Protection of Environmental Health and Safety - Essay Example

? Issues in Ethical Packaging School Issues in Ethical Packaging Ethical packaging is gaining momentum with the passage of time. In the present age, ethical packaging has a huge impact on the tendency of a product of being successful. Such a developing movement derives its importance from its tendency to shift the sustainable packaging concept over the following decade. Ethical products do good business with ethical packaging. Companies tend to follow ethics in packaging and have based their brand and mission on an ethical supply chain from the source to the consumer. Such a business approach includes business practices that are ethical and fair and are also harmless to the environment. Conventionally, the concept of ethical packaging is associated with green packaging. This can be attributed to the fact that environmental health and safety and preservation of natural resources are among the prime agendas of scientists and researchers in the present age. However, the concept of ethical packaging includes and extends beyond green packaging. Ethical packaging can be defined as a packaging that, in short, complies with the moral standards. While certain moral standards are shared by people in all sorts of cultures, there are others that change from one culture to another. One of the ethical issues in packaging is the pictures of models on the covers. This is particularly an issue in the Muslim countries. Muslim countries make a considerable portion of the consumers. In order to make a product successful in particularly some of the more conservative and orthodox Muslim countries, it is imperative that the products do not have pictures of models over their packages with any level of nudity. While this is generally not a matter of concern in the Western countries, such a packaging is not consistent with the values and teachings of Islam. The fundamental purpose of showing models over the packaging is marketing of the products. If the features of packaging offend the consumers in any way, the sole purpose of putting the models on packaging is lost. Ethical packaging constitutes green packaging given the rapid depletion of natural resources in the present age. In addition to the depleting natural resources, environmental pollution is increasing steadily with the growth of industrialization. This imparts the need for packagers to identify alternate materials with which to pack the products. Traditionally, products are packed in plastic bags. However, their difficulty of decomposition compared to paper bags makes the latter, a more environment-friendly option when it comes to packaging. But using a paper bag in place of a plastic bag has its own implications since it is not as strong and durable a carrier as a plastic bag is. Besides, most of the paper is recycled and the chemicals used to recycle the paper contaminate the products packaged in them. This is particularly a matter of concern for food items. When Oakland placed a ban over the use of plastic bags in general and Styrofoam food packaging in particular (Zamora, 2006), plastic manufacturers sued the city in response. According to The Coalition to Support Plastic Bag Recycling, the city did not do adequate research on the repercussions of the ban. Plastic manufacturers sued not on the grounds that their profits might be sabotaged, but instead on the grounds of environment, claiming that paper is no less harmful for the environment than plastic. The jewelery industry provides an example of how ethical packaging can be made more responsible and attractive for the consumers. Jewelery industry has started making socially responsible packaging by raising the bar on the practices of ethical business. For example, Responsible Jewelery Council is a UK-based organization that has established international standards across the supply chain so as to introduce practices that are responsible socially, environmentally, and ethically in a transparent manner (Cohen, 2013). The movement of ethical jewelery is pervasive as it affects the method of production and packaging of all sorts of jewels. Ethical practices of packaging jewelery are particularly observed among the handcrafted and artisan jewelers. Artisan and professional jewelers of the recycled materials and natural stones have identified natural packaging solutions like fully recycled cardboard paper and wooden boxes. Bespoke and handmade jewelery can be accommodated in a small gift box that is inspired ethically and are also reusable. Another issue of ethical packaging is truth in advertising. Many companies lie not only about the size of their products, but also the number of items in a pack. These companies market their products displaying a different size on the pack and putting a different sized product within. This is particularly the case with food making companies. Many fast food companies including Wendy’s, Burger King, and McDonald’s display large hamburgers on the posters, but the hamburger purchased turns out to be much smaller than what appears in ads. Many consumers purchase a product for the first time, assuming that the picture is a real depiction of the actual product. Companies misrepresenting their product on packaging in any way can be charged with false advertising. While they might manage to sell their