From Sea to Plate: How Plastic Got into Our Fish

Most of the area on our earth covered by ocean, it has the largest bodies on our earth. The world is continuously improving and the surplus on industry activities caused the ocean pollution and influenced the marine’s life. According the case study, there have some ethical problems can be found. The irresponsible companies and consumers spread the harmful substances such as plastics and toxic wastage into the sea. Therefore, the plastic pollution is wide spreading now, the quantity of plastic waste is constantly increasing in our oceans. Plastic can be considered as very harmful garbage because it is non-biodegradable, it cannot be break down in nature. Ocean is the home for marine animals and plants, the actions of these companies and consumers caused the marine’s health issues and people are finding plastic in their seafood. This is because the plankton are eating the plastic and plankton eaten by tiny predators such as tiny fish and shrimp.

) Therefore, the microplastic are existing in the seafood that people eating.  In this case, the plastic pollution not only affected the health issues of marine animals and yet human health issues. These problems make the organizations start respond to the issues, take actions to reduce the pollution and safe our ocean and human’s health.

Business ethics has always been a crucial concern in the business world for every industry, entrepreneur, and organization.

A wealth of problems for business could resulted if participants do thing without business ethics. Business ethics is running a business ethically and be justice. It is the interaction between firms, industry, individuals, society, and state. It also can be the relationship between primary stakeholder such as customers, employees, shareholders and suppliers and secondary stakeholders such as government and other business competition.

Business ethics relativism is a view that holds the morality relative to a specific environment or to the customs of one’s culture.

This shows that different culture has different moral values. Therefore, business ethics must therefore be fair, accountable, responsible, and transparent.

Ethical school of thought, utilitarianism is a moral theory generally acknowledged by its involvement to generate the most number of benefit for the most amount of people, basically is about welfare. A decision that is considered ethically correct, depends on the capability to anticipate the outcome of a specific action that yields benefit to the society. Utilitarianism also can be known by consequentialism.

As utilitarian, it measures the act in terms of its outcomes and it consists consequences, for example of the organization required to make greatest amount of profit while making the least number of damage or preventing for suffering. By following the utilitarian principles, the organization looks at every individual situation independently and evaluates each ethical problem. The statement of Milton Friedman, which is the business of business is making profit. This aligns with instrumental of corporate social responsibility (CSR) which attributes of utilitarianism ethical people where they are more emphasis to the end profit. For example, the child labour employed by Nike in Vietnam due to the lower cost but Nike did not reduce the product price. The products are still selling at the same price in every country.

In this case, Nike only look at the profit instead of concerning the ethical behaviour. For another case, which is Volkswagen was cheating on the CO2 emission test self-claimed to be very environmental protected. By this way, they can attract more environmentalists and make more profit.  Volkswagen installed a software, and the software only will be activated and control the emission CO2 when the car is being tested.

This can be known as green washing which breaches the United Nation Global Compact (UNGC) principle. These cases are not fulfilled with the Triple Bottom Line which are social, environmental and financial. The ethical problem from case study also consist of the thought of utilitarianism. The organizations and industries seek to maximize the end profit, then cause the surplus on their working activities, hence the plastic pollution caused indirectly.

Another ethical school of thought, deontology which is about duty and obligation to follow moral regulations. Basically, it is an ethical theory of emphasizing to the interaction between responsibility and the morality of human actions.

Deontology can be considered as a non-consequentialist moral theory because it concerns and focus on the actions of doing duty with morally good but does not concerning on the production of actions is good or not.

As utilitarian focus on the end of profit but as deontologist focus on the rightness of actions taken for profit making.

The figure above showed that the differences on perspective between Milton Friedman and Edward Freeman. From the figure 1 can see that, Friedman doing business focus on profit and Freeman focus on stakeholders.

Edward Freeman promote the altruistic CSR, which involves CSR that is more than just ethical behaviour to voluntarily take initiative to support in both monetary or non-monetary terms to a certain stakeholder group, even if it means that these initiatives will forfeiting portions of the organisation's profitability.

Therefore, the CSR model of Freeman falls under the thought of deontology.

Altruistic CSR can be implemented by using P.E.E.L framework that showing above. In this concept, the base line requirement is legal responsibilities. The activities taken must make sure to be legal. Next, the organization should ensure the activities taken will not harm the environment and has the duty or obligation on protecting the environment. When the base line requirements legal and environment are existed, the organization must to ensure that the activities taken are profitable and bring the benefits to the shareholders. When the organization is profitable, it is available for the organization to provide philanthropic responsibility to the society.  However, the altruistic CSR satisfied all the stakeholders and falls under the thought of deontology which actions taken are morally good and concerning the stakeholders. Based on the action of Johnson and Johnson taken in the case study, Johnson and Johnson having the thought of deontology on taking their duty to save the environment, they remodified the cotton buds from plastic stem to paper stem to protect the environment.