Sustainability Matters

For many people, whether sustainability matters or to what extent it matters in determining consumer behaviors seems to reside somewhere between ?it depends? and ?it?s evolving.?

Around the world, demographic shifts drive a growing demand for convenience. The World Bank expects the global middle class to soar from 430 million in 2000 to 1.15 billion by 2030. These consumers prefer products that meet the needs of their busy, urban lifestyles. And, they demand greater convenience without compromise on quality, safety, or sustainability.

A 2011 Thompson Reuters study reports that consumers are torn when choosing between environmental conscience and convenience when making food and beverage packaging decisions. And a by Pira International study confirms that consumer demand for convenience is considered one of the three largest barriers to the growth of sustainable packaging. But, when it comes to competitive advantage for the food industry, real opportunities exist for manufacturers and retailers to develop new sources of value at the intersection of consumer demand for environmentalism and convenience.

Convenience and grocery stores aside, there could not be a tougher time for the $558 billion restaurant industry to put on a green face. Consumers are eating out less, and those who do eat out are spending less. Still, the National Restaurant Association is trying to convince restaurant owners that going green is not just better for the environment ? it is better for business.

Ted Turner, the media mogul turned philanthropist, is now a green restaurant owner. In other words someone whose restaurants leave a smaller carbon footprint on the environment. Turner has funded a ?green? restaurant initiative nudging owners of the nation?s 945,000 restaurants to think about controlling energy use and waste creation. ?Imagine the implications for global warming if we get the whole restaurant industry to go green,? says Turner.

If the restaurant industry can dial down the enormous environmental damage it does daily even slightly, it would be huge. Restaurants are the retail world?s largest energy user. They use almost five times more energy per square foot than any other type of commercial building, says Pacific Gas & Electric?s Food Service Technology Center (FSTC).

Nearly 80% of the $10 billion dollars that the commercial food service sector spends annually for its energy use is lost in inefficient food cooking, holding and storage. Then there is all that trash. Restaurants produce far more garbage on a daily basis than most other retail businesses. A typical restaurant generates 100,000 pounds of garbage per location per year.

The industry is late to the game. The restaurant industry tends to follow, not lead. Starbucks gets it. To them sustainability matters. Every new store built in the USA is being green buildings certified by the U.S. Green Building Council, a non-profit independent group that certifies buildings that meet minimum green standards. The chain, which sells 2.3 billion hot beverages and nearly 1 billion cold beverages globally each year.

Sustainability matters to?McDonald?s who built its first company-owned green restaurant in Chicago last summer. The pavement in the parking lot is permeable to reduce storm water flowing to city sewers. The roof collects rain and distributes it to the landscape.

Source: http://blogs.cityu.edu/international/?p=608&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sustainability-matters

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