SC Johnson enlists hermit crab in push to campaign against plastic pollution

• S.C. Johnson launched a new campaign to fight plastic pollution. The use of plastic products and their effects on the earth have been a hot topic since President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month ending the federal use of paper straws.
• S.C. Johnson, the company behind Windex and Ziploc, released a short film showing Zuzu, an animated hermit crab, and his journey to recycle a bottle left behind as crew members were cleaning up a beach.
• Orlando Bloom and Nina Dobrev are among the famous faces joining the campaign.

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On Monday, March 3, S.C. Johnson & Son launched a new campaign to fight plastic pollution. The use of plastic products and their effects on the earth have been a hot topic since President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month, ending the federal use of paper straws.

“And I don’t think that plastic’s going to affect a shark very much as they’re munching their way through the ocean,” Trump said during the order signing at the White House.

While the president referenced a shark as he announced the return of plastic straws to government facilities, S.C. Johnson, the company behind brands like Glade, Windex and Ziploc, has enlisted a hermit crab to help spread its message on combating plastic pollution.

The company released a short film on Monday showing Zuzu, the animated crustacean, and his journey to recycle a bottle left behind as crew members were cleaning up a beach.

The company’s advocacy campaign, led by partners including the Plastic Bank and Conservation International, aims to encourage public support to reduce plastic waste.

To counter plastic pollution in recent years, paper straws have been promoted as a more sustainable alternative to plastic.

However, during the signing of the executive order, Staff Secretary Will Scharf said, “The environmental impact between paper and plastic straws was entirely unclear.”

In the order, the Trump administration cited research from 2023, published in the journal “Food Additives & Contaminants,” that found paper straws contain harmful forever chemicals.

“We’re going back to plastic straws,” Trump said. “These things don’t work. I’ve had it many times and on occasion, they break, they explode. If something’s hot, they don’t last very long. A matter of minutes. Sometimes a matter of seconds. It’s a ridiculous situation, so we’re going back to plastic straws. I think it’s OK.”

Jackie Nuñez, the founder of the Last Plastic Straw Movement, told NPR that the call to end plastic straws was not about “the straw in particular,” it was about getting the word out about the dangers of all single-use plastics to the environment.

Many advocates point to a viral video featuring something other than a shark or a hermit crab. In the video is a sea turtle, which started the closer look into plastic straws and plastic pollution in general. The video showed a plastic straw stuck in the nostril of the creature.  

According to The International Union for Conservation of Nature, 14 million tons of plastic enter oceans each year, leading to marine species ingesting or becoming entangled in the plastic debris. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation said that, looking by weight, there could be more plastic in the ocean than fish by the year 2050.

To go along with its Zuzu film, S.C. Johnson surveyed 3,000 U.S. adults and found that while 83% of Americans are concerned about plastic waste, only 28% feel they know how they can help.  Just 2 out of 5 believe their recycling efforts are paying off, and 86% feel that it’s up to businesses to take on more responsibility.

Zuzu is not alone in helping S.C. Johnson’s goal of getting businesses to take on more action. Orlando Bloom and Nina Dobrev are among the famous faces joining the campaign.

Dobrev, star of “The Vampire Diaries,” said a statement, “Ocean conservation has always been close to my heart, and the reality is that our planet can’t wait. Every piece of plastic we keep out of the ocean makes a difference, but we need businesses to step up and do more.” 

President Trump’s order directed the federal government to stop purchasing paper straws, putting an end to a policy set forth by his predecessor, former President Joe Biden. The Biden administration’s plan was meant to phase out plastic straws and all other single-use plastic products from all federal operations by 2035.

But in cities and communities across the country, policies still remain in place to limit the use of plastic straws including businesses only providing them when customers ask.