The impact of civil society

摘要

In heavily regulated business environments, such as the waste sector, we can usually see what is coming down the political and legislative pipeline. We can engage with consultations and track proposals as they develop. Business has time to reflect and react in a measured way. Civil society, in comparison, reacts at high speed to the changing world, information, events and views, and is harder to predict. It is increasingly demanding more from businesses than regulation in the environmental space. Through protest, litigation, social media, consumer spending, shareholder activism and other avenues of pressure, civil society is driving the environmental policy agenda, impacting on business strategy and investment decisions - and, in some cases, becoming a quasi-regulator. For example: This can be seen in the packaging and food-waste arena. Iceland is aiming to remove all plastic packaging from its own-label products by 2023, while Aldi wants to achieve 100 per cent recyclable, reusable or compostable packaging across all products by 2025 (with some caveats). Digital platforms such as Olio and Karma, which 'rescue' food that would otherwise become waste, are gaining momentum.