8. The importance of mission

What you choose to prioritize in your reduction strategy will partly depend on what you stand for as an organization: your mission!

Take a moment to consider what packaging options align with your organization’s values – and the values of your consumers. For a start, what does your organization stand for? Is there a mission and vision for your plastic action strategy that ties to the very core of the business? How do issues such as ocean protection, biodiversity loss, soil health, worker rights, or people and ethics rank for your brand?

Related to that, what are your organization’s sustainability goals? To be plastic-free? To drive circularity with PCR plastics and increased recyclability? Specifically to support bio-based solutions?

If these goals aren’t yet in place for your organization, then taking time to decide on your sustainability aspirations will inherently help drive the implementation of your plastic reduction targets.

As you might have read in an earlier article, different packaging types have different trade-offs. Hopefully with this pathway we have helped you understand a bit more about which ones might best support your unique mission and sustainability goals.

Another important consideration when developing your reduction strategy is what your consumers care about. Maybe they are in favor of you going plastic-free (after all, ocean litter is the top environmental concern for customers in the USA and the UK). Perhaps it’s a general value of creating more positive impact for the environment. Or perhaps they would respond more to a positive impact for people around the world?

These are challenging questions to answer, as the quality of your product must continue to withhold even if packaging is changed. As we collectively push towards a more circular economy, companies like yours can challenge the status quo with innovative packaging designs and alternatives.

We know that your relationships with your suppliers are really important to you. Many businesses work very hard to source their materials from ethical or local suppliers; enhancing the sustainability of their supply chain.

Working closely with your suppliers to see what packaging alternatives to virgin plastic they might have available can be a great way to see what is possible for you in the near future. Your suppliers can help you understand price points, packaging specs, and what might work best with your machinery. Before creating your reduction strategy we recommend speaking with your current vendors – it can really help to inform decisions.

Brands that have an authentic mission will find it easier to know what decisions to make around plastic use. With this authenticity, customers will see that your plastic strategy is not an attempt to greenwash or get social media likes – it’ll be another example of the kind of positive action that the brand takes in the world. (But if you’re still figuring your mission/purpose out - that’s okay too - you’re not alone)!