Paper Example on Environmental Challenges

Nespresso's corporate sustainability program to solve the environmental challenges caused by its single-serve aluminum capsules which progressively helps in preventing loss of customers from countries in the investment field and also in the conservation of the environment.

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Executive Summary

The paper is about the continuous increase in complaints from countries across Europe and in the U.S. regarding the use of aluminum capsules by the company. Aluminum products require energy-intensive resources which later end up in landfills hence polluting the environment. The paper, therefore, seeks to find better ways of limiting the impacts of the aluminum capsules and promoting efficient recycling plans to protect the environment. Refer to figure 2 for more information.

Background

The company was founded in the year 1986, producing its first coffee machine in the same year although its growth started in the 1990s opening many branches in Europe and in the U.S . The company packages its coffee in single-serve aluminium pods and capsules which are a mixture of plastic and aluminium which pose energy and coffee wastage problems. The latter is said to have very high environmental impacts per cup basis compared to the traditionally instant coffee which uses less energy and coffee. The company should, therefore, work on improving its sustainability before losing more clients . Countries like Germany have withdrawn from purchasing the products with taxpayers money as part of a big environmental drive stating that the complexity of the capsules does not allow for easy recycling. In addition to that, a survey conducted in Britain revealed that most Britons believe the pods are not environmentally safe though most of them own the machines.

Recommendation

The company has come up with a number of ways to improve its sustainability program. It has developed its own recycling program that collects used capsules for reuse. The company has also created 14,000 capsule collection points in the 31 countries aiming to increase its recycling capability from 80% to 100% by the year 2020 . The company is also planning to use energy from renewable sources to conserve the amount of energy required to produce the required amount of pods and capsules in the market. The companys environmental analyst has also issued a statement regarding its plan to reduce the amount of waste it produces to lower the amount of by products that need to be recycled . A research showed that most customers are willing to pay for better quality products hence the company should use cost-efficient ways of producing better quality coffee capsules. Refer to figure 1

Implications of non-action and of the recommendation

Find effective ways of recycling the aluminium products with a minimum amount of energy

Failure to find better environmental ways of producing the coffee capsules and pods will place the company in the last position in relation to its competitors since its biggest competitor, Keurig, is also on the verge of designing safer mechanisms of capsule and pod production . The implications of failing to adhere to the environmental demands of production is that the natural environmental resources will be depleted while the renewable sources of energy cannot produce enough capsules to satisfy the demand making the company extinct eventually.

References

Adeyemi, O., Grove, I., Peets, S., & Norton, T. (2017). Advanced Monitoring and Management Systems for Improving Sustainability in Precision Irrigation. Sustainability, 9(3), 353.

Beske, P., & Seuring, S. (2014). Putting sustainability into supply chain management. Supply Chain Management: an international journal, 19(3), 322-331.

Carroll, A., & Buchholtz, A. (2014). Business and society: Ethics, sustainability, and stakeholder management. Nelson Education.

Manfredi, S., Cristobal, J., de Matos, C. T., Giavini, M., Vasta, A., Sala, S., ... & Tuomisto, H. (2015). Improving Sustainability and Circularity of European Food Waste Management with a Life Cycle Approach.

Seuring, S., & Gold, S. (2013). Sustainability management beyond corporate boundaries: from stakeholders to performance. Journal of Cleaner Production, 56, 1-6.

Appendix

Figure 1. Global retail consumers segmented by willingness to pay for products with environmental & social benefits

Figure 2