight into why Monster Beverage Corp has decided to take a hardline legal stance against Vital Pharmaceuticals Inc.     Bang Energy has been the fastest-growing energy drink in the market. According to Beverage Digest, Monster led the market at 36% in a 12-month span that ended in mid-March 2019.   Bang, on the other hand, came in at the seventh position claiming 3.2% of the total market share. While that may not sound threatening, Bang’s market share has more than doubled to 7% since that time.   One of Bang Energy’s advantages is that it has become the go-to energy drink for performance enhancement and sports nutrition. As such, it has become highly popular at fitness clubs across the United States.   Another product by Vital Pharmaceuticals Inc., the Bang Pre-Workout Master Blaster, has also become a leading seller for the company. The energy drink is advertised as having zero caffeine and “super creatine;” a compound that Monster claims to be a hoax.   Creatine is an amino acid that increases muscle energy and can be taken as an energy supplement. According to Monster, advertising on Bang’s website explicitly states that its product “is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.”   Additionally, Monster claims that a Yale University pharmacologist tested a variety of formulations of Bang’s energy drink and creatine couldn’t be found in the product at all. The legal battle is ongoing as Bang defends against the allegations.  

Litigation attrition 

  It remains to be seen whether or not Monster is justified in their various lawsuits against Bang, but one thing is clear; Bang Energy has become a serious threat to Monster’s dominance over the energy drink market. To deal with its competitor, some say Monster has adopted the tactic of litigation attrition.   Litigation attrition is a legal strategy whereby large corporations and/or high net worth individuals inundate a competitor that is less capitalized with legal filings until they go out of business.   The goal of litigation attrition is to wear your opponent out financially by having them run out of money trying to match your legal spend, thus they can no longer afford counsel to defend them on the merits of the case.   Historically there are a number of large corporations whom have utilized litigation attrition as a strategy when competition – typically smaller businesses – become a potential threat to their market dominance.  Instead of competing fairly with the market newcomer, these corporations file lawsuit after lawsuit to bankrupt their smaller competitor with massive legal fees.   Litigation attrition favors massive corporations with legions of inhouse lawyers on their payroll and unlimited budgets. Smaller businesses lack the same level of resources as their larger competitors, and will likely fold under the crippling cost of battling long-term litigation.   This tactic is considered to be unethical, but highly effective, allowing large corporations to maintain their market dominance while burying their competition in the process.  

Examples of litigation attrition at work 

  Once upon a time, Coca Cola made it a practice to send lawyers around the country to find small vendors who sold cola products and sue them out of business.   It worked well for Coca-Cola until they encountered Pepsi, whom not only stood their ground but also won the ensuing legal battle and captured a good chunk of the market. Thus, the “cola wars” began in earnest. Pepsi proved that smaller companies could fight back against litigation attrition tactics, and win.   Another example of litigation attrition occurred during the battle between TerraCycle, a small organic plant food company, and Scotts Miracle-Gro, a massive corporation that dominated a large portion of the fertilizer market.   Miracle-Gro accused TerraCycle of making false claims that their products “outgrows the leading synthetic fertilizer.” They also accused TerraCycle of trade dress violations (essentially packaging that looked similar to their own).   Not having the financial might to face Miracle-Gro in a long-term legal battle, TerraCycle took to the public, starting a website called SuedByScotts.com (no longer active), that exposed the situation to the public and made it appear that Miracle-Gro was bullying TerraCycle.   Scotts eventually dropped the case after an agreement was reached between the two companies. It’s unclear how big a role public perception played in Scott’s decision to reach a settlement.  

The legal battle is ongoing

  Litigation attrition is a tactic that has seen its fair share of use over the decades. In the case of Bang Energy vs. Monster, it appears that we’re watching the cola wars play out all over again.   This time, Bang Energy is playing the role of Pepsi who’s standing up to the corporate might of Monster who fits into the role of Coca-Cola.   As of this time, our sources reveal that Monster continues to send legions of lawyers after Bang Energy. That being said, Jack Owoc doesn’t seem to be willing to back down anytime soon and appears to be digging in for a long-term legal battle. Only time will tell who will be left standing when the dust settles.   The USA Herald is initiating coverage on lawsuits in the Energy Drink & Shot categories.   If you have a tip or a story you’d like to read, contact us at Ops@USAHerald.com.  

