The Glad Products Company’s path to sustainability started with the convergence of many influences: a strong brand heritage of innovation, changing consumer dynamics and sound business decisions.
As the category leader, Glad is consistently monitoring consumer and category trends to insure that the products are changing to meet user needs. A current cultural shift among consumers is the desire to waste less (i.e. less money, less time, less materials), a positive association with recycling and increasing interest in other waste diversion methods (e.g. composting).
These consumer trends, along with the requirement to grow a profitable business and the desire to lessen the company’s environmental impact, led Glad to challenge the trash bag paradigm that a thicker bag is a stronger bag. Glad has a history of offering innovative solutions that help consumers to waste less. This includes Glad ForceFlex® bags (with stretchable strength that let you overstuff) and OdorShield® bags (bags that neutralize strong odors so you can fill the entire bag before you take it out.), as well as a line of composting and recycling bags to promote waste diversion. The latest innovation to the Glad’s Tall Kitchen trash bags resulted from unique technologies that reduced the required resin while actually increasing the bag strength, helping to decrease the amount plastic going to landfills. While it might not sound like much, the newest trash bags use 6.5% less plastic than the previous equivalent bags, saving 6.5 million pounds of plastic annually or the equivalent of 140 million trash bags that will not end up in the landfills every year.
Glad knows that waste reduction isn’t a problem that can be solved overnight.
Leveraging AI in Service of Sustainability Marketing Campaigns
Join us in Minneapolis as Nadia James, Sustainability Marketing Program Manager at
Google, explores how both major brands and SMEs are successfully using AI to land sustainability marketing campaigns that are driving both sustainability and business performance — Wed, May 8, at Brand-Led Culture Change.
In fact, Glad’s commitment to sustainability started more than 25 years ago when they partnered with Keep America Beautiful to improve communities across theUnitedStatethrough litter prevention, waste reduction and beautification initiatives. Glad is committed to continuing to develop innovative new products, supporting new waste diversion efforts in communities and helping impact small changes in consumers’ behavior to waste less that can make a bigger combined difference.
During the last couple of years, Glad has launched efforts to help consumers learn more about waste reduction. The One Bag campaign was launched this year to help consumers reduce waste at events, large and small, with the ultimate goal of only one bag of waste going to landfill with the rest diverted to recycling and composting. Glad has also partnered with several organizations and municipalities to spread awareness and increase participation in recycling and composting program. Pilot composting programs are taking place inSeattle,New York City,Portland andPrinceton,NJ. For the food storage part of the business, Glad promotes its reusable, recyclable containers and together with Waste Management, Glad conducted a sandwich bag recycling pilot in select school districts to help learn more about solutions for plastic sandwich bag waste.
While continuing to establish learnings through these pilot programs, Glad hosts a wealth of resources at Glad.com where consumers can find information on how to reduce household waste and where to recycle practically anything wherever the consumer lives. Glad encourages consumers to ask questions on the website and through social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter if they can’t find the information they need. Additionally, the brand has just released the new iPhone application TrashSmart that helps consumers find local recycling locations for household items like old batteries, fluorescent light bulbs or electronics.
Glad supports the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) goal to divert 80 percent of solid waste from landfills by 2020 and is committed to helping reach that goal. It makes sense from an environmental perspective and from a business perspective, and it is just what you would expect from a leader in the industry.
Published Jan 30, 2012 1pm EST / 10am PST / 6pm GMT / 7pm CET