Marketing Advice for "Sustainable" Companies

Whether you believe in global warming or not, I'm sure you have recycled a thing or two in your lifetime. Companies far and wide are adding recycle programs to their marketing plan and stores in an effort to win over customer loyalty. You can mail in old shoes to Nike, you can recycle old denim for discounts at various retailers, Whole Foods collects old corks and water filters, and you can even donate old crayons to The Crayon Initiative. I guarantee you there is a company somewhere that will take ANYTHING you want to donate if you just search online for it. There's just one problem with that: It's not sustainable to drive to several different places and ship individual items for recycling. That involves a lot of unnecessary carbon emissions.

The solution? Companies should join forces to offer a recycle center within a common store or shopping area. Making recycling easier for everyone will increase traffic because customers would prefer to recycle in one location: yours. Why not bring denim, shoes, crayons, bottle caps, plastic bags, batteries, water filters etc. to an IKEA? Luckily customers can grab food in the Bistro or Restaurant while they drop their goods off which makes it a win/win for both parties even if the customer doesn't want to shop furniture and accessories. Why aren't shopping malls partnering with these large companies to offer a weekend donation event to drop off all items at the mall and offer discounts or rewards at the stores inside the mall.

I sometimes wonder what has happened to all of the marketing in this world. Have we separated business plans from marketing so much that we have forgotten how to put the customer first in both? Are we even teaming up together as sales & marketing to understand what gaps and untapped potential lays out there to drive traffic and incentivize what hasn't been incentivized yet?

While these large companies continue advertising their single solution donation, true environmental lovers see through the scheme as a poor attempt to avoid the larger issue while the less passionate environmentalists just don't put the energy into these recycle services enough to make an impact. Until large companies can start working together to solve climate change and increase customer loyalty, I'm afraid failing marketing schemes, traffic drivers and brand loyalty will remain at the expense of our future generation and the environment.