What impact is the recession having on green goods – a sector that seemed to be booming until everything went a little south? Common perception is that everyone has got budget conscious and that they’re choosing price over environmental considerations – but is that the case?
In the New York Times magazine, Rob Walker looks at the brand Preserve that uses recycled plastics to make kitchen products. Demand for recycled plastics has plummeted, Rob says, making it much cheaper to acquire the stuff to make Preserve products but there might also be other reasons for consumers to buy the brand:
A more provocative argument is that product makers with a unique story to tell — and clear values to sell — have some advantages right now precisely because retailers are looking for something to attract customer attention besides the lowest price. An example of this in the marketplace is a Preserve-Whole Foods scheme called Gimme 5: stations set up in some locations of the grocery chain invite shoppers to dump their No. 5 polypropylene plastics, which are then collected by Preserve and converted into products. This theoretically gives people another reason to visit Whole Foods (especially in areas where this particular type of plastic isn’t accepted in municipal recycling programs).
…[Eric] Hudson [founder & CEO of Preserve] and firms like his are hoping shoppers will ask themselves, “How can I feel really good about the 5 things I’m going to buy in the store today versus the 25 that I used to buy seven months ago?” That’s a pleasant thought, and it’s encouraging to hear that companies are still making such bets. Whether they pay off, of course, is up to the rest of us.
Consumed – Revalued – Recycline Preserve Products – NYTimes.com
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