I was recently told that a third of all plastic bottle waste comes from one company. This struck me as a terrible advertising campaign. What could be a worse form of product placement advertising?
If you feel moved to write to the companies that produce this plastic waste then we’ve two approaches to consider…
A. Litter Letter
Write to a consumer products company that makes the waste you find littering the area. You can find their customer relations departments online.
Dear <Company>,
Packaging Problem
For your logo to be associated with plastic ocean waste and litter rather than your beverage must be a spectacular own goal. After-all, a plastic bottle with your logo on is likely to be kicking around in the rivers and beaches and on the side of the roads for far longer than it ever had a chance to grace any shelf or cupboard. If an alien visited our planet, might they think that your logo is another name for rubbish?
How to get out of your predicament? Think of the 1950s when returned glass bottles earned a small amount of money back for your customers. If you had to be responsible for the entire product lifecycle (from “cradle-to-grave”) then there’s little doubt that you would revert to glass.
You only use plastic because you’ve given your waste problem to local councils, governments and wildlife to sort out. They effectively subsidise your operation.
If every local council could count the number of your bottles collected and charge you 5 cents for each one, then I wonder how long it would take for you to set up your own bottle collection service?
Yours faithfully
B. Quick Campaign Idea
If you’ve had enough with picking up the same litter, why not try this…
Find the customer relations department or contact form online for the brand of litter you’ve found. Some litter helpfully has the contact address printed on the back of the packaging.
1. Take a digital photo of a piece litter you find in a park or on a beach
2. Send that photo to the customer relations department online with the simple message “Dear Sir/Madam, there’s something wrong with your product”
Although tempting to send the litter back directly to the company, we don’t recommend physically posting the litter to the company because it is costly and not very environmental. Better to collect the litter and take it to the nearest recycling point.
If you have litter letter suggestions please feel free to write them in the comments below.
Living Laudato Si' 