When Made For Drink launched its ‘Do The Right Thing’ sustainability initiative in 2020, founder Dan Featherstone admitted it was forged on the back of a ‘before bed’ chat with his 9 year old son who was keen to know if his dad’s snacking business put plastic in the ocean.
In truth, this wasn’t a question that Dan had ever asked himself, however the answer was undoubtedly yes. When you’re a young business and your hands have touched every pack sold, bigger environmental impacts tend to be pushed to the back of your head. However, in the blink of an eye your brand is racing out of the blocks and you suddenly realise that you’ve overlooked an integral strand of any ‘in it for the long haul’ business.
Dan’s ‘Do The Right Thing’ ethical push was a two-pronged initiative that firstly needed to both all-encompassing AND best-in-class and secondly proportionate to the brand’s current capacity to embrace, because whilst a shiny B-Corp framed certificate remains the unmistakable gold standard of verified social & environmental performance, it’s a massive commitment for any young, start-up with a tight budget and a lean, overstretched team.
YET, for all the inevitable bumps in the road, Dan refused to be deterred and Made for Drink’s resulting four-point plan has now become so central to the brand’s total appeal that it’s fair to suggest that a business’s ambition and not its size is the only true barrier to a successful Caring Capitalism agenda. Of course, it would be cool to get one’s hands on a slightly showy B-Corp framed certificate, but in reality, any sincere Caring Capitalism agenda resonates just as loudly.
Made for Drink’s 4-point Plan
1) Plastic-free: Remove all plastic from one’s product packaging, by swapping in kraft paper pouches that cleverly consist of 2 product preserving layers made from biomass & wood pulp.
2) Net Carbon Neutral Model: Move to 95% green energy at the point Dan and his team calculated that even a small business like theirs was unwittingly responsible for generating over 100 tonnes of unwelcome CO2 emissions.
3) Ancient Forest Land Sequestering: Dan’s ground-breaking Exmoor Carbon project has been successful on many levels, since the chosen plot of Devon land the business purchased (and handed over to the Forestry Commission) eclipses the business’s current CO2 emissions by x10
4) Partnered World Respected Charity (English Heritage) courtesy of a 5 year global union, whose mutually beneficial alliance commences with a ‘Best of English crisp’ range, which will raise some invaluable funds for this deserving English charity institution.
