Tag: plastic waste

OM in the News: The Ziploc Bag Dilemma

Billionaire Fisk Johnson has been on a crusade to contain the plastic waste crisis.  He has gone scuba diving among plumes of plastic sludge. He has funded research on how microplastics are damaging for human health. And he has made trips to Congress to ask for regulations placing responsibility on consumer-goods companies to recycle the plastic waste their products generate.

Companies like his! For 20 years, Johnson has been at the helm of one of the biggest consumer companies in the world—and a major manufacturer of products packaged in plastics. He is CEO of family-owned SC Johnson, which makes Ziploc bags, Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day soaps and Windex cleaners.

“On one hand, I see plastic as one of the most useful, versatile and cost-effective materials developed in the last century,” Johnson testified in Congress. “On the other hand, as a lifelong conservationist, I also have seen how plastic has become one of the more profound emerging global pollutants that is affecting planetary, animal, and human health.”

That paradox is one of the most challenging questions confronting businesses—how to balance the tide of consumerism with escalating environmental concerns? Are consumers prepared to pay more and change the way they get their soap, cleaners and food to drastically reduce plastic waste?

SC Johnson still relies on plastic for packaging many of its products, and single-use plastic films like Ziplocs aren’t commonly recycled. Close to 40% of the world’s millions of tons of plastics produced are used in packaging and 85% of that plastic ends up in landfills, writes The Wall Street Journal (Oct. 13, 2024). Johnson says he has introduced sustainable packaging, including Windex bottles made from recovered plastic, but that regulations and fees on companies using plastics are needed so companies like his can remain competitive. Alternatives like glass can be costly, fragile and leave a bigger carbon footprint, he adds.

“You could say, alright, well, single-use plastics is a terrible business, and we should just get out of it,” says Johnson. “But somebody else who’s less well-intended is going to just take that up. It’s a free market. My argument is that it’s better off in our hands.”

Classroom discussion questions:

  1. Is there a solution to this dilemma?
  2. What would be your strategy as head of OM at SC Johnson?

OM in the News: Kicking the Plastic Can Down the Road (Again)

In 2020, dozens of major companies joined the U.S. Plastics Pact, signaling a commitment to minimizing plastic waste. Their goals included phasing out plastic straws, cutlery and intentionally-added PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals”; recycling or composting half of their plastic packaging; and making sure 100% of plastic packaging would be reusable, recyclable or compostable—all by 2025.

A NYC parade participant wears plastic bottles to raise awareness of recycling

Signatories include major brands like General Mills, Nestlé, Kraft Heinz and Coca-Cola, the largest known contributor to global branded plastic waste. Retailers like Walmart and Target and packaging and materials suppliers also signed.

Now, with the 2025 deadline close at hand, the U.S. Plastics Pact has pushed back to 2030 many of the target dates, writes The Wall Street Journal (June 11, 2024). It is not the first time companies have pushed back timelines for aggressive recycling targets. Coca-Cola and Nestlé both made public promises as far back as 2007 that didn’t come to fruition.

Today, less than 10% of plastic waste in the U.S. is recycled annually. While companies frequently tout pilot projects for plant-based plastics or paper bottles, the problem is expected to get worse in the future. Companies had hoped to collectively hit 100% reusable, recycled and compostable packaging by 2025, but the numbers remained below 50%. As for the target aimed at eliminating “problematic and unnecessary materials” including cutlery and plastic straws, not a single one of 11 materials singled out for elimination was confirmed for across-the-board removal in time for the deadline.

Three of the five targets outlined in the new road map are very similar to the 2020 version. Commitments to recycle 50% of plastic packaging, produce 100% recyclable packaging and use 30% recycled content in packaging have been pushed to 2030. Some companies cited an unrealistic time frame and potential increased costs as reasons why deadlines are being missed.

Classroom discussion questions:

  1. How can alternative product designs help meet the U.S. Plastic Pact goals?
  2. What international quality standards relate to sustainability? (See Supp. 5 in your Heizer/Render/Munson text).

 

OM in the News: Trapping Plastic Waste

What do old televisions, street signs, motorbike helmets, windsurf boards, and Christmas trees have in common, asks CNN (June 10, 2021)? They were all caught floating down Amsterdam’s Westerdok canal — by a curtain of bubbles. “The Bubble Barrier” was developed as a simple way to stop plastic pollution flowing from waterways into the ocean. An air compressor sends air through a perforated tube running diagonally across the bottom of the canal, creating a stream of bubbles that traps waste and guides it to a catchment system. It traps 86% of the trash that would otherwise flow to the River IJssel and further on to the North Sea. The idea is to catch plastic without having a physical barrier like a net or boom blocking the river, which could disrupt aquatic life or interfere with shipping.

Up to 80% of ocean plastic is thought to come from rivers and coastlines. Much of the plastic in Amsterdam’s Westerdok canal comes from trash bags that local residents leave outside their homes. If the bags tear, wind and rain can carry trash into the canal.

seabirdseal

Globally, 11 million metric tons of plastic waste flows into the oceans every year, where it can suffocate and entangle some aquatic species. Plastic debris less than five millimeters in length, known as microplastics, can also affect marine life. Often mistaken for food, microplastics are ingested and have been found in zooplankton, fish, invertebrates and mammalian digestive systems.

The albatross chick shown in the photo above is being fed pieces of plastics by its parents, which mistake the waste for food. Seabirds which ingest plastic waste are smaller, lighter, and suffer from a litany of health problems. Plastic waste kills about 1 million seabirds every year. The second photo shows an Hawaiian monk seal chewing on a plastic bottle.

Classroom discussion questions:

  1. How is plastic waste an issue for operations managers?
  2. What are companies doing to minimize plastic usage and waste?