Curt Dunlop was born and raised in Bracebridge. Champion of small-town living, engaged Dad, busy body, pot-stirrer, sporty musical nerd. Enjoy this glimpse into the questions that bounce around my head.
Entrepreneurs are a savvy bunch. They’re creative, usually solution-focused thinkers, and often drive innovation. Dealing with ever-changing Covid restrictions and regulations is a prime example of this: In a year we’ve seen creative solutions to dining, shopping, PPE, supply chain logistics and much more. This has further solidified a thought in my head: most businesses can and will adapt to external change, and often will thrive after dealing with adversity.
So, why are we not pushing more regulations that would drastically improve the health of our world? Here are a few of my ideas that I think should/could be law, and that industry could easily adapt to:
- compostable cigarette butts
- compostable grocery bags
- exclusively recyclable packaging on retail goods
- reusable containers for bulk goods (shampoo, household cleaners, high volume kitchen products like oils, vinegars, sugars, and flour)
- compostable take-out from fast-food
- incentive to switch more retail items to bulk sales
***I focused on environmental issues, but you could easily throw in wage and employee benefits, maximizing CEO pay, pricing regulations, and many more ideas to improve our town/district/province/country/world.
I spent a week in Charlottetown, PEI a decade ago and was blown away at the extent of their recycling: 5 streams if I recall. I also recall being shocked at their grocery store, as much of the packaging was different than what we had. Standing in the drink aisle, there was NO PLASTIC at all. The pop was almost exclusively in glass bottles. If they can do it there, we can do it here.
I’m sure each industry has their environmental fouls that could easily be eliminated with a regulation.
Grocery stores and their customers have adapted to introductory plastic bag regulations: what does the next step look like?
Business also quickly adapted to minimum wage increase(s). Is $14.25 really enough?
My business switched from plastic take-out containers to fully compostable units. There is a price increase, but we felt it was an amount we could absorb. Others may not come to the same conclusion, but a regulation could push them to adapt and improve. There are other environmental decisions we have decided against because of their cost or the timing of said cost.
The business community are constantly adapting and improving to all sorts of regulations for things like health and safety, insurance, employee rights, industry guidelines and inspections, and growth. Adapting is a perpetual part of business management and ownership. Change is hard, and no one likes over-regulation, BUT change and adaptation disappears quickly into the rearview after it’s completed. If we can make regulations for the greater good, I truly believe in business leadership to enact the change and move forward.
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