Sean Prockter – Special to the Fitzhugh   Did you know that cigarette butts are considered litter?   OK, perhaps you knew that one, but did you also know that you can recycle them here in Canada?   It’s true, and given that cigarettes are toxic, non-biodegradable and made of plastic means tossing them on the sidewalk does a significant amount of harm to our environment.   So, if you are a smoker, know someone who smokes, or just simply cares about our environment, please read on to find out how hazardous a single cigarette butt can be.   Cigarettes are the number one source of litter in Canada and has been for over 20 years, according to the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup. In fact, there were more than 500,000 butts collected in 2018 alone.   Why? Well, it’s still largely considered a socially acceptable action, which it shouldn’t be. A tossed cigarette butt is an act of littering.   How can one cigarette butt be a problem?   Well, other than the cumulative effects of multiple people thinking that way about a tossed cigarette, it’s also toxic to the environment.   A variety of chemicals are added to cigarettes to make them more appealing, control the burn rate, and promote addiction.   Often the cigarette is not entirely smoked and the nicotine that still remains is extremely poisonous to all organisms.   Then there’s the cigarette filter, which is designed to do exactly what its name suggests, filter and absorb the toxins in cigarette smoke and collect solid particles known as tar. Most cigarette filters have an inner core composed of cellulose acetate, a form of plastic.   Here in Jasper, a cigarette butt may take five to ten years to break apart; however, that does not mean that it biodegrades. It simply breaks apart into tiny pieces.   The toxins then spread into our waterways, poisoning our fish and other aquatic species while the acetate turns into microplastics.   Ocean Wise, a conservation organization based in British Columbia, has done extensive research on microplastics in our marine environment and the findings are not good.   The fish off our coasts are consuming these microplastics at an alarming rate, causing a multitude of health problems.   Microplastics also act as binding agents to chemical pollutants, and guess what happens to those chemicals if the fish are harvested? They wind up on our plates and in our restaurants as a wicked full circle.   What can we do about this? First of all, don’t litter.   However, there is something else we can do here in Jasper that not only prevents the littering of cigarette butts, but can also support our community at the same time.   It’s called TerraCycle and to date, they have recycled nearly 150 million cigarette butts right here in Canada.   Basically, an individual, organization or municipality can sign up with the company, print off a free shipping label and once they’ve collected enough butts, ship them off to Mississauga where the box is weighed.   One pound is worth $1 starting at three pounds, and all the funds go towards a charity of your choice.   The butts are zapped with gamma rays to remove the toxicity, processed into tiny plastic balls and then morphed into industrial plastics used for railway ties and plastic pallets.   Businesses and municipalities all across Canada have been erecting these metal receptacles ($100) designed to collect cigarettes in downtown areas for this cause.   With many of our community groups struggling due to funding cuts, this could be an amazing way to give back to the town in several positive ways.   For some reason, our society continues to see the tossing of cigarette butts as socially acceptable.   We are trying to break that social barrier through education. It’s considered pollution and the most common form of littering in this country.   The indigenous people of Canada have long said that the health of our land is the health of our people. They are absolutely right.   Don’t be part of the problem; be part of the solution, one cigarette butt at a time.  

