SEARIOUS BUSINESS: STOP THE SEA OF PLASTIC

Imagine you’ve been worried about the fate of our planet from a really young age. And one day when you’re old and grey, you want to look back on your life and see that you did your absolute best. The work you did had a demonstrable positive impact on the environment. Then you’re not going to waste your time with trivial tasks. You put all your energy where you can make the most difference. For example, at corporate monoliths such as Unilever. Or even at the UN summit where environmental goals and measures are set at global scale. Only then can you turn your sustainable ambition into serious business. Or in the case of Willemijn Peeters: Searious Business.

Text by Paul van Vugt,  Images by Nathalie and Pascale Duin, Translation by Emma Samson

The mission of Willemijn’s Searious Business is as clear as pure water: to ensure 100% plastic-free oceans. To achieve this, she helps companies to rethink their plastic use by redesigning packaging, products and business models. The source of this sustainable energy is located in the Apparatenfabriek in Strijp-S in Eindhoven, where we meet Willemijn. Don't expect an raging activist lecturing polluting companies. Her approach is not against, but working with companies. Inviting conversation with a positive attitude. The power of dialogue.

Rebel

Willemijn: “Way back in the distant past I once participated in a Greenpeace campaign. We started re-labelling shampoo bottles in supermarkets because the product wasn’t good for the environment. Actually, the action was well-organised and quite responsible. It was announced in advance and the stickers were easy to remove. Still, I found it absolutely terrifying. That rebelliousness is just not in my nature.”

“That does not alter the fact that I have a lot of respect for anyone who takes a demonstrative attitude. In fact, activist organizations help to get things much higher on the agenda. Partly thanks to their efforts, climate problems are firmly on the map. Much more than 7 years ago, when I started Searious Business.”

A cog in a large system

Before Willemijn started her mission, she worked as a business controller at Philips. It was never her big aspiration to work there. But still, she learned how big companies make decisions. The biggest lesson, however, was that this was not her place. Willemijn: “You are such a small cog that you can hardly make a difference. And I didn't want to look back on a career where my impact is nil. Deep in my heart, I wanted to leave the world a better place.”

Willemijn decided to exchange Philips for a job at Stichting Natuur en Milieu. She helped leading companies in the Netherlands to get sectors moving. Later, via the Switch Foundation, she specifically helped Dutch SMEs in their sustainability ambition, for example, by switching to solar panels and an electric vehicle fleet. Her customers were enthusiastic, but Willemijn's energy quickly ebbed away. It felt too easy. And the impact was too small. Quitting was the only option.

“All change starts with one person. You just have to think big, otherwise, it won't be enough”

During conversations with a career coach, Willemijn discovered a deepening of her sustainable ambition: her passion for the ocean came to the surface.

Willemijn: “When I look deep in my heart, I always end up at the ocean. It fascinates me. It's such an important ecosystem for us. Half of the oxygen comes from the ocean. At the same time, we abuse it as the drain of our society. This concern put me on a singular track: I wanted to prevent plastic waste. The key question was: does this have a sustainable and viable business model? With profit for the sea, for companies and, of course, for me, as a catalyst. Because I wanted to think like a profitable organization and not like a subsidized foundation.”

Approach: at the source

Willemijn's enthusiasm quickly turned to confusion. How can you clean up something that will never be cleaned up? Does it make sense to keep fishing plastic out of an immense ocean? It was immediately clear to her that she had to make a difference at the front end of the problem. “The plastic tap must be closed. This problem will only be reduced by tackling it at the source.”

Willemijn conducted exploratory talks with potential, mostly small customers. Their sustainable ambition was palpable, and Willemijn translated this into targeted ideas to reduce plastic waste. “I put my proposal on paper, calculated my hours and presented my quote. What followed was a misunderstanding from the other side of the table: 'You want to improve the world, don't you? This is your chance, but why do I have to pay for it?'”

“I was dumbfounded. Apparently, you can only make money by ruining the world, not by improving the world. “What am I doing?” I wondered. And who am I really, with my grand ocean mission? Yet the urgency was crystal clear: every minute, two garbage trucks full of plastic disappear into the sea. Strengthened by that fact, I gave myself another two months. I bet high and decided no more wasting time talking to small parties. With the Unilevers of this world, that's where I had to be. The challenge was to get to the table. To be seen by these parties, who already have so many other climate issues on their agenda.”

"As a change agent, I only have to convince a few decision-makers in the business world to reach a tipping point."

The power of the word

“There was no budget for marketing campaigns to work on my fame. What I did have was a story. I must use my words. And I used them to speak to decision-makers from multinationals. I knew: as a small organization, you have to be very conscious about where to put your energy. That's why we built a business model that focuses on just a few people from a few large companies. Parties with whom we can make a big difference.”

