The ultimate in CSR or clever PR?

Swedish manufacturer Electrolux has launched a campaign to raise awareness of plastic waste in the world's oceans. Famed for its vacuum cleaners, thecompany is running a CSR campaign with a difference - called Vac to the Sea (see what they did there?)

The plan is to gather waste plastic waste from all the world's major oceans and seas and make six different 'demonstration' vacuum cleaners which will then be exhibited in different European cities.

Electrolux argues that it has been moved to launch the campaign by the fact that although there's all this plastic floating in the sea, there is a shortage of recycled plastic from which to make new products. This is a CSR issue, but it is also a business issue. Electrolux needs a supply of plastic - and here is one in a place where it is not wanted. A 2006 report from the United Nations Environment Programme estimated that every square mile of ocean hosts 46,000 pieces of floating plastic.

Plastic and how to recycle it is a complex issue. There are many different types of plastic and these cannot be recycled together. 'Mixed plastics' - the bacon trays, strawberry boxes and salad bags - are the most difficult to deal with. Some products, such as plastic toothbrushes, are made from a combination of different plastics bonded together, making them almost impossible to recycle.

The Vac to the Sea project will build demonstration vacuum cleaners, not those for commercial re-sale. This is fair enough. You wouldn't sell an untested product straight to the public. However, there is some doubt as to whether Electrolux will ever decide to use this waste as a source of plastic due to likely contamination levels in marine waste. This is where, however laudable the campaign, the CSR begins to look more like PR.

Of course raising awareness is important, but we also need a concerted effort by manufacturers to design for recyclability. Much of the plastic in our oceans is post consumer waste resulting from manufacturers' failure to do this. Yes, it is also the responsibility of councils to take the products for recycling but manufacturers have Research & Development departments on hand to help them and a commercial incentive. Councils have limited resources and now funding cuts.

Electrolux deserves some credit for a CSR initiative that attempts to tackle one of our most heartbreaking environmental problems - the trashing of our oceans. However, I for one would feel more comfortable if I thought this project was going to lead to a commercially viable product or a route to one. Raising awareness can only go so far, and however interesting 6 recycled exhibits may be, what we really need is a change in behaviour both from manufacturers and consumers.

Photo credit: Genista