Being the change they want to see in the world, some companies are thinking outside the box to come up with innovative ideas to make their products more sustainable.   For example, Oka-B, a popular spa footwear manufacturer, relies on closed-loop manufacturing, which means it’s reusing the same materials over again, conserving natural resources, and minimizing waste. “By using a bio-based recyclable material, we are able to grind up any scraps and make them into new shoes,” says Sara Irvani, CEO of Oka-B. “This recycling empowers us to eliminate more than 150,000 pounds of waste annually. Our innovation is deeply rooted in our values.” The shoes are also produced in the U.S., which reduces the company’s carbon footprint. In addition, customers are also encouraged to return old pairs to the company for recycling with an enticing discount off their next order.   The Noel Asmar Group, which manufactures spa uniforms, pedicure bowls, and more, is also striving to be more sustainable by making quality over quantity a foundational value. “We transformed the boxy smock in 2002, setting high expectations for quality uniforms in the workplace,” says founder and CEO Noel Asmar. “We replaced a very utilitarian-looking, low-quality, poor-fitting uniform that often only lasted five to six months. In 2018, we launched our first uniform collection made from fabric that is spun out of recycled water bottles. Since then, we have diverted more than 268,000 water bottles from landfills.” The company also launched a sustainability initiative, Hospitality Lifecycle, to help manage textile waste. It partnered with Debrand, which provides custom-tailored recycling solutions, to help spas recycle their expired textiles.   While serving on the sustainability leadership council for Sephora, Tiila Abbitt was shocked to learn how truly unsustainable the beauty industry was. “Of the 120-billion units of colored cosmetics packaging produced annually, none of it was being recycled through our system,” says Abbitt. “I visited numerous recycling facilities, attended sustainable cosmetic conferences, and talked to various packaging engineers in the space and found that with color cosmetics, specifically, they’re all using harder plastics, mixed metals, magnets, and screws, which unfortunately, render the products unrecyclable under our system, because nobody is sitting there taking these things apart. It was mind-blowing to me that products were being produced to just end up in a landfill.” Such revelations made her realize she could do better, which led her to create Aether Beauty, a color cosmetics line that is ethically sourced, cruelty-free, and vegan. “On the packaging side, it’s all fully recyclable, and I also do carbon-neutral shipping,” says Abbitt. “And on top of it all, I partner with 1% for the Planet on all sales.” It is an international organization whose members contribute at least one percent of annual sales to environmental causes.   Valérie Grandury, inspired by a health scare, created Odacité, a California-based skincare company focused on using clean ingredients. “Since our inception 10 years ago, sustainability has been at the heart of everything we do,” she says. “This starts with our sourcing practice. Our formulas only use ingredients that beautify the skin without compromising the environment.” When it comes to sourcing, the company relies on wildcrafted, organic, non-GMO ingredients that have been grown without chemicals, pesticides, and fertilizers. With its own lab, Odacité is able to control its manufacturing process to create zero waste. All products are handmade in small batches and use very little water. According to Grandury, 95 percent of packaging is made of recyclable glass, and her team is constantly searching for an alternative to plastic pumps. External packaging is also kept to a minimum. And if that isn’t enough, the company has pledged to plant 20,000 trees in 2020.   Earlier this year, The Detox Market launched its Earth CPR Initiative, a sustainability roadmap to becoming carbon negative by planting at least 2.5 million trees and encouraging other brands to do the same by 2025. “To that end, we’re partnering with TerraCycle to turn our stores into beauty recycling hubs, planting a tree for every online order, rethinking our shipping practices and how we stock our offices, and designing modular retail displays to phase out the non-recyclable ones,” says The Detox Market founder Romain Gaillard. “There’s a lot in the works, and we’re thrilled to be making changes that yield tangible results, now and over time.

BIC has just announced a new partnership with TerraCycle, a company that offers free recycling programs (funded by brands, manufacturers, and retailers) for hard-to-recycle waste.   Through the BIC Stationery Recycling Program, U.S.-based consumers are now able to send in “all brands of pens, markers, mechanical pencils, highlighters, glue sticks, watercolor dispensers and paint sets” to be recycled for free. The program also takes the soft, flexible plastic packaging that some writing instruments are packaged in. Customers sign up online and are provided with a prepaid shipping label for the items they want to send in.   “As an added incentive, for every shipment of used stationery products collected and sent to TerraCycle through this program, collectors earn points that can be donated to a school or charitable organization of their choice.”   “Sustainability has always been at BIC’s core,” noted Mary Fox, North American general manager for BIC. “We are thrilled to expand this program to the U.S. from Europe, where we have successfully recycled an astounding 46 million items.”   This is the latest step BIC has taken on to further enhance the sustainability of its products and to minimize its impact on the environment.