The power of the word did its work. Willemijn built her name through conferences and networking. And by just making rude phone calls. Searious Business entered the picture of the big corporations. And the orders started to flow. The output? No thick, fancy, abstract advice reports that many other consultancy firms produce, but practical and smart business cases that are plastic-free and profitable.

The packaging of a strong idea

Willemijn: “A concrete example is the packaging-free concept that you are now seeing more and more on the shop floor. Consumers can fill their own jars with food thanks to dispensers, eliminating the need for packaging. In essence a strong and relevant idea, but in terms of implementation, it is often poorly thought-out in the beginning. There is hardly enough marketing and communication, and the financial triggers for the consumer are often still missing… In short: there are no preconditions for success. But you only have to make a few switches to make this model profitable. To keep it viable and even scale it up, so that companies help consumers to change their behaviour en masse.”

Changing corporate behaviour is crucial to making the world plastic-free. But changing the behaviour of governments is just as challenging, says Willemijn. She takes a seat at the table of UN countries that are drawing up a treaty to tackle the plastic problem. Willemijn: “This really concerns hard measures for the use of plastic. The UN finally understands how much social and biological impact plastic has on our lives and how important seawater quality is to us. They also realize that all those varying rules between countries don’t add up to a cleaner world. We can only achieve this by acting unequivocally together with a clear and strong ambition. I am honoured to be in such a position. This is the literal chessboard for game-changing policy.”

“Years ago, I could only dream of having this podium. Lots of relevant content is being discussed. At the same time, geopolitics are also emerging that have nothing to do with plastic. For example, Russia claims that another country is wrongly speaking on behalf of the Eastern European countries and that they are not aware. There are also countries that are not allowed to speak to each other. And then you have countries that have an obvious interest in continuing to produce plastic. Those countries are just dragging things out. All the energy you put into it is wasted effort.”

“Choose your battles if there’s one thing I’ve learned in my career. Focus on projects where you can achieve the most results. And yes, results are badly needed. Because the demand for plastic continues to increase.”

‘In the Netherlands, we excel at slowing things down, involving interest groups, meeting after meeting, weighing things up. Here we try to solve problems with the very people who are at the root of the problems.”

The Netherlands in the rear

That magic tipping point in plastic use is not yet in sight, but Willemijn is hopeful that Searious Business will one day become superfluous. That so many good regulations are created, so that the organization is no longer needed. She does not expect miracles from the Netherlands in that respect.

“We are not exactly engaged in a vanguard battle here. In the Netherlands, we excel at slowing things down, involving interest groups, meeting after meeting weighing things up. Here we try to solve problems with the very people who are at the root of the problems. That can't work. This applies to plastic, nitrogen and countless other dossiers. The goals are clear, the paths to get there are clear, but why do we still have to mediate? That is really our polder culture. I understand that we are a democracy, but some decisions just have to be made.”

Example countries

“I prefer to work for countries where they are much further along. Where they think in terms of reuse and meaningful collaboration with companies. They have the ball to tilt the system. Companies and governments have to make the switch, in order to make these changes interesting for consumers so that they participate. And above all, we should not think that we as individuals can make a difference, no matter how noble some people are for the environment.”

“It is a delusion that I am going to improve the world with my small, individual choices.”

“You can't always ignore plastic packaging, and I buy very consciously. However, it is a delusion that I am going to improve the world with my small, individual choices. It's about scaling up. The bigger picture. Get the masses on board.”

“Look at France. There they have firmly decided that you are no longer allowed to pack certain fruit and vegetables. Some companies have shown that this is possible, after which the government immediately proceeded with strict regulations. The consumer then automatically follows. The Netherlands can take an example of this decisiveness. This also applies to the system of reusable bottles in Germany. They are not recycled, but cleaned and reused by the manufacturer. This system works and generates profit for all involved.”

“You know, it's not even unusual for Germany to do this. It is much more remarkable that we do not do this in the Netherlands. In our compact little country with short distances we have the ideal infrastructure. But unfortunately, the government lacks the mentality to press ahead.”

“Hearing myself like that… maybe I do sound a bit activist after all. But in fact, activism is nothing more than a derivative of action. And action is what we need.”

“In that respect, I put my hopes in companies with the right mindset. For example, here in the Brainport Eindhoven. Our region thrives on designers, creatives, specialists with knowledge of materials and makers. There is so much potential here to innovate towards a plastic-free future. And the great thing is that this change does not cost any money, but actually creates sustainable and strong business cases. For searious business.”

Seariousbusiness.com

Originally published in Watt Magazine.