Saturday, January 21, 2012
Posted in
Environment
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For years I have kept Slim-Fasts in the refrigerator and drunk them as a quick meal when I was short of time. The Slim-Fasts came in a heavy metal can -- heavier and thicker than it needed to be, but I didn't worry about it because all metal is recyclable. Well, in 2011 Unilever switched to a plastic container made of no. 7 plastic. The no. 7 category is a catch-all category for plastics that don't fall into any other category, and no. 7 plastics are not recyclable.
What I want to know is, what the hell is wrong with Unilever? The importance of the environment has been front and center in our society for several decades now, so why are manufacturers coming up with new, non-recyclable containers? We live in an age of waste and pollution in which mankind is rapidly destroying the environment. Recycling is one of the very few things that consumers can do to mitigate their negative impact. Why haven't food manufacturers been listening? Don't they care about society and the environment AT ALL? Is making money the only thing that matters to them???
Unilever had lots of better choices. They could have continued using the heavy metal containers, or they could have switched to aluminum soda cans. Frankly, I don't know why they weren't using the soda cans all along, since they are lighter and obviously cheaper. They also could have used plastic bottles made of no. 1 or no. 2 plastic, both of which are recyclable. But no, they apparently wanted a curvacious, sexy-looking container, the kind of container you can only achieve with hard plastic (no. 1 and no. 2 plastics are flexible). And so, for the small amount of marketing advantage that they will get from a sexy container, Unilever is going to trash the environment for years to come.
As I write this, I have Slim-Fasts in the fridge that I can't return because I got them from Peapod, an online grocery delivery service. I'll drink them up, but I will never buy another Slim-Fast. Instead, I'll get powdered Carnation Instant Breakfasts and stir them into milk. The envelopes that C.I.B. comes in are not recyclable either, but they are lighter and will produce less waste.
Of course, Nestle, which makes C.I.B., also produces lots of non-recyclable plastic bottles. What is wrong with these companies??? Don't they feel any responsibility to society at all? Such companies are bad citizens, in my opinion. The only thing that matters to them is money.
What I want to know is, what the hell is wrong with Unilever? The importance of the environment has been front and center in our society for several decades now, so why are manufacturers coming up with new, non-recyclable containers? We live in an age of waste and pollution in which mankind is rapidly destroying the environment. Recycling is one of the very few things that consumers can do to mitigate their negative impact. Why haven't food manufacturers been listening? Don't they care about society and the environment AT ALL? Is making money the only thing that matters to them???
Unilever had lots of better choices. They could have continued using the heavy metal containers, or they could have switched to aluminum soda cans. Frankly, I don't know why they weren't using the soda cans all along, since they are lighter and obviously cheaper. They also could have used plastic bottles made of no. 1 or no. 2 plastic, both of which are recyclable. But no, they apparently wanted a curvacious, sexy-looking container, the kind of container you can only achieve with hard plastic (no. 1 and no. 2 plastics are flexible). And so, for the small amount of marketing advantage that they will get from a sexy container, Unilever is going to trash the environment for years to come.
As I write this, I have Slim-Fasts in the fridge that I can't return because I got them from Peapod, an online grocery delivery service. I'll drink them up, but I will never buy another Slim-Fast. Instead, I'll get powdered Carnation Instant Breakfasts and stir them into milk. The envelopes that C.I.B. comes in are not recyclable either, but they are lighter and will produce less waste.
Of course, Nestle, which makes C.I.B., also produces lots of non-recyclable plastic bottles. What is wrong with these companies??? Don't they feel any responsibility to society at all? Such companies are bad citizens, in my opinion. The only thing that matters to them is money.
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