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Starbucks is a company that both irritates and inspires, depending on your perspective. Its recycling and waste programs are little more than laughable. An attempt to spread cheer via hashtags turned into a jeering spree over accusations it was a tax evader. But here in the U.S., it is one of the more progressive employers, offering health care to its part-time workers and welcoming LGBT employees. It even earned the wrath of politicians for calling for an increased minimum wage and publicly supporting the Affordable Care Act. The company does not shy away from social issues, and that includes “Race Together.”

In a move that is about as anti-Milton Friedman as a business can go, Starbucks has decided to launch a dialogue about race. Bringing up the emotions that have been brought up in places including Ferguson, Missouri, Oakland, California, and New York City, CEO Howard Schultz said in a statement: “We at Starbucks should be willing to talk about these issues in America. Not to point fingers or to place blame, and not because we have answers, but because staying silent is not who we are."

This is a pretty bold move for a company that caters to a clientele whose daily highlight is showing how sophisticated they are by ordering the most complicated drink at the strip-mall Starbucks drive-thru, so they can show up at the office with a tony white cup in their hand. And it flies in the face of conventional wisdom about business in that companies should be making profits, not statements and commentary about society.

The initiative grew out of internal conversations. According to the company, more than 2,000 Starbucks (enter word here: associates, partners or employees) have discussed racial problems at various open forums across the country. Some baristas said they wanted to make a move to raise awareness, foster empathy and encourage compassion among customers as well as their fellow employees. Baristas in large cities that have been past or present centers of racial tension, including Los Angeles, Chicago, St. Louis, New York and Oakland, California, began writing “Race Together” on Starbucks cups. The nationwide campaign started on Friday, and Starbucks has taken out full-page ad space on USA Today and the New York Times to get the word out. So, is the company going to make a difference?

So far this campaign has been about as productive as a discussion on race relations between Al Sharpton and Donald Sterling. The company has about a 40 percent minority workforce within its U.S. stores, but most of the images I have seen feature white people — including on the company’s press release. So far I have not seen any “race together” scripts in my town, but Fresno, California is a city that was largely built on the efforts of Armenians (who were not considered “white” when they first settled here and land covenants restricted them from buying property within the town limits) and then Mexicans (who worked on the farms that were eventually sold at top dollar so McMansions could be built). The customer who waltzed in from the adjacent Coach store or Banana Republic is going to be in no mood to start a conversation of substance. The same can be said for much of the country.

The upshot is that, for the average Starbucks employee who is quickly criticized for mishearing a name over the sounds of whirring blenders and blasting espresso machines, launching a conversation about race is about as appealing as telling a customer they have run out of sugar-free hazelnut syrup or soy milk. When your day is spent with cries that the chai is “too watery” or the latte is “too milky” (complaints I have overheard), or a customer is enraged because their $2 cookie crumbled after warming (when they were warned it would crumble), talking about race is not going to happen. Plus those same customers are often in a hurry because they have to rush and grocery shop in that nearby purveyor of fine goods for wealthy white people, Whole Foods. As one publication explained, perhaps Starbucks is not the place for this conversation to happen.

By the way, a tweet I came across mentioning the white hands in this “Race Together” campaign has produced its own snark, with one guy retorting, “Y'all realize that every commercial on TV that has a burglar is always a white guy now, right?” And that is just the start of it. You cannot blame Starbucks for trying, as it is a bolder move than most companies would be willing to make on a subject that makes many people uncomfortable (unless they are in an online forum). But based on the history of brands trying to launch a conversation, especially with social media, you cannot be surprised the effort is failing. But at least the satire on Twitter and elsewhere is amusing.

Image credit: Starbucks

Based in Fresno, California, Leon Kaye is a business writer and strategic communications specialist. He has also been featured in The Guardian, Clean Technica, Sustainable Brands, Earth911, Inhabitat, Architect Magazine and Wired.com. When he has time, he shares his thoughts on his own site, GreenGoPost.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.

If you have traveled to regions such as the Balkans, India or rural Latin America, the appearance of misshapen fruit and vegetables everywhere would have hardly surprised you; and of course, they are delicious. But shopping trends on both side of the Atlantic have led consumers to believe fruit should be uniform in color and shape.

One reason why food waste in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom hovers around 40 percent is because misshapen or “ugly" fruit is tossed into the refuse bin. Some retailers have tried to stop this trend, but consumer habits and marketing strategies die hard. Now a Canadian grocer, Loblaw, is selling misshapen produce at some of its outlets in Ontario and Quebec.