Back in July, the City of Ottawa made a shift to allow its residents to put plastic bags in the compost bin. People noticed.   After the plastic bag bill passed, many people took to Twitter to voice their disapproval, calling it a "stupid policy" for "the lazy," and "idiotic at a time when in many jurisdictions, plastic bags are trying to be phased out."   While it may seem odd to allow plastic bags in the green bin, many people find it makes the process of capturing household organic waste a little more tidy. Municipalities that allow it skim plastic bags off early in the disposal process.   Many jurisdictions actually encourage the use of biodegradable bags, and consumers buy them with the belief that they will decompose with the rest of the organic waste. But that isn't always true.   Even in the landfill, compostable plastics may not degrade, according to a study done by the University of Plymouth in the U.K. The study tested five types of commonly used plastic bags, including ones labelled "compostable" and "biodegradable," to see how well they break down in different conditions. They tested the bags in both soil and sea, where they remained intact, exactly like regular plastic.   Tom Szaky, CEO of TerraCycle, a U.S. business that has gained a reputation for recycling the "non-recyclable," has written about this. In his book Linear to Circular: The Future of Packaging, he writes that most consumers "don't realize … that biodegradable bioplastics will break down only under the right conditions — those of a specific industrial composting facility."   Szaky emphasized that "even if that happens, [the bags] won't contribute value to the compost, unlike coffee grounds or leaves, which have a wide range of micro- and macronutrients as well as a living ecosystem of bacteria and other microbes."   Even if they could create those perfect conditions, some municipalities have banned compostable plastics from green bins, including Toronto.   The City of Toronto website says:  "There are many types of products that call themselves 'degradable.'   "They may be degradable in the presence of certain components … and are made to degrade in a certain time period. This time period and conditions may not match the actual conditions in a processing facility."   The Metro Vancouver solid waste site states that "plastics, including those marked biodegradable, do not belong in the compost as they do not break down properly during processing."   People who are confused or concerned about any kind of plastic have other options. Many municipalities suggest lining your bin with newspaper for an easier clean or simply not lining the bin at all. They also suggest washing out your bins regularly and putting them on the curb consistently, even when they're not full.   Or you could simply call your municipality's facility and ask what they accept.   — Taylor Logan

REN Skincare's Pop-Up is Made from Repurposed Materials

REN Skincare is passionate about creating products that minimize waste and its newest skincare pop-up in the UK underlines this core value. The new Bicester Village space prominently features repurposed and recycled materials from an old bingo hall and paper mill. Inside the pop-up, visitors will see shelving units made from recycled black plastic, a payment counter made from an art crate and pieces of repurposed timber. Also inside the pop-up, REN is making the most of materials from its Wilderness festival pop-up and plans to reuse these items again for a future event. Earlier in the year, REN Skincare joined forces with TerraCycle to use post-consumer recycled plastic for its packaged products, and it now offers refillable options for some of its top-selling products.    

Cigarette butts are getting second (healthier) lives thanks to a pioneering partnership between Tempe golf course Rolling Hills, waste collection and repurposing company TerraCycle and environmentally conscious smoking solution company EZ Products CLS. This year, seven golf carts at Rolling Hills were equipped with cigarette waste receptacles thanks to a grant from Keep America Beautiful, and so far more than 20,000 butts have been shipped to TerraCycle, which turns them into everyday products such as: Park Benches

September 25, 2019       Share this concept!   For those who’re a brand new guardian or a been-there-done-that guardian, it’s by no means too late to begin your infants down the trail of wholesome consuming.   Maintaining them away from sugary and processed child meals can make sure you’re setting them up with a more healthy immune system and serving to ingrain in them nutritious consuming habits. And, a profit for all of us, more healthy meals often imply a extra sustainable means of manufacturing them.  

