Going Green One Step at a Time
We came under fire recently because a product we introduced, Liner Free films, we marketed as a waste reducing product and a ‘green’ oriented product as it eliminated the silicon coated liners which are disposed of in our landfills. The criticism was that while they conceded reducing waste was okay, to be ‘green’ by their definition, the film should be biodegradable and should be used with other recyclable boards and papers. The person saying this was someone we do a fair amount of business with and they wanted me to drop promoting the attributes which are good for the environment as a ‘green’ product because the whole product did not meet their standards. (By the way, there is not such a product I know of today)
To be sure, the focus on ‘Green’ products has been rapidly increasing. There has been a lot of work done, particularly in the paper field on post content and recyclable standards. To that end, we have been looking at boards made from pulp which can be recycled, liner free films, acid free adhesives and more. Because of the wide range of applications, we test thoroughly and often err on the side of conservatism in deciding whether to launch a product because the bottom line is that the adhesive and films have to work in the applications end customers demand. Accordingly, our gains in ‘going green’ are often incremental and made one step at a time.
But those steps are real progress and I believe that by highlighting this progress creates a pressure for others to follow. It’s through that pressure that we may get to the products our critic wants to achieve. Also by highlighting our successes in becoming more a more ‘green’ industry, we build confidence in the market that we are investing our research efforts wisely. You can’t trumpet the total cure if you don’t have one, but I liken this to improved gas mileage. Your goal may be to get to 75 miles per gallon (mpg), but if your new product raises your current 20 mpg average to 40 mpg, let people know. It’s an important step on the path where you need to go.