The environmental, political, economic, and labor conditions of the tomato-to-ketchup chain of my consumption are that of the United States of America. Although, due to the drought in California Heinz has begun to grow tomatoes in other parts of the world to save on water consumption—locations include: Egypt, China and Spain (Sustainability Report). The working conditions and environment might be drastically different in those locations. But, once again, because there is no sufficient information on the working conditions of these farms or factories we are left to assume that the working conditions are the same as that of the host country.
Although it is not stated explicitly, the phrasing on the Heinz website and the focus on CO2 emissions cutback from transportation trucks, hints that most, if not all, of the transportation of the products throughout the making of Heinz …show more content…
At Boston University, the end-of-life for the ketchup containers is the recycling bin (Source). Because the consumer is responsible for the container’s disposal Heinz is not involved in the manner of disposal. The only thing Heinz could do to improve the end-of-life’s impact on the environment is to package the ketchup in a more eco-friendly bottle—Which is exactly what they did. In 2011, Heinz adopted the use of a Coca-Cola’s plant-based plastic bottle, which consists of a “mix of traditional plastics and up to 30% plant-based material.” (Skidmore). In addition to this, Heinz factories have reduced their solid landfill waste to account for the waste generated created by their packaging. Specific examples of this include one of Heinz’s Florida factories that… “implemented a recycling project that has diverted approximately 50% of its solid waste to recycling,” and another European factory has reduced as much as 92% of solid waste (Environment: Solid Landfill
Although it is not stated explicitly, the phrasing on the Heinz website and the focus on CO2 emissions cutback from transportation trucks, hints that most, if not all, of the transportation of the products throughout the making of Heinz …show more content…
At Boston University, the end-of-life for the ketchup containers is the recycling bin (Source). Because the consumer is responsible for the container’s disposal Heinz is not involved in the manner of disposal. The only thing Heinz could do to improve the end-of-life’s impact on the environment is to package the ketchup in a more eco-friendly bottle—Which is exactly what they did. In 2011, Heinz adopted the use of a Coca-Cola’s plant-based plastic bottle, which consists of a “mix of traditional plastics and up to 30% plant-based material.” (Skidmore). In addition to this, Heinz factories have reduced their solid landfill waste to account for the waste generated created by their packaging. Specific examples of this include one of Heinz’s Florida factories that… “implemented a recycling project that has diverted approximately 50% of its solid waste to recycling,” and another European factory has reduced as much as 92% of solid waste (Environment: Solid Landfill