Maintain Infants Away From Fruit Juices

  The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) advises that oldsters assume twice earlier than giving fruit juice to their kiddos.   In a statement put out in 2017, the AAP concluded that fruit juice provides “no nutritional benefits for infants younger than 1 year.” Mainly, the AAP is telling dad and mom to keep away from juice and, as a substitute, introduce recent fruit to your little ones as quickly as they’re in a position to eat them. The AAP explains that fruit juices are stuffed with sugars that aren’t useful to rising our bodies, or any our bodies for that matter. They’ll trigger diarrhea, extreme weight-gain, and dental cavities.   “Families should be educated that, to satisfy fluid requirements, human milk and/or infant formula is sufficient for infants and low-fat/nonfat milk and water are sufficient for older children,” in accordance with the AAP suggestions.  

Make Your Personal Child Meals

  When child is prepared for first bites, many dad and mom select to make their very own child meals. You possibly can be certain that solely what you need shall be going into your candy child’s physique.   Pureeing entire meals means that you can management the elements and the feel of the meals you’re making. You possibly can skinny purees by including breast milk or components. And, as your child will get extra enamel, you can also make the feel chunkier. Purchase natural produce at any time when attainable. My go-to information for organics is the Environmental Working Group’s Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce.   I saved a meals journal when my women had been little to file all their bites. Because of this, this helped me bear in mind any reactions and meals they cherished to eat. Here’s a puree recipe that handed the style check for each of them. As at all times, seek the advice of your child’s pediatrician for particular meals suggestions. For instance, our physician really helpful beginning off one after the other then step by step introduce new meals.  

Recipe: Natural Root Vegetable Child Meals

  Use natural root greens like candy potatoes, beets, carrots, and so forth for this easy-to-make child meals.  

1. Steam greens for 20-40 minutes (start checking after 20 minutes for desired tenderness). Or, roast veggies within the oven at 400 levels F for 30-60 minutes.
2. Rub off pores and skin and trim off root.
3. Puree in a meals processor or blender and add water, breast milk, or components as wanted for desired consistency.

Extra Child Meals Recipes

  Tasty offers 27 easy baby food recipes together with some wonderful recommendation on child feeding do’s and don’ts.  

Brief on Time? Strive These Prepared-Made Choices

 

White Leaf Provisions

  This family-run organic baby food company takes the stress out of feeding child. White Leaf brings the primary 100 p.c U.S. regeneratively grown and manufactured biodynamic, natural, and GMO-free child meals to retail in the USA. That mouthful merely means they not solely preserve your child’s dietary wants and tiny style buds in thoughts.   White Leaf cares deeply in regards to the environmental affect their product makes. They’ve partnered with TerraCycle to recycle their packaging with hopes to develop packaging that’s utterly compostable and recyclable.  

Glad Household Organics

  Based by a mom of two, Happy Family options two several types of child cereal — every with two flavors.   Clearly Crafted is accessible in oatmeal and oats & quinoa, and Probiotic in multi-grain and oatmeal. Along with cereals, Glad Household additionally provides toddler meals.   The corporate additionally guarantees that 100 p.c of their packaging will be reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2025.  

Sprout Natural Child Meals

  Sprout, began by a gaggle of buddies who needed to create natural child meals merchandise, was the primary firm to place child meals in a pouch. They provide fruit, vegetable, and grain blends together with purees made with bone broth. As well as, Sprout additionally has a line of organic toddler snacks.   In early 2019, they teamed up with Partnership for a Healthier America to assist fight childhood weight problems. They’ve pledged that “at least 50 percent of Sprout pouch purees have a vegetable as the first ingredient and will continue to ensure that 100 percent of our pouches contain no added sugars.”  

Gerber Natural Child Meals

  Gerber, based in 1927, now offers an organic option, like fruit and veggie pouches and jars, yogurt blends, grain-based cereals, and snack cookies. Simply search for the natural and non-GMO seals on the packaging.   If you end up with a set of used child meals containers, you may at all times upcycle them. To get you began, listed here are 10 Ways to Upcycle Baby Food Storage Containers.