Dogs with certain medical conditions may require a low fat diet (often senior dogs, obesity related conditions, and dogs with kidney or liver disease). Pets who just need to lose a little weight through calorie reduction may also need a little help, and picking the best low fat dog food brand is one of the ways to do this.   There are plenty of pet food brands out there that proudly flash the “reduced fat” label, but it can be difficult to choose the best. Many of these low-fat options lack quality as they reduce the amount of protein in their foods to get rid of this excess fat, leading to unhealthy high-carb, low-protein diets that don’t provide a pup with the nutrition they need. After analyzing hundreds of brands, below we've picked out the best low fat dog food brands ranked from having the lowest crude fat content (4.5%) to the highest among low fat dog foods (14.5%) with a single raw dog food option of lowest fat content (28%).    

TRENTON, NJ – Lundberg Family Farms, a national leader in organic rice, rice products and US-grown quinoa, has partnered with international recycling leader TerraCycle® to offer consumers a free, easy way to recycle their flexible Lundberg Family Farms packaging and food wrappers. As an added incentive, for every pound of packaging waste sent to TerraCycle through the recycling program, collectors can earn $1 to donate to a non-profit, school, or charitable organization of their choice.   By participating in the Lundberg Family Farms Recycling Program, consumers are invited to send in their empty flexible packaging and food wrappers to be recycled for free. Participation is easy: sign up on the TerraCycle program page www.terracycle.com/lundberg-family-farms and mail in the packaging waste using the prepaid shipping label provided. Once collected, the packaging will be cleaned, melted and remolded to make new recycled plastic products.   “Lundberg Family Farms was founded on my Grandpa Albert’s promise to leave the world better than we found it,” CEO Grant Lundberg said. “We are excited to partner with our friends at TerraCycle to deliver on that promise in a new way, with packaging that can skip the landfill for a second life as durable plastic goods, like park benches.”   For more than 80 years and four generations, Lundberg Family Farms has pioneered eco-positive farming methods to nourish, conserve, and innovate for a healthier world. What began as a small family rice farm in 1937, has grown into a mission-driven, vertically integrated company that’s committed to blazing the trail towards a brighter, more sustainable future.   “At TerraCycle, our mission has always been to eliminate waste, recycle the unrecyclable and use our innovative business solutions to minimize human impact on the planet,” said TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky. “It’s partnerships like the one we enjoy with Lundberg Family Farms that allow us to fulfill our objective and help preserve the environment for future generations.”   The Lundberg Family Farms Recycling Program is open to any interested individual, school, office, or community organization. For information on TerraCycle’s recycling program, visit www.terracycle.com.

In this digital world, if your brand doesn’t know how to utilize technology to communicate important messaging, you may be left behind. PRNEWS judged a stellar group of candidates for this year’s Digital PR Awards. Particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, many people are finding comfort as well as necessity in a digital environment. Digital execution is more important than ever before.   Entries ran the gamut in categories that included everything from best viral and social listening campaigns to best use of TikTok and online communities. In digital, PR can innovate into all sorts of new forms. We noticed some trends among the winners.  

For the Consumer

  Much of digital PR looks to put power in the hands of the consumer through interactive messaging and the creation of digital tools.   Y&R PR’s myglaucoma.com, which won several awards including best content marketing, digital marketing campaign and digital PR campaign, showcased an integrated, multichannel unbranded disease education program to help empower those with glaucoma, and their caregivers, to feel comfortable speaking with their doctors about a treatment regimen.   Terracycle’s winning media relations campaign focused on the Zero Waste Box Program. The boxes offer consumers a solution that can be utilized to combat the global waste crisis from their own homes or businesses, reinforcing the importance of recycling and individual impact.   And MAXIMUS Digital Solutions worked with the New York State of Health Marketplace, developing a mobile upload app that allowed users to take pictures of, and securely upload, the documentation needed for their healthcare eligibility determination.  

