Do the Right Thing Because It is Right?

What is the ROI on doing good? I think it is curious that we have to market or sell attendees, corporations, communities and individuals on the idea of doing the “right thing”?   Take recycling which basically is “treating the earth’s environment right,” an evolution of an extended marketing plan.

Brenda Houlihan

It really began with Earth Day; a day that is intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s natural environment.  Over 40 years ago, the first Earth Day was established in 1970 by Senator Nelson from Wisconsin.   The original recycling symbol was designed in 1970 by Gary Anderson, a senior at the University of Southern California at Los Angeles. It was submitted to the International Design Conference as part of a nationwide contest for high school and college students sponsored by the Container Corporation of America. The contest was a result of continuing growth of consumer awareness and environmentalism and a response to the first Earth Day.   Fast forward to environment issues, pollution, global warming, t0 a Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to the Vice President of the United States, Al Gore.  Unfortunately, it really took over 40 years of the 3 R’s – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle to catch on.

Recycling: Doing the right thing is not only right but is the in thing! It is endorsed by celebrity like Matt Damon or Leonardo DiCaprio.  The emblem is common place, aside most corporate logos on product packaging.  Recycling and energy conservation will be a major initiative for new business growth in the future.  As well as recycling or environmental conscientiousness  is a driving factor in job employment.  According to numerous case studies and the Harvard Business Review,  Generation -Y is willing to forgo financial benefits in the hopes of a company with demonstrated corporate social responsibility.

In the July 2010 issue of United Airlines magazine, United outlined their success in making a difference with reducing and recycling in the air.  With flight attendants collecting cans and bottles to be recycled, United is recycling up to 25 million cans and six million plastic bottles across domestic flights (590 tons of cans and bottles that will be kept out of landfills.

How is reducing and recycling making a difference in this case:

§  Producing a can from recycled aluminum uses 95 % less energy than producing one from raw aluminum.

§  Producing a plastic bottle from recycle plastic uses only 66% of the energy required to manufacture from raw materials.

§  Recycling 25 million cans and six million bottles each year saves enough energy to power a community of more than 3700 homes for a full year.

What effort could you make?  What is your 25 million cans or six million bottles? Using less and recycling more is a small effort but can make such a difference to your consumers, employees and the environment.   Doing the right thing because it is right “with benefits.”