People have opinions about the ways we should address the climate crisis. There are many possible solutions, but however we decide to change, we have to do it now.   People have opinions about the ways we should address the climate crisis. From planting trees for sequestering carbon to updates to the Endangered Species Act, the effectiveness of different initiatives is often questioned. Because time, money, and human resources are needed to implement any plan, it’s a conversation about whether an option is “worth it.”   If we take away one thing from this week’s climate observances, it should be that there is no one silver bullet. Mitigating today’s environmental challenges needs work in many areas.   As climate scientist Michael E. Mann says, “Any viable climate solution must be multi-pronged … [and] fire on all cylinders.”   Here at TerraCycle, our focus is eliminating the w-word (waste) and collecting difficult-to-recycle materials through brand-sponsored recycling programs and our comprehensive Zero Waste Box system. Diverting items from landfills and incinerators, and educating about recycling is our specialty, but we know there are other concepts in the sustainability space with great potential.   Here are just a few interesting things happening around the world:  

Putting captured carbon into new products

  Seltzer and sparkling water fans rejoice: Valser, a beverage company and subsidiary of Coca-Cola HBC Switzerland, is set to release “the world’s first water bottled with carbon dioxide (CO2) pulled directly from the air.”   Beverage companies are among the world's largest users of carbon dioxide; it had been common practice to use the CO2 byproduct from power plants for carbonation  By using direct air capture (DAC) technology to develop food-grade CO2, the industry is poised to offer a way both sequester carbon in the atmosphere and source a key ingredient for their products.   Speaking of carbon capture, another positive production practice picking up steam is a new method of creating concrete (a material that touches nearly every aspect of global infrastructure), which conventionally has a significant carbon and materials footprint, releasing staggering amounts of CO2 in the air.   A company called Blue Planet uses a “low-energy mineralization” process that takes climate-changing carbon out of the atmosphere, dissolves it into a solution, and produces a bicarbonate used for building materials. In addition to doing less harm, this production is one of a growing number that creates a benefit by creating a positive (new product) out of a negative (CO2). Win, win.  

Learning from the experts

  There is no waste in nature, and the earth cycles nearly everything it sustains (if you don’t count humans and all the unabsorbable “stuff” we produce). Recycling is one way we try to better fit in with nature’s activities, and carbon capture is a form of this. Needless to say, nature inspires some of the coolest ways we might fight climate change.   In an increasingly warm world, our day-to-day often entails indoor climate control, which is a matter of public safety and health, and extreme cost. Mick Pearce, an architect from Zimbabwe, is taking a biomimetic approach to designing buildings, inspired by termite mounds and cactus spikes that self-cool by tapping into the science of surface area, absorbing and regulating heat and cold.   Whatever we do about the climate crisis, we have to do it now.   Published Sep 25, 2019 8am EDT / 5am PDT / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST

Share this concept!   For those who’re a brand new guardian or a been-there-done-that guardian, it’s by no means too late to begin your infants down the trail of wholesome consuming.   Maintaining them away from sugary and processed child meals can make sure you’re setting them up with a more healthy immune system and serving to ingrain in them nutritious consuming habits. And, a profit for all of us, more healthy meals often imply a extra sustainable means of manufacturing them.  

Maintain Infants Away From Fruit Juices

  The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) advises that oldsters assume twice earlier than giving fruit juice to their kiddos.   In a statement put out in 2017, the AAP concluded that fruit juice provides “no nutritional benefits for infants younger than 1 year.” Mainly, the AAP is telling dad and mom to keep away from juice and, as a substitute, introduce recent fruit to your little ones as quickly as they’re in a position to eat them. The AAP explains that fruit juices are stuffed with sugars that aren’t useful to rising our bodies, or any our bodies for that matter. They’ll trigger diarrhea, extreme weight-gain, and dental cavities.   “Families should be educated that, to satisfy fluid requirements, human milk and/or infant formula is sufficient for infants and low-fat/nonfat milk and water are sufficient for older children,” in accordance with the AAP suggestions.  

Make Your Personal Child Meals

  When child is prepared for first bites, many dad and mom select to make their very own child meals. You possibly can be certain that solely what you need shall be going into your candy child’s physique.   Pureeing entire meals means that you can management the elements and the feel of the meals you’re making. You possibly can skinny purees by including breast milk or components. And, as your child will get extra enamel, you can also make the feel chunkier. Purchase natural produce at any time when attainable. My go-to information for organics is the Environmental Working Group’s Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce.   I saved a meals journal when my women had been little to file all their bites. Because of this, this helped me bear in mind any reactions and meals they cherished to eat. Here’s a puree recipe that handed the style check for each of them. As at all times, seek the advice of your child’s pediatrician for particular meals suggestions. For instance, our physician really helpful beginning off one after the other then step by step introduce new meals.  