A Positive Light

  Several winners focused campaigns on happiness and positive messaging through digital channels.   CerconeBrown Company worked with apparel and lifestyle brand Life is Good to create a podcast to celebrate its 25th anniversary that championed optimism, as well as reached a younger audience. Through a format of custom questions, listeners gained a glimpse into how positivity plays a role in the minds and hearts of guests. Each guest answered the question “tell me #SomethingGood” to tie back to the overall campaign.   Blohm & Associates, Inc. teamed up with LG and Discovery Education to reflect on the United Nation’s International Day of Happiness in a social listening campaign. As part of the LG Experience Happiness platform, Discover Your Happy provided science-based tools for educators, students and parents to show how happiness can be achieved through learnable skills and practices. And of course the conversation moved to social media, creating meaningful dialogue on the importance of happiness.  

Beauty Brands Set Standard

  And when you look at the winners overall, it seems beauty and health brands really know how to set the digital standard. Campaigns from Irish Spring (BCW), Nivea (SITEMEDIA LTD.), Revance (Y&R PR), Neutrogena (CCOM GROUP, INC) and CVS Beauty (Kaplow Communications) all racked up awards in categories of social viral campaigns, online communities and game changer campaigns, site design, product launches, and of course, influencer campaigns. When people talk about the new standards of beauty, they should look at the work being done on the digital level.   PRNEWS congratulates all of our Digital PR Award winners on the creative work they’ve dreamed up behind the screen. Click here for the full list of winners and finalists.

Before COVID-19, people all over the world had been more focused than ever before on the issue of sustainability. Coordinated climate strikes, beginning in the spring of 2019 and continuing through the end of that year, conveyed the growing environmental concerns of global citizens. Employees and customers had increasingly expressed an interest in businesses taking stances and action on sustainability. And consumer data showed rising sales^PDF of products with sustainability features.   Fast forward to today: The pandemic has exposed the fragility of the world and heightened people’s appreciation of sustainability. How many of us have appreciated cleaner air and paid more attention to labor conditions, given essential workers’ greater virus exposure? Consumer insights reflect this sensitivity. More than half of respondents to a recent survey conducted by management consulting firm Kearney said that as a result of their COVID-19 experience, they are more likely to buy environmentally friendly products. And unpublished PwC research shows that 75 percent of U.S. consumers surveyed believe companies should maintain changes they’ve made due to COVID-19 that have a positive environmental impact. At the same time, though, the deep economic crisis the virus has caused is making shoppers more price-sensitive and forcing many companies to do whatever it takes to simply stay afloat. Companies, even those with sustainability in their DNA, might put some or all environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives on hold to stem revenue losses. However, early data suggests that prioritizing sustainability could boost financial performance. As of early April, big ESG-focused funds were outperforming the S&P 500 for the year to date. This could reflect investors’ long-term view. Recent research by the Conference Board also highlights how a commitment to sustainability can help companies weather crises and recover faster. Companies will need to be creative and more focused than ever, though, to make their sustainability strategies financially viable, considering reduced corporate income and consumers’ renewed frugality. Long before the pandemic, Unilever’s chief research and development officer, Richard Slater, highlighted companies’ lead role in mainstreaming sustainability when he said in an interview on NPR, “The onus is on us as consumer companies to innovate and come up with solutions that are great for people…[and]…convenient at the right price.”

