ABSTRACT
The environmental, social, and economic pillars were usually, though not always, treated as three equal dimensions/components/areas of sustainability. This chapter examines the three-pillars topic as a source of arguments in the public sustainability communication of ten plastic-packaging companies. It makes to enable professional communicators to use the three-pillars topic more productively and successfully as a source of arguments in sustainability-related marketing communication and empower audiences to be better critics of three-pillars arguments wherever they may encounter them. Sustainability plays an important role in many plastic-packaging companies' public communication with stakeholders because the manufacture and use of plastic packaging-from hard plastic containers to clear film wrap to plastic baggies-are a potential threat to the environment as well as a potential solution to various challenges of sustainability. The use of the three pillars of sustainability or an alternative such as the three/four/seven R's such as: recycle, reuse and recover that seems to be almost obligatory in sustainability communication.
