Climate change and sustainability is the hot topic for businesses across the globe right now.
Mexico is a great example of a country that have made significant progress, enforcing positive change to their approach to sustainability in order to help the environment.
ECOBICI
Mexico City has expanded the public transportation options to include low and zero-emission options like Ecobici which is a great bicycle sharing system. The stations with public-use bicycles started popping up around the city in the most travelled areas and has increased over the years. Anyone with an Ecobici card can now use a bicycle in 45-minute increments. You can pick it up at one station and drop it off at another, beating the traffic, increasing the heart rate and helping the environment.
Ban on single-use plastics
One of the most impactful policies that has been put into effect since January 2021, is prohibiting the usage, distribution and delivery of single-use plastics. These include products (plastic forks, straws, cups, etc.) that are made entirely of plastics or partially made of plastic unless they are compostable. The goal is to change the way products are consumed, enforcing responsible consumption and a positive impact to the environment.
Eco-friendly art
Artists in Mexico are using air-purifying paint to create murals for awareness about air quality in Mexico City. The project started from paintings created on three murals on different buildings around the city centre. The colourful murals portray positive environmental messages using Airlite paint, where the active ingredient, titanium dioxide, reacts to the presence of light and undergoes a process similar to photosynthesis.
All these changes make such a positive impact to the future of our planet and to the market. It has enforced businesses to alter their ways to adapt to the new policies and influenced the way consumers have embraced the need for environmental change. However, It’s easy to just buy a product from the cheapest supplier and say that you have a sustainable/compostable product in your hand, but how truly sustainable is the product?
Green-washing is a dangerous concept as it would mean that the process behind making a product may have still harmed the planet or was not as ethical as one would think. Validated processes need to be in place including sourcing from the right factories, checking that the production of materials and products are not harmful and unethical, using the right logistic method and a chance to give back to the planet to offset any of the harmful elements may have occurred such as carbon that may have emitted to the atmosphere.
Your brand is so important too. For your products to make such an impact, there needs to be a strong procedure in place to check the quality of the items and the brand compliance. Through all of this, how do you know how well your products are doing in different regions? Data analytics is key to ensuring you are making the right decisions in the right places, whilst adapting to the ever changing local and global market changes and requirements.
Each of our offices are passionate about the planet and delivering the right solution to elevate your brand. All our 100+ offices use validated suppliers that are rated on our robust supply change management programme and adhere to processes that are in place to ensure quality and compliance.
We would love to know more about your market changes and challenges and how you are adapting to them.
Written by: Vivian Asali
Regional Account Lead for Prominate Mexico