The world is sick and you don't seem to be doing anything about it

Find out how your waste management company can transform from a simple waste collector into an environment-saving solution without involving environmentalists.

Yes, it is indeed true that the world is sick.

It is sick with a disease that seems to matter to so many but that no one wants to actively solve.

I am not talking about waste production alone but I am talking about the consumption of raw materials for the production of all goods.

Raw materials continue to be wasted by not managing waste properly.

There are so many voices that we hear and talk about better waste management, elimination of plastics, elimination of particular molecules with high global warming potential, changing some eating habits, and so on.

The question that comes to me is, how many of these activities have been sent forth producing results?

Given how intensely this is being talked about, the problem should be in a position where it is being managed and, although not yet solved, should be on its way to resolution.

Yet it is not.

And that is not me saying it but the data.

Already in past issues of this newsletter and in so many of my posts I have shared with everyone the numbers of the ineffectiveness of this approach.

It is an approach made of agitating the problem (in marketing terms) but providing no solution.

It, therefore, lacks a phase.

The solution phase.

This is the real problem.

It is much easier to issue a warning about the problem and then waits for someone to intervene. 

And if no one takes action, it reinforces the message about the problem.

But, as always, the difference between having an idea and putting it into practice is related to taking the first action of a very specific plan.

Now you will say, yes but there are so many activities that are already being carried out today. Just think of how many countries have banned plastics and how many countries will soon be restricted.

Yes, it's true, there are so many countries where plastic has been banned, other chemical compounds have been banned, and so on... 

But what are the results?

I'll tell you: the phenomenon of waste mismanagement continues to grow.

It grows because the number of inhabitants of our Planet grows.

This is not a justification, let me be clear.

Rather, it is an indicator of the problem our Planet continues to experience, which leads me to say that the solutions presented continue to be useless.

Smoke in the eyes.

Smoke that unfortunately does not produce results and rather continues to maintain the status quo exposing us all to extensive risks, especially to our health.

But how come if these are ineffective situations have this media resonance?

Well let me be honest with you: they capture attention.

And, as is the case with the best movies or the best TV series, the ones that capture the most attention are also the ones that have the most seasons, the most episodes, and are most financially and media support.

In short, the game is always the same.

You try to capture attention by raising a fuss about a problem but without having a concrete solution.

Take plastics, for example.

I know it may seem like a thorny topic.

But take it as an example.

Plastic has been demonized to the point that it is now considered the planet's main pollutant. There are so many campaigns against its use that it is strange that it is still prevalent. 

Yet if you analyze it well, the campaigns are almost all devoted to its elimination and there are only a few that talk about its importance as a material for preserving the freshness of food and how, for this as for so many other reasons, it should be collected separately and sent for recycling.

Sending plastic for recycling would, first of all, reduce the production of virgin plastic, but more importantly, it would reduce its dispersion which is the cause of pollution.

Yes because the real problem is not production but its abandonment.

Yet the current campaigns marginally touch on this issue, the real problem.

This applies to plastics as it does to other materials such as paper, cardboard, metals, rare earth, and so on.

I know you will ask but then why are the campaigns not focused on this?

Well, let me be clear with you that you have a waste management company.

Campaigns are built around the problem because as I told you a few lines above it is easier to agitate the problem than to talk about an actual solution.

It's kind of like the different politicians worldwide who always talk about creating jobs but never go into detail about how they're going to create them.

On the one hand, they hide behind "we don't want to reveal our strategy to our competitors" on the other hand they claim to reduce labor taxes hoping for a consequent increase in the labor force.

In short, it is always smoke and mirrors.

Yet in the case of waste campaigns, there is another very very important aspect.

Just think for a moment about how many of these campaigns involve you or one of your waste management competitors.

Observe well.

None of the key stakeholders are involved.

In fact in some cases, unfortunately, they are called part of the problem.

And that's really where I want to get at.

Yes because if you do nothing to save the world, you are part of the problem afflicting the world.

This is what comes out of media campaigns, interviews with the organizers of these campaigns, and so on.

But I know very well that this is not the case.

Yes because you with your waste management company do your utmost to make your contribution to saving our planet, despite the fact that you are not on the front lines flaunting it.

That's the point.

To combat the vilification that is raining down on you from media campaigns organized by associations, politicians, and sundry about our planet being overrun by waste, the only thing you can do is to start communicating how you are taking care of it.

But not with a post on Facebook, a video on TikTok, and a few pictures on Instagram. 

No none of that.

What you need to do is to do it with a strategy.

A strategy that serves to transfer what you actually do into the minds of the people, and potential customers and that leads them to choose you as their partner or supplier.

In doing this, it is vital that your company really takes care of the waste it collects, separating it, sending it for remanufacturing, and putting the secondary raw materials produced back into the market.

These are the starting points on which the communicative strategy will then be built, the purpose of which will be to tell the market that besides there being those who only talk about the problem there are those who solve the problem in a virtuous way.

In addition to there being those who say we are being invaded by waste, there are those who collect it and regenerate it by feeding the secondary raw materials produced back into the production process, truly creating a circular economy.

With this formula, you will stop being seen as part of the problem and become a key player in the solution.

A solution that does not limit the use of a product to prevent its abandonment, but prevents its abandonment because it knows how to valorize waste.

This is the only direction that will save your business from seeing it crumble at the behest of those who think the problem is producing material and not knowing how to handle it properly.

Since this is a process to be created you cannot hope for overnight success.

It takes at least 6 months of work, on average, to begin to see a small glimmer of light, and then you have to go down headlong for no less than 12 months.

That's why it's important to start now.

If you don't know where to start click here and schedule a discovery call where I will go over with you how my team can support you on this journey.

Be The Change

Sam

#wastemanagement #savetheplanet #marketing4waste #marketinginterimmanagers