Comment: Are corporates living up to CSR?

The ban on polythene less than 20 microns was postponed for another three months. Reports said that the government postponed the ban following requests by industrialists and consumers.

However the consumers have not made such requests as there is no such consumer organisation so strong nor authorities that respect any appeal by consumers. However, the environmental groups that fully backed the move said that the reason for the postponement of the polythene ban is mysterious and there may be something sinister behind the decision.

Under the new regulations tough measures were to be introduced against the sale and use of polythene less than 20 microns. Under the new regulations those convicted would be sentenced to two years' imprisonment and fined Rs 10,000 or both.

The polythene ban was not a sudden decision. The issue was discussed for many years. Industrialists as well as their lobbies were informed and they also expressed their reservations on the ban. The Ceylon National Chamber of Industries once reacted vociferously saying that the government was going to totally ban plastic and polythene.

The Government has done its homework sufficiently before taking the decision. The research organisations introduced some alternatives for lunch sheets. It was not a practical solution to tackle the situation all over the country apart from the urban demand. But the usage could be reduced significantly.

In addition, the campaign carried out on the ban made people ready to use alternatives such as lunch boxes. People were also ready to find alternatives for polythene bags.

However, we have our reservations on whether the industrial sector was ready to face the situation, because they have not introduced any environmental friendly alternative products so far.

Instead of respecting the social responsibility and producing alternatives for polythene, our industrialists have been successful in getting the government to suspend the ban.

By January 1, the new stocks of polythene bags, which were above 20 microns, came to the market. They were more expensive than the earlier bags and the cost was passed on to the consumers. But the damage to the environment was less.

The question is why are our industrialists not responsible to society. The corporate sector spends much on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. The business sections of newspapers publish all their CSR activities and PR companies are canvassing on their behalf.

The CSR activities of the corporate sector are mere charities and they use the simple charity work as a promotional campaign getting the fullest publicity. They may even pay more to PR companies than what they spend on the so-called CSR activities. Perhaps the CSR costs of these companies would come under the advertising cost in their P&L accounts.

CSR is neither a charity nor a promotional campaign of companies. It is a concept that suggests that commercial entities have a duty by all their stakeholders in all aspects of their business operations. CSR is closely linked with the principles of sustainable development which advocate that enterprises should be obliged to take decisions based not only on financial or economic factors such as profits, return on investment, and dividend payments but also on the social, environmental and other consequences of their activities.

In the good old days our industries had better environment friendly systems. For instance in a bygone era Ceylon Cold Stores sold all their soft drinks in glass bottles and they had a proper mechanism to reuse the glass bottles. Other multinational beverage companies too followed suit.

There were no additional costs of transportation because, lorries that carried the bottles returned with empty bottles that were cleaned and refilled.

However, at present the system is changing and all soft drink companies are moving to plastic disposable bottles causing serious environmental and health hazards. Environmental authorities, government and industrial lobbies do not visualise the damage. Companies may see possible sales increase or small cost advantages but do not consider their CSR.

Earlier paper bags and newspapers were used abundantly and people enjoyed a clean environment free of disease. Cancer was unheard of among children let alone adults. When people went on pilgrimages everything was wrapped in newspapers and banana leaves. Today even people in rural areas ape the west. The environment was then clean and we never saw bags flying in the air. What a pitiable sight it is now?

With a more complex and huge consumer market people today may not be able to manage with only those traditional means of wrapping and containers.

But surely we can still use them to a great extent and reduce the use of plastic and polythene significantly. The need of the hour is continuous promotion and encouraging people to use them. Price is the most effective tool that can be used to discourage the use of these plastic and polythene products, if it cannot be banned altogether then the government can impose higher taxes on plastic and polythene products.

The other important factor is producing alternatives for plastic and polythene. Our industrial sector has this responsibility too.

We are going to ban plastic and polythene less than 20 microns, but India has banned polythene less than 70 microns. The SME sector can use the polythene ban as an opportunity and produce other material.

The corporate industrial sector has the biggest responsibility to produce an alternative at low cost in a large quantity. It will be a profitable business venture as well as a Corporate Social Responsibility.