PLC OF HERSHEYS

For example we looked into Hershey Chocolates. In order to create the perfect chocolate bar, Hershey
needs several supplies and ingredients, including, sugar, cocoa, sweeteners, nuts, flavors, food grade
chemicals and many more. Hershey gets their cocoa beans from West Africa where many recent child
labor laws have been violated on their behalf. Hershey is increasingly growing along with the increase in
demand of cocoa. As we buy more chocolate, more child labor laws are being neglected. (However,
hopefully that will change soon. Recently, Hershey has agreed to ensure all of its cocoa will come from
suppliers that follow the labor regulations by 2020). Furthermore, Hershey gets supplies from India,
China and Brazil. However, when they can they try to support the local community. Hershey consumes
between 300,000 and 350,000 gallons of milk a day from surrounding milk farms. Hershey is trying to
eliminate all waste associated with the production lines. However, in the next step of the cycle,
production, Hershey still contributes vast amounts of pollution. The process starts with the harvesting of
cocoa beans. From there the company ferments and sun dries them before putting them in large sacks
for delivery. Hershey transports these beans to factories by trains or trucks. In both of these cases,
Hershey contributes a lot of pollution from the burning of fossil fuels. The beans then go through
machinery which also contributes to the pollution and waste. Eventually the chocolate bars are wrapped
in wrappers, which ultimately are thrown in landfills. These candy wrappers are made from a mixture of
several different materials making it difficult to recycle. Hersheys chocolates have to go through multiple
stages of transportation in its product life style. The cocoa beans used to make the chocolate are
harvested in South America and have to be shipped to Hershey, PA to be used in the manufacturing
process. Once the product is created, it must be shipped to 70+ countries worldwide where the product
is sold. This transportation process has profound impacts on the environment but creates many jobs. The
emissions of trucks, planes, and boats pollute the air and help erode the ozone layer. This process
requires truck drivers, boat captains, and pilots which help to create jobs on a global scale. Even though
the transportation process is lengthy and causes pollution, it is critical to the life cycle of Hersheys
products. One of the biggest impacts in the system is in the utilization stage. Consumers utilize the
product, of course, by eating it. The real waste from this stage shows on waistlines. The average Hershey
bar contains 24 grams of sugar, while the recommended daily value is 25. That means that when a
person Hershey Sustainability product life cycle by Rachel Sternberg, Claire Gellis, Tom Laubach, Chris
Barnish eats a Hershey chocolate bar in 10 minutes, they consume almost all of their sugar limit for the
whole day. It also contains 40% of the daily allowed value of saturated fat. Hersheys chocolate bars are a
very popular item in the United States, and contribute to the ever-growing obesity problem. They are
cheap, well-marketed, and generally seen as favorableespecially to children. Chocolate can even be
considered addictive. Consuming it releases a chemical called serotonin, which increases happiness in
the brain. This addictive nature combined with the ease of access make Hersheys chocolate a likely
culprit for obesity and overconsumption. After the consumption phase, the chocolate is gone, but the
wrapper is still there. The wrappers are almost always simply thrown away, if not littered on the ground
by overexcited children on Halloween. Candy bar wrappers do not make a large enough volume to sort
out from the rest of the trash, like bottles are, so they are simply left to go to landfills. However, they
dont decompose in the landfill safely. Candy bar wrappers are generally laminated foils which are
prepared by coating a paper base with wax, bonding a thin metal foil layer with an adhesive and
dampening with a plastic solution. All these mixed materials are practically impossible to separate and
reuse. While the consumer waste is high, the production end is working on reducing waste. Three of
Hersheys manufacturing facilities in Pennsylvania, two in Hershey, Pennsylvania and one in Hazleton,
have achieved Zero-waste-to-landfill status in the companys ongoing efforts to enhance sustainability.
The company showed that they understood the importance of waste management and recycling.
Hershey recycles approximately 90 percent of the waste that is made from processing their product and
the rest of the waste is converted to energy. Hershey strives to improve its recycling and energy
efficiency programs in all their US plants. Implemented in four US facilities is the biogas capturing
equipment. The equipment converts captured biogas into energy. Sustainability has been a top priority
for Hershey since the early years. In 1937, before recycling was common, Hershey started the companys
first recycling company. Hershey is constantly trying to improve its waste management and
environmental sustainability programs for a more sustainable future. Although many companies,
including Hershey, are contributing to pollution and waste during their product life cycle, Hershey is
trying to become better about their process. Hopefully in the near future we start to see a change in all
product life cycles!