Posted by Charles // March 16, 2011

Here’s a question for you: When is a company’s effort to make one aspect of its operations more sustainable a solid step in the right direction and when is it greenwashing? Take for instance Pepsi which will start testing 100-percent plastic free bottles in 2012.
When I first saw this, my reaction was, “Fine, but the product is so bad from the health and environmental perspectives that putting it in a plant-based bottle feels hollow to me.” On the other hand, not using a petroleum-based plastic bottle for a product that  generates $20 billion a year (PDF) in revenue is a good thing. Imagine how many plastic bottles (and oil) that is.
PepsiCo does do a lot of work on sustainability and corporate social responsibility, as does Coca-Cola. Both also do a fair amount of greenwashing and also a lot of harm just by being in business. But if people are going to drink Pepsi anyway, isn’t it better if the bottle is made from the plant waste generated by the company’s other business operations? Or is the business model of Pepsi (and other soft-drink makers) simply unsustainable and unacceptable?
Please, share your thoughts. I don’t have a good answer for this one.