This "Big Tobacco" CEO doesn't answer her mail
PMI and JTI said 'yes!' The only one of the Big Three tobacco companies to ignore our letter was Imperial Tobacco.
November 8, 2012
Mme Marie Polet
President and Chief Executive Officer,
Imperial Tobacco Canada
3711 Saint-Antoine Street
Montréal (Québec) Canada H4C 3P6
Dear Mme Polet,
I am pleased to see a woman at the helm of a significant industry in Canada. I am looking for someone in the tobacco industry who is willing to explore the topic of litter prevention.
My partner and I are experts at changing littering behaviours. My firm offers a commercial-free website as a free public resource, part of the Litter Prevention Program we have developed, a Canadian first. Our goal is to reduce the overall rate of littering. We do this through information, advocacy, speaking engagements and our unique program in the schools.
Partners who should be at the table with us generally are not present. It is remarkable from a research standpoint to see how far product stewards have distanced themselves from the littering aspects of their manufactured goods. Therefore, I applaud Imperial’s support of TerraCycle in recapturing used tobacco products. However, in that program, cigarette butts are only captured in controlled settings, not from the ground, beaches or watercourses.
I look to the tobacco industry to support my work in litter prevention, which it can do in a number of ways. I am making these requests not only of Imperial Tobacco but also of its competitors and tobacco industry associations.
Tobacco products are the most prolifically littered item of all, with toxic implications, non-biodegradable, being evident everywhere and littered to the tune of three trillion plus per year. The most recent estimate is four million annually.
I have longstanding questions to industry about this. For example, why never an instruction on packages about the proper disposal of tobacco products? Long before government regulations smothered 75 per cent of the package area with health warnings, never was there an attempt by makers to tell tobacco users to place their used merchandise in the proper bin, receptacle or ashtray. I have concluded this is one of the reasons why the habit of littering became so ingrained in smokers.
Makers took no responsibility for tobacco litter, made no attempt to address litter prevention with their users and now littering is at epidemic levels around the world. Legislators contributed to the litter problem by pushing smoking outdoors and offering no thought or resources to controlling it.
Another question, why isn’t tobacco litter mentioned in Imperial Tobacco’s corporate reports and human resource manuals? I would like to see something noted in your environment sustainability initiatives.
Our search of Imperial’s Statement of Business Principles, August 2010, Product Stewardship and Corporate Responsibility Framework documents netted no mention of litter. However Imperial’s Standards of Business Conduct does emphasize a belief “in adding value to the communities in which we operate.” (MB4)
I would like to involve the tobacco industry and Imperial Tobacco in my company’s efforts.
Some of what I am requesting has absolutely no cost, just corporate will:
· Add www.litterpreventionprogram.com link to your corporate website.
· Include a zero tolerance for littering statement in Human Resource guidelines for new and existing employees.
· Begin to highlight litter prevention in annual reports and corporate website content as part of the environmental sustainability efforts already underway.
· Participate in interviews for my upcoming book, working title “Beyond the Clean-Up” on changing littering attitudes and behaviours.
Other areas where I’d like assistance and feedback:
· Recommend the Litter Prevention Program as a conference feature to raise awareness about littering with our engaging, positive and entertaining speaking presentation.
· Place a litter prevention statement on tobacco product packaging. e.g. “Please don’t litter our product.” Or “Place used product in proper bin or ashtray.”
· Build into tobacco product boxes the reusable, portable extinguishing ashtray known as the KippiPak, can easily incorporated inside or on the outside the packaging. (Samples being sent via Canada Post.)
I am looking for a corporate champion and, while well aware of the limitations posed by federal legislation, I see nothing that would limit a tobacco interest’s participation in the proposals set forth herein. I look forward to hearing from you on this important and long-unattended matter. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Sheila White
President
WORDS Media & Communications Inc.
Mme Marie Polet
President and Chief Executive Officer,
Imperial Tobacco Canada
3711 Saint-Antoine Street
Montréal (Québec) Canada H4C 3P6
Dear Mme Polet,
I am pleased to see a woman at the helm of a significant industry in Canada. I am looking for someone in the tobacco industry who is willing to explore the topic of litter prevention.
My partner and I are experts at changing littering behaviours. My firm offers a commercial-free website as a free public resource, part of the Litter Prevention Program we have developed, a Canadian first. Our goal is to reduce the overall rate of littering. We do this through information, advocacy, speaking engagements and our unique program in the schools.
Partners who should be at the table with us generally are not present. It is remarkable from a research standpoint to see how far product stewards have distanced themselves from the littering aspects of their manufactured goods. Therefore, I applaud Imperial’s support of TerraCycle in recapturing used tobacco products. However, in that program, cigarette butts are only captured in controlled settings, not from the ground, beaches or watercourses.
I look to the tobacco industry to support my work in litter prevention, which it can do in a number of ways. I am making these requests not only of Imperial Tobacco but also of its competitors and tobacco industry associations.
Tobacco products are the most prolifically littered item of all, with toxic implications, non-biodegradable, being evident everywhere and littered to the tune of three trillion plus per year. The most recent estimate is four million annually.
I have longstanding questions to industry about this. For example, why never an instruction on packages about the proper disposal of tobacco products? Long before government regulations smothered 75 per cent of the package area with health warnings, never was there an attempt by makers to tell tobacco users to place their used merchandise in the proper bin, receptacle or ashtray. I have concluded this is one of the reasons why the habit of littering became so ingrained in smokers.
Makers took no responsibility for tobacco litter, made no attempt to address litter prevention with their users and now littering is at epidemic levels around the world. Legislators contributed to the litter problem by pushing smoking outdoors and offering no thought or resources to controlling it.
Another question, why isn’t tobacco litter mentioned in Imperial Tobacco’s corporate reports and human resource manuals? I would like to see something noted in your environment sustainability initiatives.
Our search of Imperial’s Statement of Business Principles, August 2010, Product Stewardship and Corporate Responsibility Framework documents netted no mention of litter. However Imperial’s Standards of Business Conduct does emphasize a belief “in adding value to the communities in which we operate.” (MB4)
I would like to involve the tobacco industry and Imperial Tobacco in my company’s efforts.
Some of what I am requesting has absolutely no cost, just corporate will:
· Add www.litterpreventionprogram.com link to your corporate website.
· Include a zero tolerance for littering statement in Human Resource guidelines for new and existing employees.
· Begin to highlight litter prevention in annual reports and corporate website content as part of the environmental sustainability efforts already underway.
· Participate in interviews for my upcoming book, working title “Beyond the Clean-Up” on changing littering attitudes and behaviours.
Other areas where I’d like assistance and feedback:
· Recommend the Litter Prevention Program as a conference feature to raise awareness about littering with our engaging, positive and entertaining speaking presentation.
· Place a litter prevention statement on tobacco product packaging. e.g. “Please don’t litter our product.” Or “Place used product in proper bin or ashtray.”
· Build into tobacco product boxes the reusable, portable extinguishing ashtray known as the KippiPak, can easily incorporated inside or on the outside the packaging. (Samples being sent via Canada Post.)
I am looking for a corporate champion and, while well aware of the limitations posed by federal legislation, I see nothing that would limit a tobacco interest’s participation in the proposals set forth herein. I look forward to hearing from you on this important and long-unattended matter. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Sheila White
President
WORDS Media & Communications Inc.