Evidence that consumers care

A growing number of consumers — along with employees and investors — want to associate with brands whose values they identify with. According to a global consumer survey by the Conference Board, about two-thirds of respondents have bought brands because of their environmental practices, more than half have dropped brands because they don’t provide fair labor conditions, and a significant share have at some point either switched brands or moved away from brands because of the social causes they support. Dichotomy in consumer motivation — between caring about a cause but also about functional features and price — makes pursuing a sustainability agenda complicated. Soon-to-be-published global PwC research shows that consumers think government bears the biggest responsibility for encouraging sustainable behaviors and lifestyles. Those surveyed put themselves in second place, right after the government and ahead of manufacturers/producers, retailers, and other institutions. The survey also found an increase in the number of people making sustainability-conscious decisions year over year. The percentage of survey respondents who avoid plastics when possible rose from 41 percent to 45 percent, and the percentage of those who consciously choose sustainable ways to travel rose from 28 percent to 32 percent. People’s purchasing choices don’t always fall in line with their attitudes about sustainability, but recent purchase data indicates that in some categories, words and actions more or less align. In the U.S., the percentage of overall store sales made up of sustainable consumer packaged goods (CPG) grew from 19.7 percent in 2014 to 22.3 percent in 2017, and is expected to reach 25 percent by 2021. Sales of products with on-package sustainability claims, such as USDA Organic or “no phosphates,” grew almost six times faster^PDF than conventional products from 2013 to 2018 (up 29 percent), accounting for about half of all CPG growth despite the category’s small market share. However, the Conference Board’s global consumer research shows that shoppers have considered sustainable features to be more an appreciated bonus than a core purchase driver. For example, environmental impact ranks only fifth among surveyed consumers’ decision criteria for daily mode of transportation, after speed to destination, cost, convenience, and safety. As Warby Parker cofounder and co-CEO Neil Blumenthal put it in an interview with Inc. magazine, “While customers certainly love the fact that we give back, at the end of the day, it’s not a critical factor in deciding whether to buy a pair of glasses.”

How companies can respond

This dichotomy in consumer motivation — between caring about a cause but also about functional features and price — makes pursuing a sustainability agenda complicated. Yet, doing so can help to differentiate a brand, delight customers, and ultimately create brand and financial value. Those looking to market sustainable offerings should consider the following suggestions. Couple sustainability features with other benefits. Companies can innovate, creating sustainable products and services superior to unsustainable alternatives. For instance, recycling company TerraCycle offers a circular packaging and delivery system called Loop that sends customers products in well-designed containers that can be returned for cleaning and reuse. Many companies, including leading ice cream, shampoo, and mouthwash brands, are part of the program. Consumers have to pay a deposit that’s sometimes double the product price, but people don’t mind. Why? Two-thirds of Loop shoppers indicate that the higher-end aesthetics and functionality of the containers are actually more important to them than the program’s sustainability benefits. For example, Häagen-Dazs’s dual-layered Loop cups keep ice cream frozen but aren’t too cold to hold comfortably, and the containers’ rounded bottom corners makes scooping easier. The fact that the Loop system is eco-friendly is a bonus. Paul Gaudio, global creative director for Adidas, explains the sustainability-as-a-bonus philosophy this way: “I don’t want people to buy it because it’s recyclable. I want people to buy it because it’s awesome. And oh, by the way, it’s recycled.” Minimize the sustainability price premium. Price can deter people from buying sustainable offerings, according to the Conference Board’s research. And in this time of pandemic-induced crisis, with many consumers suffering financial losses, this might be truer than ever. So, achieving cost efficiency is critical to keeping prices low. Companies can do this through innovation and partnerships — including with competitors. For example: Even pre-crisis, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, and Colgate-Palmolive were committed to making their discoveries and technologies for recycling plastics accessible to others in the industry. This helps increase the supply of recycled plastics for all participating companies, while saving other businesses needless development costs. Plus, it advances companies’ sustainability goals and addresses consumer interests. Companies can also launch pricing plans that reward repeat purchases of sustainable products or services. Take Adidas’s circular economy service, Infinite Play, which is available in the U.K. and gives people gift cards or loyalty club points in exchange for their used Adidas items. Educate consumers about sustainability features and build trust. Many consumers find it time-consuming to gather information about a brand’s sustainability features — additionally, they don’t trust claims, or they find them confusing. According to the Conference Board’s survey, this lack of understanding is a key barrier to consumers buying sustainable brands, especially when it comes to awareness of fair labor conditions and wages. So, brands need to clearly communicate with their customers in concrete terms, disclosing information such as the amount of packaging saved or how they’ve enhanced certain working conditions. The COVID-19 crisis has inspired companies to do exactly that: It has put employee-related policies and crisis response in the spotlight, so businesses across the board have been communicating frequently with the public about these issues. To strengthen consumer awareness and trust, companies can also seek independent certification and inclusion in app-based directories that provide information about products’ sustainability features. Give sustainable consumption social currency. Like luxury goods, sustainable products often involve premium quality, craftsmanship, storytelling, and significant intangible value. For example, two different in-store experiments, one with fair trade–labeled coffee and another with a socially conscious–labeled Banana Republic women’s suit  — ordinary items, but not the cheapest in their categories — showed that the sustainability labels enhanced demand. Sustainability features also seem to grant emotional benefits, including the satisfaction of consuming more consciously and subtly signaling status. Brands can support, facilitate, and even encourage this status signaling with tools similar to virtuous behavior badges, such as “I voted” stickers, pink ribbons, or fitness trackers. For example, research has shown positive effects on hotel guests’ towel reusage when they can show their “green support” by wearing a pin or hanging a card on their door. All crises offer new opportunities. The current one may be a test for sustainability, but it could also instigate a new level of corporate creativity and innovation along the sustainability value chain.

