Posted by & filed under Corporate Social Responsibility.

Description:  Malaysia is building mountains of our plastic waste since China ceased accepting it from the west in January 2018. For over 25 years, China had accepted roughly 50% of the western world’s plastic waste, turning it into products to be sent back to us. Meanwhile, Canada’s two largest grocery chains, Loblaws and Sobeys, seem to be far behind grocery stores in Britain in reducing all that plastic consumer waste. By 2050, some have estimted the weight of plastic in the ocean will exceed the weight of fish.

Date:  January 11 , 2019

Source:  cbc.ca

Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/plastic-waste-grocery-stores-recycling-1.4969379

Discussion points:

1)  What do think Canadian grocers could due to reduce the amount of plastics we take home with their products?

2) Why do you think retailers choose plastic over other types of packaging?

3) Which type of audit discussed in Wiley’s Auditing: A Practical Approach might a grocer use to report its performance in reducing plastic waste?

One Response to “Malaysia’s mountains of our plastics”

  1. Claire Stirling

    1) I think the biggest factor will be offering convenient and cheap alternatives for plastic packaged products or offering incentives for customers bringing their own packaging materials (eg. reusable produce and grocery bags or containers) in terms of positive reinforcement. For example, some coffee shops offer a discount when people bring their own cup. On the other hand, people might respond more quickly to negative reinforcement in the form of fees for not bringing reusable items (eg. the plastic bag charge).
    2) Probably because it is more available, common, cheap and convenient. They are catering to what the consumers are purchasing. Other products may impact the grocery store in terms of being heavier, less easy to stack on shelves, harder to transport or less functional. There are also less options available on the market for products packaged sustainably.
    3) I’m not sure if we’ve covered this yet, but I would assume that an audit of the operations of the grocery store or an audit of the inventory would be most suitable in this case. Another place where this would factor in is through Corporate Social Responsibility.

    Reply

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