As we celebrate Earth Day today, I’m happy to have helped make the planet a little bit greener thanks to an enormous initiative I was involved in at the adidas Group. The project I was part of has removed approximately 70 million plastic bags from 14,000 adidas stores across 91 countries! Our Brand Sustainability Team announced this project a year ago, and as part of our Global Sales, Retail & Franchise operation, I was given the task of ensuring a proper communication flow and coordination with our markets, including detailed individual follow-ups to make sure the whole globe was on track to fulfil our vision.
After overcoming the initial shock of being involved in this project, I embraced the challenge and learned some valuable skills on how to approach large-scale projects in a big company.
There’s no such thing as over-communication
Within a global project that affects stores across 91 different countries there is no such thing as over-communication. You have to be aware that the information you provide needs to be cascaded to the right people and often must be translated into local languages. Therefore you need to be as precise, transparent and clear as possible.
“A big company means a lot of stakeholders. Targeting key people who needed to have all the information about the project was key for achieving success.”
The project communication flow can be complex and challenging; therefore it is always good to have a communication plan in place where you outline when to communicate, what and to whom. It’s important to put yourself in the stakeholders’ shoes and try to understand what information they need and at what time in order to fulfil the project target.
Don’t trust silence – you never know what comes next
Every time we thought that we were on track we received a request from a market asking us to help solve an issue – anything from the new bag specifications to supplier sourcing, etc. What is crucial in these situations is to act quickly to make sure that everybody can work towards the deadline. Every market and every country is different in so many ways.
“You need to be flexible, quick, empathetic and solution-oriented to get the required information and decisions to the right people.”
Overall, the journey may have been long and hard – it was a massive effort especially for the markets – but as a result I can say that I am very proud of having been able to contribute to this large-scale project that makes the adidas Group an even more sustainable company. And this is my souvenir! I’ve saved the first paper bag I received from my local store – it will always have a special place in my home to remind me of my exciting and impactful start at the adidas Group.
Out of interest, what happens with the 70 million bags we have removed from our stores?
Thanks
thank you for your question.
These 70 million bags will not be produced.
All the best,
Nina
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/shortcuts/2011/dec/20/paper-plastic-bags-which-best
Not just does it mean more trees must be cut, but also is the overall ecological footprint worse.
Hi Sir J,
Thanks for your comments. You’re right, in general the production of plastic bags is less impactful to the environment than producing paper ones. If you take the big picture into account though, the infrastructure to recycle plastic bags is extremely limited when you look across all the countries we operate in and while paper bags are not the perfect solution, they are widely recyclable and compostable in all markets.
There are a few ways we are mitigating our impact though, for example, we have started using recycled content in our paper bags. In addition to this, the training to store staff now encourages them to ask the customer if they need a bag, rather than automatically assuming the customer needs one, thus reducing the number of bags we use in the first place.
Lastly, our partnership with Parley for the Oceans is centred around improving the health of our oceans by removing plastic from the oceans as well as avoiding using plastic whenever we can. The problem with plastic is that the material can be recycled, but it is not degradable. Plastic stays on this planet forever. Plastic in the oceans can cause significant damage to the marine environment, therefore we see our decision to remove plastic bags from our stores as yet another concrete step to support Parley with their mission.
I was eager to know about Paper Bag
A paper bag is a pack made of paper, more often than not kraft paper. Paper sacks are generally utilized as shopping packs, bundling, and bags.
Thanks for sharing this information.
Loved the blog!
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