The pandemic is changing the dialogue around reusable packaging, although not everyone agrees that this shift is necessarily a bad one. I recently caught up with Tom Szaky, CEO of reusable packaging platform Loop and its parent company TerraCycle, in advance of our interview during this week’s Circularity 20 Digital event. The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Lauren Phipps: How is the reuse market faring in the "age of contagion"?  Tom Szaky: I think it’s both good and bad at the same time. What’s the bad? It’s the obvious: reusable shopping bags. Many supermarkets have asked consumers to stop bringing those. And reusable coffee cups. Many coffee shops — noting that many are closed now — paused very early on. Those are the overt negatives for reuse. There are positives, though. Loop sales have never been stronger. I think the fundamental difference here is not that single-use or disposable is inherently safe or that reuse is inherently unsafe: It's how you deploy those systems. Supermarkets don't want you to bring your reusable shopping bag because you're not cleaning it as a consumer; you may have contagion and can pass it off incredibly fast. Inversely, if there's a professional system doing it well, then safety is there. That's the subtlety: It's not reuse overall, it's how reuse is used. Phipps: So, do you gawk at the collection of jars that I bring to the grocery store (under normal circumstances) and clean myself?  Szaky: I don't trust your cleaning, like I don't trust anyone's cleaning. In a normal world, I would say that's probably just fine because we are swimming in reuse, right? There's so much reuse we aren't aware of. It's OK and germs are generally good. While we should certainly be freaked out about the concept of COVID, we shouldn't be freaked out about the concept of reuse. What's important, especially in this time, is to think about the reuse ecosystems that are potentially very risky that we're very comfortable with. The fundamental difference here is not that single-use or disposable is inherently safe, or that reuse is inherently unsafe: It's how you deploy those systems. For example, we all go to the dentist to get our teeth cleaned. When we sit in the chair and the dentist brings out their tools — most of them are reused stainless steel tools — and they would have been in many many patients' mouths, probably some with potentially horrible diseases. And have any of us ever considered that as a problem? We probably haven't because we trust that the dentist is professionally sterilizing the tools in every reuse. Again, this is the important part: We need to take a step back and understand how we deploy these systems and what is the appropriate level of risk. Phipps: Given that it's about the "how" and not the "what," what advice would you give to other brands, retailers or even third-party service providers working to scale reuse solutions to help them navigate this time?  Szaky: What will help you in the short term is some form of professional cleaning management. That will create comfort right away for consumers, even with heightened COVID concerns. If you're a reuse organization and you're trying to promote a reuse system where you're expecting the consumer to clean — and there's many wonderful companies promoting reusable cups, bags, etc. — I think it's going to be a little challenging during COVID. I wouldn't fight it. I would just hunker down, make sure your company is protected and you can get through it. As things loosen, then start pushing your system.