products for the first time, they lose their customers’ faith in them with continued false advertising. Deceiving consumers is unethical and companies involved in such practices should be charged for false advertising. Food industry exhibits a wide range of ethical concerns with respect to packaging because of which, marketing issues are a prime ethical concern for it. For one, food industry encourages the consumption of unhealthy and unbalanced diets. Ethical issues in packaging related to the food industry include but are not limited to packaging that promotes excess purchases with a lot of implications for obesity, aggressive marketing campaigns that target children, wasteful over-packaging, and misleading information about the product. Australia has seen a lot of trouble ever since the government has proposed laws that require the display of graphic images of the victims of tobacco over the cigarette packages. Cigarettes are bad for health and people consume them knowing their implications for health. It is reasonable for the government to require the use of such a strategy in an attempt to discourage the consumption of cigarettes. However, the ethical and legal implications of the government’s laws have brewed a conflict in Australia. Passing the legislation meant the toughest laws for tobacco in Australia out of all countries in the world. The tobacco companies, being the biggest stakeholders of this decision of government, sensed an anti-competitive effect and infringe upon the intellectual property laws and trademark. David Hill, a researcher of cancer, wrote in the Australian Age, When then have the big tobacco companies suddenly become so concerned about the plight of small Australian businesses that they have invested more than $5 million in this campaign?… If plain packaging was not effective, why are they spending so much money trying to stop the legislation? The tobacco industry knows that plain packaging has enormous potential to cut smoking rates. It also knows the passage of this legislation will send a message to the rest of the world, where almost 5 million people die each year because of their addiction to tobacco. After all, if plain packaging becomes policy here, it is likely to occur elsewhere and the tobacco industry knows it. (Hill cited in Global Ethics, 2011). Sometimes, a government has to face a lot of trouble as a result of passing laws over packaging with regard to ethics. An example of this is the legal action taken by Philip Morris, the tobacco company, against the legislation passed by the government of Australia over plan cigarette packaging. The World Medical Association condemned the action and emphasized upon a need for the other countries to also follow Australia in the same footsteps in placing a ban over logos upon the packaging of cigarettes. Australian government’s legislation for the enforcement of plain cigarette packaging was implemented in December 2012 (ehln.org, 2011). While manufacturers frequently tend to compromise upon the ethical standards of packaging to maximize their profits, “it appears that consumers are no angels either: for do they not quickly abandon any ethically motivated hesitations and willingly buy counterfeits whenever the price is low enough” (Schlegelmilch and Oberseder, 2007, p. 12). This not only serves as a disincentive for the manufacturers to invest time and money in finding ethical alternatives to their packaging, but also motivates them to continue their unethical packaging practices. Looking at this behavior of the consumers, manufacturers save the money to be consumed on ethical packaging to invest it in ways that can make the product cheaper to increase its market value. Ethical issues in packaging have increased manifolds with the growth of industrialization. In the recent years, issues of sustainability and protection of environmental health and safety have become very important. They have imparted a need to develop ethical packaging. Strategies that can be employed to make the packaging ethical include customizing the packaging to the cultural needs of the consumers and making the packaging environment friendly. Issues that deter governments from passing such laws including their vulnerability to be sued by the stakeholder manufacturers, increased political unrest in the country, and inadequacy of research to support the use of one material over another. References: Cohen, R. (2013, April 24). Ethical Packaging – Sustainable Packaging Innovation. Retrieved from http://www.greenpackaginggroup.com/industry-experts/ethical-packaging-sustainable-packaging-innovation/. ehln.org. (2011, Nov. 23). WMA condemns Tobacco Company for Challenging Plain Cigarette Packaging. Ethics and Health Law News. Retrieved from http://ehln.org/?p=20905#sthash.Sh3y9YRj.dpbs. Global Ethics. (2011, April 11). Australia Considers What May Be Toughest Cigarette- Packaging Laws in World. Retrieved from http://www.globalethics.org/newsline/2011/04/11/australia-cigarettes/. Schlegelmilch, B. B., and Oberseder, M. (2007). Ethical Issues in Global Supply Chains. Emerging Issues in Management. 2, 12-23. Zamora, J. H. (2006, June 26). Styrofoam Food Packaging Banned in Oakland. San Francisco Gate. Retrieved from http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Styrofoam-food-packaging-banned-in-Oakland-2516522.php. Read More