Sustainability in the Food & Beverage Industries: Hip or Hype?

November 3, 2009 in Food & Beverage Industry Information

 

 

In last week’s post I reviewed some of the findings from this year’s Food Packaging Trends study.  One surprising trend is that, despite the economic downturn, industry executives are committed to increasing sustainability initiatives.

But while it’s easy for a food packaging company to say they’re “going green,” some experts claim these businesses are “walking more than they’re talking.”  Here are two brief articles which address the issue:

Companies are going ‘green,’ but not talking about it

Giving the Gift of Wind

These articles bring to light several challenges food and beverage industry companies face when putting sustainability initiatives into practice:

  • Tracking and regulating sustainability practices.  The legitimacy of green efforts, such as purchasing renewable energy credits (RECs) to make use of wind power, has come into question.
  • Crafting the right message.  Industry players struggle to change consumers’ perception that businesses are going green solely for marketing purposes.
  • Lack of concrete metrics.  Right now, few standards exist by which companies can measure the effectiveness or quality of their efforts.

Share Your Thoughts

What is your business doing to truly “go green”?  What challenges have you faced in putting those initiatives into practice?  Please leave your comments below, or send them to Kinsa Group.