Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc.
SC Johnson on EARTH with John Holden
Fisk Johnson, Chairman & CEO of SC Johnson, takes EARTH to the shores of Bali, Indonesia, where their 'Plastic Bank' program ...
About H. Johnson
In his acceptance speech for the 2013 Deming Cup, H. Fisk Johnson, Chairman and CEO of SC Johnson & Son, discussed the company's management philosophy. He stated that, unlike many public companies, SC Johnson does not view maximizing shareholder value as its ultimate objective or a measure of success. Johnson said the company instead prioritizes an intangible element he called "goodwill," which he traced back to a 1927 speech by his great-grandfather. Johnson cited the closure of a factory in El Salvador as an example of this approach. He said that after the closure process, the employees who were losing their jobs gave the company a standing ovation. Johnson attributed the company's success to its employees and described financial results as a means to an end rather than an end in themselves.
Transcript (18 segments)
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John Holden0:32
Hi, I'm John Holden and welcome to Earth. We're starting off our show here along the coastline of Bali, Indonesia. You know, our ocean waters are in deep trouble because of plastic pollution, and nowhere is that more evident than here along Bali's beaches. But this is also ground zero for a tide-turning recycling program that's not only helping clean up our ocean waters but helping an impoverished community have a better standard of living at the same time. How is that possible? Let's take a look.
Our global oceans are the lifeblood of this good earth and sanctuary to an abundance of sea life. But our ocean waters are at risk from an estimated eight million tons of plastic that enters these waters each year. No one knows the health risk facing our oceans and planet better than Fisk Johnson.
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Fisk Johnson1:28
Yeah, I mean, as you can see around me on this beach, you know, the plastic waste accumulating here, it's heartbreaking to see it. Literally 15 billion pounds of plastic get poured into the ocean every year.
Well, I've been diving all over the world for 45 years, and you know, as time has gone on, I've seen this problem get worse and worse. I have been on beaches where you can't even see the sand on the beach because it's just literally completely covered with plastic trash. I mean, it's incredibly heartbreaking to see that.
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John Holden2:15
Now, many will talk about the need to clean our ocean waters, but Fisk is in the unique position of power and partnership to actually do something about it. Fisk is also the chairman and CEO of SC Johnson, a global powerhouse of household cleaning products we all use — a family company with more than 65 brands, with a long-term commitment to the environment and a promise to clean our oceans and waterways.
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Fisk Johnson2:40
Our family and our company has had a very long history of environmental responsibility, ranging from, you know, reducing our carbon footprint around the world to focusing on greener and greener chemistry that goes into our products, to issues like plastic waste, which is one of our biggest environmental issues.
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John Holden3:07
So how do you go about tackling the problem of plastic polluting our ocean waters? You start at its source and the communities where plastic first enters the water, like here in Bali.
More than 80% of ocean plastic comes from Asia. 20% of that is from Indonesia and beaches like this in Bali. But this is also where Fisk hopes that plastic pollution can be stopped while helping impoverished people at the same time.
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Fisk Johnson3:43
Plastic Bank is really doing a wonderful thing because they are collecting plastic before it has a chance to get into the ocean. And not only does Plastic Bank have an environmental benefit, but it also has a social benefit because it helps bring people out of poverty. It allows them to get paid for collecting plastic, and they have an opportunity to make more money than they have in the past.
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Plastic Bank Representative4:12
With partnership with SC Johnson, we are working together to create eight collection center facilities in Bali where anyone can bring their plastic into our collection center and get value out of the plastic.
Once they go to a Plastic Bank, they now realize, I'm saving the planet. I'm not only having money for my life, but I'm also saving the planet. That increases their dignity.
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John Holden4:33
The Plastic Bank program is designed to educate the locals about using plastic responsibly as well as the benefits of recycling. Each bag of plastic trash becomes a new source of income when it's turned in at one of the Plastic Bank recycling centers in Bali, where it's exchanged for digital currency that can be used in the marketplace.
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Plastic Bank Representative4:55
So what we saw is collectors coming here every day, every morning to pick up plastic, and then after that they will sell it so they can have food and their basic needs in life.
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John Holden5:08
And the impact is felt not just here near the Plastic Bank but throughout Bali as well, thanks to mobile units from the Plastic Bank that cover the entire community.
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Plastic Bank Representative5:18
So the idea of this mobile collection center unit is: this mobile will go anywhere in the community, in public spaces, everywhere where we have a crowd, start engaging people, educate them on what they can do with their plastic and how valuable the plastic is, and then we can collect the plastic from them.
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John Holden5:35
It's all about working together to solve the root cause of plastic pollution in our planet's oceans, something that Fisk Johnson says can benefit global business as well as its people.
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Fisk Johnson5:45
My hope is that we can solve this issue and others for the benefit of our children and our children's children. You know, I want my daughter to grow up in the beautiful world and environment that I had the opportunity to grow up in. And I think it's critical that all of us here today work hard to solve all the big global issues that we face to create a better world for our children tomorrow.
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John Holden6:18
You know, the tide is turning on this new movement from keeping plastic like this from becoming waste, and it's starting right here on the beaches of Bali where the new plastic economy is changing lives.