The company will sell the produce, starting with apples and potatoes, under its generic “no name” moniker.

Like many food companies, Loblaw first tried to deal with misshapen fruit by processing it into juice, sauces or soups. But those tactics can only go so far, and if you've watched any supermarket employee in action at a produce section, those oddly shaped fruits or vegetables often get tossed aside.

Instead of throwing such produce away, Loblaw will sell it at a discount. The company says it will sell the apples and potatoes at a price 30 percent lower than similar fruit without blemishes or odd curves. In a press statement, Ian Gordon, a vice president of Loblaw Companies, said: "We often focus too much on the look of produce rather than the taste. Once you peel or cut an apple you can't tell it once had a blemish or was misshapen.”

More consumer education and genuine efforts will be needed from food retailers if programs like this will scale and become successful. According to a United Kingdom nonprofit, Waste & Resources Action Program (WRAP), food waste is costing countries across the world US$400 billion annually. If this trajectory does not stop, the growing global middle class could cause that figure to increase by another US$200 billion by 2030. Instead of developing new farmland in pristine regions of Africa or South America, or fantasizing about uber cool-looking vertical urban farms in San Francisco or Brooklyn, plenty can be done to stop food waste across the entire supply chain.

Waste diversion programs are a start, but a campaign like Loblaw’s will take some effort. When “ugly fruit” was sold at a French retail chain, Intermarché, the company watched them fly off the shelves — but had to make smoothies and soups with them first to convince customers that they were just as good.

Image credit: Unsplash

Telecoms giant O2 recently unveiled a fully-functioning smart phone made out of grass cut from Twickenham Stadium - the home of the England Rugby team - and parts of recycled phones.

Commissioned for its ‘Recycle for Rugby’ initiative - which supports the RFU’s new social responsibility programme Try for Change, which promotes rugby as a powerful tool for social good - the phone was created using a combination of recycled mobile phone parts and real grass. O2 Recycle collaborated with designer, Sean Miles, on the project.

O2 says that the piece showcases how old tech has the exciting potential to be upcycled into something new, original and unique, and to inspire more people to recycle their old devices.

The device is fully functional and took over 240 hours to build, with designers using tens of thousands of grass blades for the casing and locally-sourced wood for the buttons. The grass was freeze-dried within two hours of being cut from Twickenham Stadium before going through a pulping process and being molded into a template. Once in the casing, the pulped grass was then covered in an eco-friendly resin – made from waste materials – hardening and bonding the grass together to protect the inner workings of the phone.

Electronics are the fastest growing waste stream in the world as devices are often discarded before they are unrepairable or technically outdated. O2 Recycle, which has to date received 1.4m devices since its launch in 2009, repurposes nine out of 10 gadgets.

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With beach litter on the rise, the UK’s leading marine charity has called for more Government action.

According to the data collected by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) and published in its Great British Beach Clean report, there was a 6.4% rise in beach litter between 2013 and 2014 and a 50% increase in the number of wet wipes washed up.

“There is an international obligation for the UK Government to take action to reduce marine litter under an EU marine directive. We therefore believe Government needs to produce National Marine Litter Action Plans for England and Wales, similar to those already produced for Scotland and Northern Ireland. There has to be a three pronged attack on marine litter led by new policies and action from Government, new practices from industry and behaviour change from the public,” said Dr Sue Kinsey, MCS senior pollution policy officer.

The wet wipes problem has already been highlighted by a number of UK water companies. Earlier this year Southern Water revealed over 2,000 tons of wet wipes were playing havoc with sewers in Kent. 

MCS says a National Marine Litter Action Plan should address the key sources of marine litter: public, fishing, shipping and sewage related debris, which includes wet wipes. The charity says new measures that need to be taken to tackle the issue include: a nationwide deposit scheme for plastic drinks bottles and aluminium drinks cans – 10% of overall beach litter recorded during the Great British Beach Clean in 2014 - and better disposal /recycling facilities for fishermen, both commercial and recreational – 11% of all beach litter surveyed during last September’s event.

The public can get involved in the Marine Strategy Framework Directive consultation, which includes marine litter, via the MCS website, until 24 April 2015.   

Picture credit: © Naejung | Dreamstime.com - Dirty Beach Photo

Greenpeace East Asia has published an update of its Detox Catwalk, the online platform which assesses how effectively major fashion brands are removing toxic chemicals from their supply chains and tackling water pollution.

