🚨Soapbox alert🚨
I had a great time at the Packaging Recycling Summit presenting Glacier's first-of-a-kind circularity AI projects with Colgate-Palmolive and Amazon 🎤✨♻️
While I'm always honored to share our work, I'm even more excited to learn.
💡One of my key learnings: awareness of 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻𝗵𝘂𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴, in which companies are no longer sharing their sustainability efforts for fear of public backlash and criticism.
This is a terrible headwind for circularity. Our planet's sustainability journey is in uncharted territory, and we need all the awareness we can get.
In early-stage startups, failure is celebrated as a learning opportunity. I'm motivated every day by the growth mindset I see from so many founders trying (and often failing, but sometimes succeeding!) to do seemingly impossible things. This is how innovation happens.
But when we relentlessly criticize companies for failing to meet ambitious goals, and criticize them further for talking about their partial successes, we create an environment where the risk no longer seems worth taking.
To be clear - it's crucial to hold brands accountable, especially in the era of greenwashing.
However, 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹𝘆. Just as many brands are guilty of greenwashing, there are also many brands earnestly trying to do the right thing, and their struggles, successes, and learnings deserve a platform.
I walked away from this conference with more conviction about using Glacier's AI as a tool for empowerment. We can give producers the insights they need to make and measure meaningful progress, and in doing so, we bridge the data chasm between claims and reality. 🌱
This is the impact I set out to have when I started Glacier. I'm so grateful to work with partners who are willing to speak out on their successes and challenges, and implement new innovation on their sustainability journeys.
#AI #CircularEconomy #Sustainability #Recycling #GreenHushing
cc: Greg Corra, Nick Ellis
📸: Matthew Flechter, one of Glacier's earliest supporters (shoutout to NextCycle Michigan), and clearly a photographer in the making!
