Planting Seeds

At the recent FILTECH conference and expo in Cologne, Germany, there were not many presentations where sustainability was not mentioned. The focus on biomedia, design for recycling, carbon footprint reduction, and more, was prevalent from presenters to exhibitors to attendees. The filtration industry is making this a real priority.

A joint study from McKinsey and NielsenIQ (found at www.mckinsey.com) examines sales growth for products, primarily everyday consumer packaged goods, that claim to be environmentally and socially responsible, exploring the correlation between ESG-related claims and sales performance. In collaboration with NielsenIQ, McKinsey analyzed five years of U.S. sales data, from 2017 to June 2022. They discovered:

• Products making ESG-related claims accounted for 56 percent of all growth – about 18 percent more than would have been expected given their standing at the beginning of the five-year period: products making these claims averaged 28 percent cumulative growth over the five-year period, versus 20 percent for products that made no such claims.

• Large and small brands alike saw growth in products making ESG-related claims.

• Consumers don’t seem to consistently reward any specific claims across all categories: They found no evidence that a particular claim was consistently associated with outsize growth.

• Products making multiple types of claims grew about twice as fast as products that made only one.

This data backs the notion that consumers are indeed looking for companies to pay attention to their carbon footprint – and reduce it. The report administrators noted, “There is strong evidence that consumers’ expressed sentiments about ESG-related product claims translate, on average, into actual spending behavior. And this suggests that companies don’t need to choose between ESG and growth.”

This is an important point, because while it seems burdensome and expensive to change the way we have always done it, it is actually now appearing profitable to do so –making it worth the undertaking.

On page 14, we highlight several companies who have achieved plant- or bio-based solutions for filtration. We found their ideas to be creative and adaptable to their current brands. Full sustainability, for most, may not be achievable, at least in the short term. Yet achieving smaller steps in the right direction could prove to be a huge gain!

Caryn Smith

Chief Content Officer & Publisher, INDA Media, IFN

International Filtration News Editorial Advisory Board

R. Vijayakumar, Ph.D., Chair

AERFIL

Tel: +1 315-506-6883

Email: vijay@aerfil.com

Rahul Bharadwaj, Ph.D.

Lydall Performance Materials

Tel: +1 603-953-6318

Email: rbharadwaj@lydall.com

James J. Joseph

Joseph Marketing

Tel/Fax: +1 757-565-1549

Emai: josephmarketing120@gmail.com

Wenping Li, Ph.D.

Agriltech Research Company

Tel: +1 337-421-6345

Email: wenpingl@agrilectric.com

Ernest Mayer, Ph.D.

E. Mayer Filtration Consulting, LLC

Tel: +1 302-981-8060

Email: ernestmayer6@gmail.com

Robert W. McIlvaine

The McIlvaine Company

Tel: +1 847-784-0013

Email: rmcilvaine@mcilvainecompany.com

Thad Ptak, Ph.D.

TJ Ptak & Associates

Tel: +1 414-514-8937

Email: thadptak@hotmail.com

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Mission

International Filtration News covers the topics and technologies that will shape the future of filtration and separation. Using subject matter experts from all parts of the industry, IFN is the leading source for the dialogues, debates and innovations across the full spectrum of filtration and separation applications and processes.

If you would like to utilize your expertise to help shape the content in the IFN , consider applying for the IFN Editorial Advisory Board. We welcome participation through input on trends and innovations, new story ideas and overall thought leadership. This is a collaborative board that meets quarterly to discuss the state of the industry. Send an email to Caryn Smith at csmith@inda.org for consideration.

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