It’s incredibly refreshing to see businesses and companies doing things which are morally and ethically positive, and beneficial to society, the environment and the world in general.
Lush
Lush is an example of a business that takes into account moral issues in their operations. Lush is a cosmetics company who produce a wide range of handmade products such as bath bombs, eye-makeup and bubble bars.
The best thing about Lush, as well as their exceptional products, is the fact that they are a cruelty-free company. They do not test their products on animals and their entire stock is suitable for vegetarians, with 80% being vegan-friendly too.
Furthermore, Lush is a global company with approximately 1000 stores and shopping-mall locations in 49 countries. It is an incredibly pleasant thing to see a worldwide company with its routes and overall ethos originating from moral beliefs.
Starbucks & Costa
Costa and Starbucks, along with other coffee-selling chains, have started to offer a 25p discount if you use a reusable cup when you buy a hot drink. This is an effort to reduce waste generated by plastic.
The problem with takeaway coffee cups is that they’re difficult to recycle because of their waterproof plastic coating. As a result, they cause a major environmental issue, as 2.5 billion are thrown away every year in Britain.
The plastic lining makes them expensive to recycle, so almost all of these plastic cups are incinerated or sent to landfill. Fewer than 1% of the cups are recycled, as there are just three facilities in the UK which have the ability to split the paper and the plastic components.
The aim is simply to encourage people to use their own reusable cup for their drinks, instead of buying a plastic cup with the drink and throwing it away, contributing to the already-damaging amount of waste.
Entocycle
Entocycle is a business set up by former scuba-instructor, Keiran Olivares Whitaker, who got the inspiration for this business idea from his first-hand viewpoint of the environmental damage that human development and current lifestyles are causing to our planet.
This entrepreneurial venture now sees Entocycle developing the world’s most efficient and sustainable way to produce protein, which involves turning organic waste into animal feed.
Be Nice
These businesses are all experiencing success in their own way, proving that it isn’t necessary to be solely focused on competitive, profit-making strategies in order to be successful. In fact, making a business based on moral, social or environmental beliefs and vision, actually provides competitive advantage in itself, as it brings uniqueness with it, and also an element of being more down to earth and appearing friendlier to possible customers. This is the case with Lush and Entocycle especially, as those two businesses are based on animal rights beliefs and environmental issues respectively.
According to the World Economic Forum, 84% of consumers actively seek to support businesses that are doing good and the millennial generation see improving society as the number one priority of businesses.
So, it just goes to show how far you can get by doing good.