Recipe: Natural Root Vegetable Child Meals

  Use natural root greens like candy potatoes, beets, carrots, and so forth for this easy-to-make child meals.  

1. Steam greens for 20-40 minutes (start checking after 20 minutes for desired tenderness). Or, roast veggies within the oven at 400 levels F for 30-60 minutes.
2. Rub off pores and skin and trim off root.
3. Puree in a meals processor or blender and add water, breast milk, or components as wanted for desired consistency.

Extra Child Meals Recipes

  Tasty offers 27 easy baby food recipes together with some wonderful recommendation on child feeding do’s and don’ts.  

Brief on Time? Strive These Prepared-Made Choices

 

White Leaf Provisions

  This family-run organic baby food company takes the stress out of feeding child. White Leaf brings the primary 100 p.c U.S. regeneratively grown and manufactured biodynamic, natural, and GMO-free child meals to retail in the USA. That mouthful merely means they not solely preserve your child’s dietary wants and tiny style buds in thoughts.   White Leaf cares deeply in regards to the environmental affect their product makes. They’ve partnered with TerraCycle to recycle their packaging with hopes to develop packaging that’s utterly compostable and recyclable.  

Glad Household Organics

  Based by a mom of two, Happy Family options two several types of child cereal — every with two flavors.   Clearly Crafted is accessible in oatmeal and oats & quinoa, and Probiotic in multi-grain and oatmeal. Along with cereals, Glad Household additionally provides toddler meals.   The corporate additionally guarantees that 100 p.c of their packaging will be reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2025.  

Sprout Natural Child Meals

  Sprout, began by a gaggle of buddies who needed to create natural child meals merchandise, was the primary firm to place child meals in a pouch. They provide fruit, vegetable, and grain blends together with purees made with bone broth. As well as, Sprout additionally has a line of organic toddler snacks.   In early 2019, they teamed up with Partnership for a Healthier America to assist fight childhood weight problems. They’ve pledged that “at least 50 percent of Sprout pouch purees have a vegetable as the first ingredient and will continue to ensure that 100 percent of our pouches contain no added sugars.”  

Gerber Natural Child Meals

  Gerber, based in 1927, now offers an organic option, like fruit and veggie pouches and jars, yogurt blends, grain-based cereals, and snack cookies. Simply search for the natural and non-GMO seals on the packaging.   If you end up with a set of used child meals containers, you may at all times upcycle them. To get you began, listed here are 10 Ways to Upcycle Baby Food Storage Containers.

Just as kids headed back to school this year, nearly 200 corporate CEOs headed back to the board room for the first time in two decades to redefine a corporation. These leaders decided  that besides shareholders, a corporation should benefit customers, employees, suppliers, and communities.   As corporations take action on this pledge, their focus necessarily will move beyond short-term quarterly profits; now longer time horizons and qualitative metrics become necessary ingredients for creating value for these other stakeholders.   Defining a purpose and becoming mission-driven is an important way to get this balance right. Thousands of Certified B Corporations work at the intersection of purpose and profit. Over a million nonprofits do, too. Adopting a mission certainly does not require a change in legal construct, but counter-intuitively it does mean behaving more like a nonprofit. Make your mission matter and leverage it through communication.   One of the top avatars in this space is Patagonia with a mission to support the environment. Well, that’s what the mission used to be. Today, Patagonia more urgently says, “We’re in business to save our home planet.”   Their web site continues, “At Patagonia, we appreciate that all life on earth is under threat of extinction. We aim to use the resources we have—our business, our investments, our voice and our imaginations—to do something about it.”   Spend five minutes on the company’s website, and you don’t have to wonder if they really mean it. They’ve pulled products—even bestsellers—that inadvertently caused harm and gone back to their own drawing boards to reinvent.   But that’s not true for all companies. At the opposite end of the spectrum are companies with no mission or a faux mission—for example, the defense contractor that manufactures missiles to “build a more peaceful world.” Huh?   Worse still, as one mission-driven CEO, Tom Szaky of TerraCycle, pointed out to me, are companies with a bad mission. These include companies that plan obsolescence, causing customers and the Earth to bare the costs of excessive consumption.   So what does this balance look like when done right and what can you learn about communicating?  