Inditex (which owns Zara), Puma and Valentino join 13 other detox leaders, including Benetton, in this year’s ranking, while sports brands Nike and LiNing are labelled 'greenwashers' for their failure to take credible action.

“The fashion companies that have committed to detox over the past four years of campaigning represent approximately 10% of the global apparel and footwear market. We believe this momentum is creating a new standard in sustainable fashion: opening up secretive supply chains and finally showing that beautiful clothes can be made without pollution,” said Yixiu Wu at Greenpeace East Asia. 

The Detox Catwalk assesses how committed companies have performed against key criteria, including how they are working to eliminate known hazardous chemicals from their products and manufacturing processes, and what steps they are taking towards having their suppliers’ publicly disclose pollution information. 

"Increased supply chain transparency is good practice for sound chemical management, which will help decision makers draft and promote solid policies in China. Once companies are transparent, the public then has a chance to monitor what's happening in the industry - they have a chance to take part in the risk management of chemicals. In fact, it promotes good governance of this issue," said Liu Jianguo, Associate Professor at the College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering at Peking University.

The urgency to tackle water pollution is gaining momentum in countries such as China where almost half of the surface water is not drinkable and 64% of underground drinking water reserves in major cities are seriously polluted, says Greenpeace. China’s textile industry alone is responsible for 10% of the country’s industrial wastewater emission.

“This year’s Detox Catwalk shows that 16 fashion companies have started eliminating some of the most widely used toxic chemicals, including hormone disruptors such as nonylphenols, phthalates, and PFCs. They have also started releasing the pollution data of their suppliers to an independent online platform, all of which is ground-breaking and leaves companies like Nike far behind,” added Wu.

Read more here.

Picture credit: Benetton
 

Submitted by Nigel Johnston

When it comes to protecting the environment or improving workers’ conditions, you might think the biggest companies are making the biggest positive impact.

Multinationals like Apple and McDonald's are so large that --just by taking a few significant steps towards sustainability-- they can change vast swaths of the global marketplace.

But it turns out that the largest corporations aren't leading on this issue. It's the small and medium-sized businesses that are out in front on compliance with sustainability, worker safety and other standards.
Big companies deserve some credit. Because of the scale of their operations, every improvement is difficult. I have been the CEO of an industrial business, and as an investor I visited more than 1,000 manufacturers. I know how hard implementing higher standards can be. 

Even with this caveat, multinationals like Apple and McDonalds could do better. McDonald's still doesn’t offer recycling bins across its network of stores. 

Apple was shamed by the BBC just before Christmas in an episode of Panorama that included footage of factory workers so exhausted that they were sleeping right at their workplace.

Other disturbing BBC footage showed young boys mining in filthy and dangerous conditions, with the product of their labor to ultimately be used in Apple’s devices.

It's the little guys who really stand out in making the world a better place. In part, this is because the big corporations outsource their compliance to them.

This is why almost one third of the inputs for food and beverage packaging by Finnish supplier Huhtamaki are recycled. Huhtamaki has very high environmental standards, not for its own benefit, but to reduce its "customers' environmental footprint."

Simply by purchasing from a green supplier, a big company can claim to be more sustainable – without having made a single change to its own operations.

In other cases, smaller companies have beaten the big ones at their own game of producing excellent products with little environmental impact. Interface may be the world's largest maker of modular carpet, but its entire net worth is no more than a rounding error for $700 billion Apple. Despite starting as a very petroleum-intensive company in 1994, Interface has since reduced energy use by 43% and fossil fuel intensity by 60%.

Interface founder Ray Anderson shows larger manufacturers like Apple what's possible, by aiming to be the world's first sustainable company in all dimensions, and to actually become “restorative" to the environment. 

In the fast food industry, up-start Yeah! Burger is showing globe-spanning chains like McDonalds how to be green, with environmentally friendly ingredients, compost, 100% recycled paper supplies, energy efficiency and carbon offsetting. 

Even Yeah! Burger's loyalty cards are made from plants – although the company doesn't advise that you eat them.

No, the largest companies aren't leading. Their potential to do so may never be realized. 

But, as CEO of QualityTrade.com, I have found reason to hope. I have seen that small and midsize suppliers are more responsive to their customers. Their buyers are demanding more solutions.

Change has begun at the bottom, and it will work its way up.

Join Social Venture Network for the 2015 SVN Spring Conference, April 16-19, in San Diego. The event is open to active members, affiliates, family members and first-time prospective members. Click here to register.

As a lead-up to the conference, SVN is sharing best business practices from its members in a series of short video clips. Follow the series here.

