Malt-O-Meal hasn't made any changes to its packaging. It's always come in big bags. Is that green?
The company thinks so, and has been ragging on cereal boxes with its Bag the Box website (relaunched in April), touting the environmental benefits of selling cereal in just bags.
At the top-most level, yes, putting cereal in just bags compared to bags and boxes has benefits: Not sourcing material from trees, and not using energy and fuel to produce and transport boxes.
But again: Is that green? And is Malt-O-Meal green as a result of this practice?
The answer, as near as I can tell, is a qualified "no." Or "I don't know." Because green or not, Malt-O-Meal is an example of a company that is adding to the already overwhelming cacophony of green stories, by touting the environmental benefits of their products and packaging, without having made a single change.
Semantics is just one of the issues I take with Malt-O-Meal's campaign. They company says it's "saved" 156 million pounds of paperboard and 1.1 billion BTUs of energy since 2001 by using just bags. To be more accurate, they avoided that packaging and energy: If they didn't switch away from boxes, they didn't save anything.
And those energy figures highlight another problem with Malt-O-Meal's announcement: a lack of specificity.
Nowhere does Malt-O-Meal say how much energy or fuel it uses and how many emissions it puts out from the production or shipping of its packaging, making it hard to discern the actual difference between their packaging and paperboard boxes. Then again, we don't know of any other cereal company that's put out such specific figures, but we also haven't seen other cereals make such bold claims about their packaging being better than others'.
One thing Malt-O-Meal also doesn't say is that its bags use more plastic than cereal in boxes, since the bags are thicker and also have a resealable enclosure. That means more petroleum-based plastic. Now, I don't think that extra plastic would be enough to rival the impacts of paperboard boxes, but it's worth noting.
The fact is, Malt-O-Meal has never used boxes. They are a discount brand. Boxes would increase their costs. So it seems disingenuous to twist that into a green act without more accurate facts and figures.
Interestingly, Malt-O-Meal does have a line of cereal called Mom's Best Naturals that comes in boxes. It appears, then, that they're saying their conventional, sugar- and corn syrup-fueled cereal is greener than its slightly more natural brand.
And that leads to yet another quibble I take with Malt-O-Meal's Bag the Box campaign (as well as with other companies who pat themselves a bit too hard on their backs for packaging changes when their ingredients leave something to be desired): Green is about more than what's on the box or bag: What's inside counts just as much. And making cereals from conventional, pesticide- and oil-intensive corn, wheat, sugar and partially hydrogenated oils hardly counts as green or sustainable. But more important than what Malt-O-Meal puts in its bags is what it's sharing with potential customers, and the media. Until they publish more details about their environmental impacts, and set some goals around improving them, this is just a bag half-empty.
Note: Malt-O-Meal has yet to respond to an interview request; I'll update this post with more details if and when they do. And the GreenBiz.com editorial staff is meeting with the Chief Sustainability Officer at General Mills this week, and we'll be sure to ask about their own green-cereal initiatives.
Malt-O-Meal's Marshmallow Meteys - CC license by Amy Loves Yah/Flickr; wallet of cereal - screengrab from BagTheBox.com
Why not ditch the bags that
Why not ditch the bags that can't be recycled and just use the boxes? Those can be made from recycled materials and then recycled after use?
O Hell no! What the hell is
O Hell no!
What the hell is Coo Roos? I eat Cocoa Puffs!
What the F is Fruity Dyno-Bites! I eat Fruity Pebbles!
I eat Cap'n Crunch what kind of crap is Colossal Crunch?
Trust me, there IS a difference!
I think saying something that
I think saying something that you'll do and then you just ignore importance of your words just doesn't suit big companies. They obviously should put their words in action.
Find something else to
Find something else to complain about, hippie.
Find a different article to
Find a different article to read, troll.
I fail to see what is wrong
I fail to see what is wrong with doing the right thing from the start. It's great when companies improve from bad behavior, but I would argue that it is actually better to have been doing it right from the start. Malt-O-Meal deserves credit for doing what they've always been doing, even if their reasons have been profit and not the environment. It's great that going green is profitable.
I suspect that there is a
I suspect that there is a significant environmental impact between bags and bags inside boxes. I think much of the arguments here are semantics. No, they did not "save" any cardboard by doing nothing. But if you choose to buy their product instead of the competition you save/they save for you/the planet is saved (however you wish to word it) all that cardboard. And I assume that is the intent of the message -- to convince us that part of going green would be to switch to their product over the competition.
Similarly, the lack of specifics in no way negates their claim.
What I do find strange is that they are making us choose between the healthier cereal in boxes or the greener cereal with sugar. Maybe the bulk food store is the greener way to buy cereal.
Some of your comments make
Some of your comments make absolutely no sense at all.
If a company's packaging--that it has been using for years--is determined today to be greener than alternative forms of packaging of course it can claim "being green" without making a single change to its packages. Why not? It's a true statement about the packaging. In fact, the company could say that it was green before "being green" was fashionable.
If, however, it's packaging is no better than the alternatives then that's a different story. Since you and I do not know, we can't say either way.
And apparently your requirements for calling oneself "green" requires across the board improvements from the farm to the table to trash bin. That too is ridiculous. By that measure I don't know a single company or individual who is green, or at least green enough for your taste.
Let's be less of a critic shall we? Anything more environmentally/resource friendly is green and a step in the right direction whether a company/individual/group was ahead of its time or just catching up.
And I thought I was the world's biggest cynic.
Very well put. I think any
Very well put. I think any steps to reduce clutter in packaging is green and does not have to meet "Greenster's Goal" to be worthwhile. and they DO have something to compare to, puffed riced now sold in bags was once sold in boxes. boxed cold cereal
Maybe blogger will do better research next time eh.
Malt-o-Meals' claims may not
Malt-o-Meals' claims may not be as substantiated as we need and their claim to being green may be a little disingenuous, but we have to give credit to companies that have found efficiencies regardless of the motive.
Far too often we give widespread praise to companies that have moved to become "greener" (or more efficient) without acknowledging the pioneers who had the foresight to be more "green" or efficient in the first place.
It is disappointing to see so much media space given to companies that discontinue harmful products (lead-based toys, BPA baby bottles, etc) and so little exposure to the companies that did the initial research, found the initial efficiencies or have always operated under principles of sustainability and therefore never sold/produced the harmful products.
Many large corporations/retailers (WalMart is a great example) have made great profits on inferior products only to get widespread, positive media coverage when they discontinue products due to public pressure/concern.
I agree that Malt-O-Meal needs to improve their product, they need to do much more research, and they need to put together a far more developed strategic plan, but cheers to them for thinking outside the cereal box.
Malt-O-Meal could probably learn from Nature's Path Organic, http://www.naturespath.com/.