I am from Brooklyn and have never lost the love for the gritty side of my home city. However as we get older, some of us anyway, we try to see the bigger picture and the value of waste not, want not just a little more. I also have been softened a bit by the little things in nature I probably missed while riding the D train back home after work at 2 am in my younger days. A recent hour long walk from one end of Central Park to the other again reminded me of what my friend and colleague Mandy Antoniacci always talks about, looking up (watch her Ted Talk here by the way). It is also a frequent reminder from another urban stargazer, Neil Degrasse Tyson, who came out of wrestling programs in The Bronx to be the astrophysicist to the stars (no pun intended). He constantly focuses on the value of looking up while being among the canyons of New York.
Even with all that, it is really my two kids, especially my daughter Christine, who has helped continue to open my eyes as to all the things we need to be as good corporate citizens these days. Following her standout four years at The George Washington University she did a one year AmeriCorps Project with the Hackensack Riverkeeper, and part of that involved cleanups of areas big and small…from the Hudson River to some small parks to the amazing greenspace in Teaneck along the Hackensack River itself, none of which I had really seen before. We did cleanups with groups medium sized and small in the cold and what and warm and dry, and it has really been amazing to see the amount of debris along the shorelines and hidden under bogs and banks.
As someone who has spent a lifetime in and around the world of branded sports products, the amount of plastic bottles from every brand imaginable…Gatorade to PowerAde, Poland Spring to Pepsi, is quite amazing. However even more so than the plastic, and we average about 20 bags of plastic bottles every two hours, was Styrofoam, and the biggest provide of Styrofoam to the waters of New Jersey? Dunkin Donuts.
Now I’m not saying in any way Dunkin, or Starbucks or PepsiCo, is out there polluting the waters of the Garden State. It is not Dunkin’s fault that their large cups, many branded with logos of the Jets and Giants, are seen at every turn on the shoreline. They come from people discarding, being blown out of trucks, falling from overflowing garbage bins for the most part. What I am saying is Dunkin, as well as the other brands, can probably do a much better job in aiding the cleanup of the rivers and waterways where their stiff is ending up.
We have seen many brands, especially those who embrace millennials, find ways to connect and give back to the environmental issues that are so much cause celebre’. If Dunkin, or other brands (Fireball Whiskey, popular with young people above 21, is another frequent small bottle that is ending up ashore) wanted to better engage and pull in the coveted younger demo, then how about funding, or doing more outreach, to local cleanups? We just finished Earth Day , and the buzz generated by brands looking to connect with those trying to improve the planet (Patagonia, Yeti, Starbucks) is impressive. Who don’t more brand pitch in, literally, on the cause activation side? It would not take much for a brand like Dunkin to have their franchisees donate some of their dollars to a local cleanup like those the Riverkeeper, or The Sierra Club or even the Boy and Girl Scouts do. The bottom line impact would be impressive, the buzz noteworthy and the assistance would not be forgotten, and would probably make many a little more brand loyal with their discretionary dollars. Then there are the myriad team partners of brands like Dunkin, from the Bruins to the Jets and Giants and beyond. Enlisting their partners in support of a cleanup, they would not even need to show up (but wouldn’t that be great as a part of the team’s community initiatives), they would just need to support on their social channels. The spinoff of that exposure would generate not just awareness, but probably more volunteer hours as well.
Now I know Dunkin and most brands are aware of the issues of plastic and Styrofoam in the environment, and the changes the City of New York are making to ban Styrofoam is important and admirable. However from an optics standpoint, and from a social responsibility standpoint, spending a few dollars and hours towards environmental causes would go a long way, and be welcomed.
The bottles and cups aren’t going anywhere fast, trust me, and the help and support can be amplified locally with some welcome arms, legs, and dollars.
