For the Greater Good: Fisk Johnson of SC Johnson

In this week's For the Greater Good podcast episode, IGA CEO John Ross speaks with SC Johnson's Chairman and CEO Fisk Johnson about sustainability, including how it takes all stakeholders, from government regulators to shoppers, to make progress on the issue of plastic waste.

Watch the video below or listen via your preferred podcast platform to learn more about Johnson's personal fight against plastic waste and the innovations SC Johnson is developing to combat the issue.

Key Takeaways:

• Johnson is a scientist by education, with a Bachelor's in Chemistry and Physics, a Master's and PhD in Physics. He also has an MBA.
  
  
• As an avid SCUBA diver, Johnson has tested for microplastic across the globe, from the Arctic Ocean to the Strait of Magellan, and even the Sahara Desert. 
  
  
• "Plastic waste is hard to go it alone as a company. We've made a lot of great progress on carbon, on greener chemistry, on a lot of issues just acting alone as a company, but we've been working on the plastic waste issue for a long, long time. Believe it or not, the first recycled bottle we launched was in 1987," Johnson said, adding that SC Johnson launched a concentrate for their trigger cleaning products 12-13 years ago, but it didn't sell well. "Plastic waste has not been very top of mind for consumers...it takes all stakeholders coming together collectively to solve the issue." 
  
  
• Johnson encourages retailers to make their sustainability efforts more visible, even if there isn't a lot of participation, because it creates awareness of the issue. For example, setting up a plastic bag collection bin is a good place to start.
  
  
• Windex bottles are made from recycled plastics picked up on the coast in Southeast Asia. SC Johnson's program both prevents discarded plastic from entering the ocean and allows those who pick up the plastic double their income. To date, the program has prevented at least half a billion plastic bottles from going into the ocean.

The podcast is available for download on Apple, Google, Spotify, Amazon, and Podbean.