Dos

1. Do commit to a social impact mission.
2. Do integrate your mission into all departments and enjoy new ways to communicate.
3. Do incorporate your mission into your employer brand strategy.
4. Do open the curtains and be transparent.
5. Do adopt a trustworthy approach.

 

Don’ts

1. Don’t worry about being perfect. Share your failures and what you learn from them.
2. Don’t tell us your company stands for something that your product isn’t.
3. Don’t focus only on quantitative metrics; qualitative metrics count even more. Tell stories.
4. Don’t forget to connect the dots for employees so they can participate and be your best mission ambassadors.
5. Don’t keep your mission siloed away in the CSR office. From front line employees to corner-office dwellers, everyone lives, talks, and embodies your mission.

  Committing to and leveraging your company’s passion for its mission helps you attract customers, talent, and collaborators while driving safety, retention, and profitability. Get the messages right and you expand your mission, grow your business, and make our world a little better.

Deanna Taylor-Heacock of the Good Bottle Refill Shop Many people think that most plastic is recyclable, but 79 percent of all the plastic ever made has ended up becoming waste. As a result, 18 billion pounds of plastic waste enter the world’s oceans from polluted coasts each year. As of Friday, the very uphill battle against all this waste has a new frontier: New Jersey’s very first bottle refill shop, a place where customers can bring a container and fill it up with bulk household products and pay by weight. Such shops have popped up around the country – and indeed, the very concept of bulk shopping has long existed in co-ops and grocery stores such as Whole Foods – but Deanna Taylor-Heacock said the Good Bottle Refill Shop in Maplewood will fill a gap here that she discovered while seeking out a more zero-waste lifestyle. Bulk food shopping is easy to find, but very few shops have refill stations with an extensive collection of household products. “I felt like I could use one hard plastic bottle of Gain my entire life, but I’m buying one each month,” Taylor-Heacock told the Village Green days before the launch of the store, which is part of the General Store Coop’s new flagship location on Springfield Avenue. The store is stocked with numerous products, including hand soap, laundry detergent, dish gel, shampoo, natural hair products, lotion, toilet cleaner, air freshener, massage oil, bath salt, shea nut butter, and even dog shampoo. Taylor-Heacock researched and tested the products to ensure that she was carrying brands that are environmentally friendly and effective. Although she has become very concerned about plastic waste, Taylor-Heacock said her journey began primarily out of concern for her budget. She was constantly going to retail stores to pick up something she needed, and in the process, picking up things she didn’t need. A more disciplined approach to buying, including bulk purchasing when possible, helped her family save $10,000 last year compared to the year prior. “I felt like I was just going from store to store and I hated it,” she said. “I would basically fill my cart and think, ‘I am buying my trash. Everything in here is going to be thrown away.’” Good Bottle comes as momentum for reusable containers grows. Even mainstream companies are looking at ways to reduce plastic waste and testing reusable options. Nestlé has set a goal of making 100 percent of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025. Walmart has laid out a zero-waste vision and is working with its operators to reduce disposable packaging. And another New Jersey company, Trenton-based TerraCycle, is behind an effort with P&G, Unilever and other major companies to marry refillable containers and home delivery. Loop customers can order products such as Tide laundry detergent, Pantene shampoo and Häagen Dazs ice cream to be delivered in glass and steel containers to their house. Empty containers are picked up and refilled by the service, which is currently available in nine states, including New York and New Jersey, as well as Washington, D.C. “The real issue isn’t just plastic – it is the concept of disposability and the ‘take, make, waste’ mentality,” Michael Waas, global vice president of brand partnerships at TerraCycle, told the Village Green. “Truly solving the waste crisis requires designing new, circular systems.” While the company is not releasing sales figures yet, Waas said they have seen “a major increase in the number of people and companies participating in our programs over the last year.” The impact such efforts make is immediate, if initially small. During a soft launch preceding its Friday opening, Good Bottle saved customers from buying 154 plastic bottles – and Taylor-Heacock is continuing to add to that number each day. She hopes that customers will be drawn to a local option where they can come in, take as much of whatever product they need, and return when they need more. She is also curating innovative eco-friendly products such as portable reusable cutlery, a towel roll for reusable napkins and silicon replacements for zip-top bags that people may not know exist. Her biggest challenge is competing with big-box retailers on cost. Even though she is purchasing products in bulk, she has to keep larger margins as a small business than companies such as Amazon.com’s Whole Foods that operate at a much bigger scale. What she offers in return is flexibility: Customers are welcome to bring in their own containers, however small, and test tiny amounts of products before making larger purchases. And as a local business owner, she is available on hand to offer tips such as which products can be diluted with water to help them stretch – to save customers money and get them in the mindset of using less stuff. “You use one ounce instead of a whole cupful,” she said. “It’s a different mindset.” This story was produced in collaboration with the New Jersey Sustainability Reporting Hub project.

