Sustainability Advertising and its Vanguards

San Francisco can enjoy the distinction of being the first city in the US to ban plastic bags. A few weeks ago the Board of Supervisors took a vote that will see the prohibition of petroleum-based bags from large supermarkets and drugstores.

The plastic bag ban has planted the seed for other cities such as Austin, Texas and Los Angeles, California to do the same, and internationally, cities are already taking action.

On April 2nd, 2007, Leaf Rapids, Manitoba became the first town in Canada to follow suit with a ban of its own. This sleepy little town of 600 has now planted itself firmly on the map thanks to this decision.

It’s no wonder that corporations like Loblaw’s, Randall’s and Wellcome in Hong Kong are starting to raise their heads to this opportunity.

IKEA now charges for plastic bags and other stores such as H-E-B offer cloth-woven alternatives for a small fee. Whole Foods, however, has chosen to reward its customers with ten cents off for using their own recycled bags.

Depending how you look at it, this could be either a public relations dream come true, like in Leaf Rapids, or a nightmare if addressed in the wrong way (or not addressed at all).

How great is the threat of plastic bags?

In San Francisco alone, it is estimated that 180 million bags are distributed every year, making for a huge strain on natural resources, marine life, and the environment. The city estimated that the plastic bag ban (which begins in six months) would save up to 450,000 gallons of crude oil and 1,400 million tons of debris every year. Plastic bags take approximately one thousand years to decompose and there is a direct relationship between their manufacturing process and air pollution.

There are alternatives

They can now make bags out of cornstarch, and better yet, out of multiple, old recycled bags. In Ireland, the heavy tariff on plastic bags at the counters has seen a 90% reduction in usage. I persist that there will be booming luxury shopping bag fashion boom once an established designer joins with this freelance copywriter to take on the task, but I digress.

Next stop: water bottles

Water bottles are filling up landfills like no one’s business. Last year, 1.5 million tons of plastic were used to bottle 89 billion liters of water. They are a disaster, environmentally speaking, despite what the pristine mountains and emerald forests on their packaging may lead you to believe.

But people need their water. It is essential to life. Even in the ultra-modern city of Hong Kong, as well as many other metropolises, you can’t drink the tap water. Bottled water is a fact of life.

Avoiding the temptation to buy the small bottles and refilling is one way to go. But research has shown that even through the transportation, manufacture and disposal of the larger jugs, landfills are filling quickly and the air isn’t getting any better.

Again, other packaging methods are the solution here. It is just a matter of the right country, company, or person kicking off the trend (and reaping the PR accolades in the process).

So, who will it be?