{"id":9590,"date":"2018-06-11T14:28:25","date_gmt":"2018-06-11T18:28:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irnsurplus.com\/wp\/?p=9590"},"modified":"2024-02-26T20:15:39","modified_gmt":"2024-02-27T01:15:39","slug":"pepsico-lol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.irnsurplus.com\/wp\/2018\/06\/11\/pepsico-lol\/","title":{"rendered":"Pepsico LOL"},"content":{"rendered":"

This isn’t really about Pepsico.\u00a0 They’re just a nucleus around which to wrap a question, one I think about almost every day:\u00a0 If a product doesn’t contribute to the sustainability of our species or culture, is there any meaning to making the product “sustainably”?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Oct. 17, 2016<\/em>\u00a0—\u00a0PepsiCo, Inc. today announced an ambitious global sustainability agenda designed to foster business growth in a way that \u2026 creat(es) a healthier relationship between people and food, \u2026 contribute(s) to a more sustainable global food system and help(s) make local communities more prosperous.<\/em><\/p>\n

Here is what Pepsico makes and sells, the \u201cflagship\u201d products that make them \u201cuniquely Pepsico\u201d.<\/p>\n

Soft drinks, more than $35Billion a year:\u00a0 Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Diet Mountain Dew, Mist Twst, Pepsi Zero Sugar.\u00a0 Other beverages, $15Billion:\u00a0 Gatorade, Tropicana, Aquafina.\u00a0 Convenience food, about $25Billion:\u00a0 Lays, Doritos, Cheetos, Ruffles, Tostitos, Fritos.<\/p>\n

Not long ago I attended a talk by Pepsico\u2019s global head of sustainability.\u00a0 She was an accomplished professional with a huge resume.\u00a0 She talked about Pepsico\u2019s many environmental initiatives in energy and water use, their efforts to promote recycling, use of lightweight packaging, and more.\u00a0 She was a knowledgeable and engaging speaker.<\/p>\n

But\u2026<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s nutrition information for those flagship products:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sugar, chemical sweeteners, fat, salt, caffeine.\u00a0 Those are what define Pepsico products.\u00a0 They are all bad for us.\u00a0 They contribute to heart disease, high blood pressure, heart attack, sleep disorders, obesity, diabetes.\u00a0 They are all, to a greater or lesser extent, addictive.<\/p>\n

Which is to say, with very few exceptions, Pepsico\u2019s contribution to \u201ca healthier relationship between people and food\u201d consists of selling us food and drink that not only do us no good, but are demonstrably bad for us, and are addictive into the bargain.\u00a0 A huge step we could all take toward \u201ca healthier relationship between people and food\u201d would be never to eat or drink a Pepsico product again.<\/p>\n

That fact didn\u2019t come up in the talk I heard.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also hard to miss the fact that Pepsico\u2019s flagship products are sold in single-serve disposable packages.\u00a0 I\u2019ve eaten lots of Doritos, and I don\u2019t remember ever having the opportunity to recycle the bag.\u00a0 Not once.\u00a0 I\u2019ve gone on my share of road trips, and I don\u2019t remember having the opportunity to recycle a Pepsi bottle or can at a gas station or convenience store.\u00a0 I appreciate the fact that plastics are lightweight packaging, and that Pepsi\u2019s beverage containers are recyclable where recycling programs exist.\u00a0 But the most effective way to get plastic bottles and aluminum cans out of the trash and roadside litter and into recycling bins is the bottle bill, and Pepsico is unwavering in its opposition to any and every bottle bill.<\/p>\n

That fact didn\u2019t come up in the talk I heard.<\/p>\n

How can Pepsico say they want to \u201chelp make local communities more prosperous\u201d when their products contribute to serious health problems and huge healthcare costs? \u00a0What is Pepsico\u2019s true message when their products are sold in packaging that pollutes the environment, and they oppose the most effective means to change that situation?\u00a0 What\u2019s the point of promoting their commitment to energy conservation when they\u2019re content to see millions of plastic bottles and bags \u2013 pure, highly refined petroleum \u2013 dumped onto landfills and roadsides?<\/p>\n

These questions didn\u2019t come up in the talk I heard.<\/p>\n

Of course, it\u2019s not just Pepsico, not just Mountain Dew and Doritos.\u00a0 It\u2019s thousands of companies and tens of thousands of products that we eat, drink, and use every day.\u00a0 Our economic system is based on consumption, and our culture embodies that system through and through.\u00a0 Sustainability means making thoughtful and informed choices about what we eat, drink, and use to support our daily lives.\u00a0 Unfortunately, many if not most of those choices would tend to put large, powerful corporations out of business.\u00a0 They will fight to keep that from happening.\u00a0 They have to.\u00a0 They owe that fight to their shareholders.<\/p>\n

So they\u2019ll keep pushing products we don\u2019t need, foods that make us sick, \u201cmust-have\u201d colors and styles, \u201cnew\u201d shades of lipstick and scents of cologne, and they\u2019ll keep working to convince us to buy the latest iPhone and high-def TV. \u00a0And they\u2019ll put a gloss of \u201cSustainability\u201d over them, reducing energy and water use and hyping \u201czero waste\u201d factories.<\/p>\n

But in the end, you can\u2019t be serious about Sustainability if the foundation of your business consists of products that people don\u2019t need or don\u2019t need more of, that make people sick, that are packaged and promoted in ways that damage the environment.\u00a0 You just can\u2019t.<\/p>\n

So yes, reduce energy and water use, reduce factory waste, put up solar panels.\u00a0 Call it being more efficient.\u00a0 Call it being economical.\u00a0 Call it common sense.\u00a0 Just don\u2019t call it being Sustainable.\u00a0 Because it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This isn’t really about Pepsico.\u00a0 They’re just a nucleus around which to wrap a question, one I think about almost every day:\u00a0 If a product doesn’t contribute to the sustainability of our species or culture, is there any meaning to making the product “sustainably”? Oct. 17, 2016\u00a0—\u00a0PepsiCo, Inc. today announced an ambitious global sustainability agenda … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Pepsico LOL”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recycling-2"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irnsurplus.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irnsurplus.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irnsurplus.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irnsurplus.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irnsurplus.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9590"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.irnsurplus.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9597,"href":"https:\/\/www.irnsurplus.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9590\/revisions\/9597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irnsurplus.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irnsurplus.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irnsurplus.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}