Recycling plastic data into reality

A guided tour of corporate plastic waste claims, actual plastic waste numbers, and what real change looks like

Most regular folk don’t have the time or inclination to dive into the details of corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data. Heck, most corporate folks don’t either. Yet corporations pay hefty sums to consultants to conduct benchmarking analyses and other research, to organize and publish this data.

From my 20 years’ experience in the ESG trenches I sensed that rarely (maybe never, but I am holding the possibility that I’m forgetting something) were the findings from these projects put to use to create an economy that serves life. They were about better investor communications, more competitive advantage, or some other return on investment that served the financial growth agenda. Not life.

This is a missed opportunity, to put it mildly.

And it is what prompted me to create a data set that looks at what five global companies said they were doing about plastic waste ten years ago, compared to what they say now. And then to look at these companies’ data—Coca-Cola, Danone, L’Oréal, Nestlé, and Proctor & Gamble—in the context of what’s going on with plastic waste in the real world, versus what is needed to serve life.

I wrote a piece about the findings revealed through this data, called “Our purpose is to dump garbage on your lawn”—said no CPG company ever.

Matereal World readers said encouraging things about this piece.
Things like, “Powerful, data-led and reality informed…” and “Singularly the most fantastic plastic analysis…”

But not everyone knows what to do with the data itself—which is available as a download in that piece (and below as well). With that in mind, I wanted to make sure that you, the denizens of the Matereal World, have easy access to the information that lurks in that data.

Iris, Peony & Bubble Wrap by Kristin Sjaarda, used with permission in the original post. An edited excerpt from this image is also in the banner of this post.

I created a 30-minute video tutorial that goes through the nuts and bolts of the findings, looking for what’s changed in these global companies’ efforts and why it matters (for better or worse). I also explore what to do about it.

Back to first principles for a moment

Aligned with my mission here in the Matereal World, if I get this right, this tutorial will offer you actionable insights on the path to industrial healing.

This video goes through the data set provided in the original post, with an added bonus of how I see a way through these seemingly intractable issues.

If you have requests or feedback about how to make this more useful or accessible, please leave a comment. I’m listening! Leave a comment (or get in touch).

And if you find the information valuable, I hope you will share it. Thank you!

Okay, here comes that tutorial.