In an increasingly environmentally conscious society, sustainability is becoming an important concept for all companies to implement into their business strategies. Justin’s Nut Butters, a small nut company in Boulder, Colorado is making every effort to keep sustainability at the forefront of its production process. The company uses only natural and organic ingredients, and its cardboard is made with 100 percent recycled paper. Justin’s headquarters are even solar powered.
Despite all of these sustainable initiatives, Justin’s packaging is hindering the company from being able to truly live out its sustainability mission. Its petroleum-based packaging can stay in landfills for more than 1,000 years, according to David Slayden from Ad Age. Slayden mentioned that the only other alternative is squeeze packs, which stray from the industry standard in packaging and are much more expensive to produce. Switching over to squeeze packs, an effort Justin’s is committing to pursue, will be a hefty challenge for a small company. Making a profit will inevitably be slow once the packages take off.
Green Mountain Coffee, producers of the favorable and convenient K-Cups are on the other side of the spectrum. The New York Times reported that the single use packages accounted for 80 percent of their profit, according to the sustainable is good website. Along with this large profit comes a large pile of unsustainable, plastic trash.
Green Mountain has banked on the K-Cups because they are providing a product that their market wants. Are people going to stop buying them because they’re not environmentally friendly? Justin’s is willing to sacrifice profits in order to make the environment better, but is that a smart business move in the long run? No matter what the product, the sustainability of its packaging needs to be considered from start to finish while maintaining the demands of consumers. Lost profits will be avoided and consumers will appreciate that they are contributing to a more sustainable environment.