The problem with plastics has reached a tipping point. And whether you're an environmental crusader or just a citizen of the world, the impact on your life is inevitable. As a social impact professional, the consumer behavior implications underlying this movement is one to watch, no matter your impact area of choice. Starbucks has designed, developed and manufactured a strawless lid, which will become the standard for all iced coffee, tea and espresso beverages CREDIT: STARBUCKS Whether it's California imposing a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags at large retail stores, companies like Starbucks pledging to eliminate plastic straws or the commitment of leading companies to “lock up” ocean plastics, companies and consumers alike are starting to feel the pressure to change daily plastic use habits. We all know that consumer behavior change is notoriously tricky to achieve. Several brands are trialing a variety of 'refill and reuse' options around the globe to determine the most feasible ways to help customers become more conscious consumers. A few examples of note: PepsiCo Hydration Station Floor Model 2 CREDIT: PRNEWSFOTO/PEPSICO PepsiCo will roll out a new, mobile-enabled hydration platform in select workplaces, universities and hospitality partners as part of their 'Beyond the Bottle' initiative. The platform is made up of three components: a water dispenser, smartphone app and personalized QR code sticker for reusable bottles that allows consumers to set their own hydration goals, track their environmental impact and save preferences like flavors and carbonation levels. Unilever is partnering with Algramo in Chile to deliver home care products directly to consumer homes. CREDIT: UNILEVER Unilever is piloting an app-powered, intelligent dispensing system that uses electric tricycles to deliver homecare products to people’s homes in Chile. Shoppers buy reusable containers for laundry and dishwashing detergent, create an online account and then arrange a free visit of an electric tricycle to make a home visit to refill their product containers. When the tricycle arrives, consumers simply dispense the desired amount and pay per weight. Alaska Airlines asks flyers to #FillBeforeYouFly CREDIT: PRNEWSWIRE/ALASKA AIRLINES As part of their effort to reduce in-flight waste, Alaska Airlines is encouraging flyers to #FillBeforeYouFly by bringing their own water bottle and filling it before they board. As an incentive, the airline will plant a tree for every passenger who brings a pre-filled water bottle onto their flight and posts a photo to social media tagging @AlaskaAir with the hashtag #FillBeforeYouFly. Unilever's first deodorants to be circular by design are made from stainless steel and developed to last forever. UNILEVER Global recycling organization TerraCycle unveiled a new "circular shopping platform" called Loop that replaces single-use disposable packaging with durable, reusable packaging on products ranging from ice cream to deodorant. Companies piloting the platform include Procter & Gamble, Unilever, PepsiCo, Mondelez International, Nestlé, Danone, and UPS. Consumers buy online and products are delivered in a reusable tote. Once finished, Loop picks the product container up from their home, replenishes the products and returns the refilled shipping tote back to the consumer’s doorstep. Whether you're involved in environmental issues such as the impact of plastics or not, the trend is clear: consumer behavior change can make a significant impact on a wide variety of causes. The companies and nonprofit organizations that will ultimately earn consumer attention are those that help make these behavior changes a bit easier to adapt by effectively leveraging innovative partnerships and available technologies.