Plastic on the Beach... and Still Flooding the Promo Industry

It's been raining solid here in San Francisco for a few weeks. After Friday's storm I hiked down to one of my favorite secluded beaches in west Marin County. From the mesa high above the ocean I could see huge logs and other debris washed ashore. I scurried down a muddy trail to have a closer look.

What I found, tangled among the driftwood and seaweed, was a lot of plastic.

Unnatural forms washed in from the Pacific -- in every size, shape and color... bottles, bags, toys, containers, packaging, lighters, filters, pens, parts of shoes, building materials, on and on. Within five minutes I found enough plastic trash to fill a large duffle bag. Unfortunately, it's something we see all too often along the otherwise pristine beaches of the Bay Area and beyond.

Plastic is everywhere in our lives. For many of us, it's not a problem. Most of it ends up in landfills, and well... out of site, out of mind. As a branding guy earlier in my career I helped package and market numerous plastic products in plastic packages. As a consumer, I've bought a lot of plastic crap. I don't feel good about that now, because I know there are other alternatives.

I've learned about those big blobs of plastic floating around our oceans. I've been to the landfills to see where the plastic goes and how long it stays. I've learned how inefficient it is to produce many plastic products, and how it can contaminate our ground water with toxic liquids and residue.

Plastic is a particularly big problem with consumer products, packaging, and promotional marketing. The best way to eliminate the negative impacts associated with producing, using and disposing of plastic, is to reduce its use in consumer products and packaging. Thankfully, a growing number of my marketing and design colleagues are forging change in those areas.

The U.S. promotional product industry, however, has a long ways to go. It's aware of this issue and there is a lot of talk about "going green". But from what we've seen much of the talk is superficial. For example, many product suppliers openly complain about California's Prop 65. And despite last year's well documented and shameful scandal of toxic toys from some Chinese suppliers, the head of the major promotional product trade association recently referred to "alleged problems" with toxic plastic from China in his blog, as if it's all just overblown or a misunderstanding.

The good news is that there are certainly less damaging promotional alternatives today and we have vetted hundreds of promotional goods that meet higher standards of sustainability. The bad news is that plastic still dominates the business. Most clients still want things fast and cheap and too few people in this sales-driven industry seem to want to lose a commission over this issue.

I don't pretend to be perfect and we all make compromises from time to time. But the promotions industry needs to do a much better job recognizing its negative impacts and working to reduce the use of plastic from the top down. I hope my colleagues will come to the same conclusion that I did -- sooner rather than later. All they need to do is stroll on any beach. They may be surprised at the branded plastic stuff the tides bring in.

The Price of Plastic Bags

San Francisco was among the first major cities to ban the use of plastic bags. And last year, Ikea became the first major retailer to address the plastic bag problem in our country. Ikea now charges its customers 5 cents to use plastic bags. It also sells reusable bags for 59 cents as an alternative to plastic bags.

All proceeds from the bag program are donated to American Forests, a non-profit whose goal is to plant 33,100 trees each year to offset carbon emissions produced by, uh, shoppers driving to and from Ikea stores.

From eco shopping bags, to event totes, to hipster messenger slings, there are now many stylish and affordable options for recycled, reusable, organic, and sustainable bags. We've experienced growing interest in non-plastic bags from the corporate branding leaders, and it's a welcome trend. In fact, they've become so popular some of our suppliers are selling out.

These may seem like small steps, but anything we can do to reduce our dependency on non-renewable resources is certainly worth the effort. If we each do our small part, collectively, we can make a major difference.

To read learn a few more reasons why plastic is worse than you think, check this out: Sea Turtles Don't Shop!

The Future of Promotional Products

We started ecoimprints.com and the sustainable swag blog to bring a fresh perspective to promotional products and marketing. Our mission is to open minds, to provide news on alternative promotional products, and to offer a greener approach that helps inspire positive change. We see a very different future ahead for the promotional marketing space. The sooner it comes, the better.

We've been involved in the promotional industry on some level for more than 15 years. It's a mature, crowded and largely old school niche that is driven by commissioned sales. There is no doubt that promotional merchandise has helped companies effectively build brands for generations, and there are many good and dedicated people involved in the business. However, the practice has clearly had a detrimental effect on the environment. It's contributed to our throw-away culture and populated the planet with lots of cheap petroleum-based stuff that we don't really need.

There are rumblings within the industry about "going green." While there is still some reluctance to stray from the old ways of doing things, we believe the negative impacts of this form of marketing will eventually be turned around to help mainstream greener products, attitudes and consumption patterns.

Here are a few predictions for positive change ahead:

•Traditional promotional sellers who peddle products on price and through printed catalogs will become increasingly irrelevant. The internet and younger web-savvy buyers will continue to change the game, making the industry more efficient and competitive.

•Some large parts of the industry will actually shrink. There will be less virgin plastic stuff sold across the board, and wasteful giveaways will become a thing of the past. The focus will be on practical and useful goods that leave a relatively light environmental imprint.

•The global sustainability movement and pressure from consumers, employees and investors will force more positive change. Economic self-interest will also play a role. Businesses will be required to operate more responsibly and efficiently. Promotional waste will not be tolerated.

•The "'cradle to cradle" lifecycle of a product will be more scrutinized. There will be more emphasis on the total environmental impact and carbon footprint a promotional product has -- from its materials and design, the way it's manufactured, the distance it must be shipped, the length of its usefulness, and the way it is disposed.

•The scandal of toxic toys and consumer goods imported from China and California's Prop 65 are just the beginning. The alarming effects of the chemicals we're exposed to on a daily basis will be better known and publicized. More domestic and global standards will be created to assure that products are made safer and with less negative impact on the environment and on humans.

The future of promotional products will look a lot less plastic, and a lot more green.