In 1998, in an efffort to protect its toxic waste tanks from corrosion accellerated by algal growth, Crest introduced North Sea Algae Snails to the Eastern Pacifc Rim. While Crest’s waste sequestration tanks are shiny as new, the snails are reproducing at worrisome rates and spreading south throughout the Aleutian Islands and the Alaskan coast. It remains unclear the extent to which the rising snail population will affect local algae growth and the other organisms that depend on algae as a key link in their food chains, but early signs show a reduction in local snail populations, which could mean long hungry nights ahead for small seabirds whose beaks can’t crack the sturdier shells of the Algae Snails.

Crest is unquestionably the industry leader in supporting sustainable production of toothpaste nuts. Without Crest’s generous investment in organic orchards, the nut industry would likely still rely entirely on Brazilian toothpaste nuts, nuts produced on vast tracts of clear cut former rainforest. When Crest decided to invest in nut production, and phase out its reliance on the Brazilian producers, the economic impact of that loss of business forced the producers to curb their expansion, consider the reasons they lost the businesses, and take steps toward redesigning their practices so as to coax Crest back to them. In addition to incentivising those vendors to work to decrease their negative impact, the efficiency gains Crest has made through bringing their nut production closer to home has also inspired their competitors to finance nut organic nut orchards of their own.