Single Use Plastics - Smarter Sustainability

Our Challenge: The debate over single-use plastic bottles in California has been extremely contentious and carries national implications. Throughout the state, local municipalities have taken actions to ban and/or severely restrict single-use plastics, but economic disparities across regions of the state have meant that there is no one-size-fits-all solution or schedule. During the 2019 legislative year, efforts to ban single-use plastic reached a new level, with three major pieces of legislation being debated. JCI worked collaboratively with a number of national public affairs firms to develop a coalition and advocacy program to assist the bottled water industry implement and support the development of a broad compromise that was being proposed by key leaders.

Our Approach: JCI joined several key companies within the industry and the environmental community together to make sure the parties worked together to reach a compromise that would be embraced and supported by the legislature. We designed hyper-localized advocacy efforts to educate key stakeholders to support the compromise and to fully embrace the overall effort to build consensus on alternatives being proposed by environmental and industry groups.

Our Results: JCI was successful in educating several key stakeholders. From environmental activists wanting concrete change, to housing activists fighting for recycling centers as a vital resource for homeless Californians, to rural communities in the Central Valley dependent on bottled water due to pollution, to companies transitioning to greener practices but needing a realistic timeline for meeting their goals, JCI was able to bring diverse audiences to stand behind a compromise that benefited everyone.