By Social Venture Network

SVN members have launched some of the most innovative organizations in the mission-driven business community. They’ve experienced success, failure, setbacks and breakthroughs … and are very candid about the lessons they learned the hard way.

In this video, SVN member Gary Hirshberg, chairman of Stonyfield, shares how defending your own ego and deeply believing in yourself is key to realizing the vision of your business.

For more business advice from SVN members, check out “The Best Advice I Never Got” here.

Video courtesy of Social Venture Network. Image courtesy of Stonyfield Organic.

Ben & Jerry's ice cream maker Unilever has achieved 100% zero waste to landfill (ZLF) at all dedicated distribution centres in North America. The multi-national FMCG company reached its target of ZLF at all global factories in January.

“Reaching 100% zero waste to landfill on all waste streams at our North America distribution centers is a great example of how we are putting our sustainability strategy into action and reducing our environmental footprint to strengthen our business, as well as our commitment to partnership and collaboration,” said Reginaldo Ecclissato, SVP Americas Supply Chain & Chairman, Unilever Americas Supply Chain Company.

“This achievement builds on the journey we began a few years ago when all of our Unilever-owned factories in North America became zero waste to landfill, but it is far from the end. We will continue to challenge ourselves and our partners in our mission for sustainable growth.”

Solutions to avoid sending finished goods to landfill include focused inventory management, composting, creating animal feed, package recycling and generating biodiesel fuel. Eliminating waste in distribution centres resulted in cost savings of more than $1.9m in 2013, the company has reported.

New research commissioned by one of the UK’s largest employers reveals a significant lack of public trust in business. Indeed, 80% of those polled could not name one large business which they believed made any positive contribution to their local community. 

The nationally-representative survey of more than 2,000 people, undertaken by Ipsos MORI, was commissioned by Interserve Plc, the FTSE 250 international support services and construction company - and one of the UK’s largest private employers - to better understand public sentiment towards big businesses.

Interserve chief executive Adrian Ringrose, said: “Much has been made of the fragile relationship between big business and the communities we serve, and it’s evident from this research that we have some distance to go if we are to start to repair the damage which has been done over recent years. This report will make uncomfortable reading for many, but it’s an important piece of work which must be taken seriously.”

The Interserve Society Report - the first in an annual series of research reports sponsored by the company - examined public attitude to big business in relation to four specific areas: community engagement; treatment of employees; the environment and financial performance.

Stephen Howard, chief executive, of the charity Business in the Community (BITC), commented: “These findings highlight that businesses must both work much harder to rebuild trust and be more vocal in articulating the positive contribution they are already making to society.

“Every day a growing movement of responsible businesses are making a positive difference; be this through helping disadvantaged people into work; supporting entrepreneurs to grow their businesses or creating products that drive a sustainable future for us all. Yet much of this activity is invisible to customers, employees and the wider public.

Read the full report here.

Data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) indicate that global emissions of carbon dioxide from the energy sector stalled in 2014, marking the first time in 40 years in which there was a halt or reduction in emissions of the greenhouse gas that was not tied to an economic downturn.

"This gives me even more hope that humankind will be able to work together to combat climate change, the most important threat facing us today," said IEA Chief Economist Fatih Birol, recently named to take over as the next IEA Executive Director.

Global emissions of carbon dioxide stood at 32.3bn tonnes in 2014, unchanged from the preceding year. The preliminary IEA data suggest that efforts to mitigate climate change may be having a more pronounced effect on emissions than had previously been thought.

The IEA attributes the halt in emissions growth to changing patterns of energy consumption in China and OECD countries. In China, 2014 saw greater generation of electricity from renewable sources, such as hydropower, solar and wind, and less burning of coal. In OECD economies, recent efforts to promote more sustainable growth – including greater energy efficiency and more renewable energy – are producing the desired effect of decoupling economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions.

"This is both a very welcome surprise and a significant one," added Birol. "It provides much-needed momentum to negotiators preparing to forge a global climate deal in Paris in December: for the first time, greenhouse gas emissions are decoupling from economic growth."

Ed Davey, the UK's Energy and Climate Change Secretary, commented: “These figures show that green growth is achievable not just for Britain but for the world. However we cannot be complacent – we need to dramatically cut emissions, not just stop their growth.

“Getting a new global climate deal is absolutely vital, and the year ahead is going to be of critical importance. The UK must stay the course and continue to show strong, decisive leadership in Europe and globally.”

More details on the data and analysis will be included in an IEA special report on energy and climate that will be released on 15 June in London.