Remember when recycling was a big step forward for companies' environmental efforts? Today, businesses are approaching corporate environmental responsibility with new and creative ideas to deal with rising energy prices and find cleaner energy sources.
That's why companies big and small are developing complex plans to reduce their environmental footprint and teach their employees to do the same. But even the best-laid plans are not without hurdles.
Timberland is engaging its customers by getting them to think about the effect the products they buy have on the environment. Over 100 shoe styles come with an individualized nutrition label that is similar to labels found on cereal boxes and shows the environmental costs of making the product. When we put a product out there, we are asking consumers to join us in our journey, says Beth Holzman, manager of corporate social responsibility, strategy and reporting. So the labeling initiative provided consumers with information to be better informed about their overall purchasing factors.
The original label, developed in 2006, had information about the effect of manufacturing on climate, where the shoes were made and the company's effect on the community. A year later, the company introduced shoe-specific information, called a Green Index Label (from 1-10 with 1 as the lowest) that measures not only the climate effect, but also chemicals used and the percent of recycled, organic or renewable resources used.
Timberland also posts quarterly results of its corporate social responsibility activities and holds conference calls about it, just as it does with financial information. Timberland also helped to launch an eco working group that includes about 60 shoe brands to develop metrics for a nutrition label that can be used across the board so consumers can compare shoe to shoe. Holzman says this is vital for consumers to compare brands.
The goal of all the programs, Holzman says, is to start a dialogue that involves the industry and consumers in helping to move environmental efforts forward. That's why Timberland also started the Earthkeeper campaign, which invites consumers and service partners to work with Timberland to protect the earth through community clean up events. It includes an interactive blog as well as stories about people working for environmental protection.
And it's not just large companies that are looking at unique ways to be stewards of the environment. At Regency Mortgage, headquartered in Manchester, President Quentin Keefe is working on reducing his company's footprint.
However, being small-there are 30 employees statewide-and the state of the mortgage industry leaves him with little extra cash. Among the projects he has already accomplished is electronically archiving the hundreds of mortgages the company processes each year. As of September, the electronic system has saved 4,000 pieces of paper, or 80 reams, by electronically archiving paperwork for 400 mortgages. It sounds like it's not a big deal, but actually it is because your process has to be approved by each state you do business with, says Keefe.
His latest program has yet to be used by employees, but he is optimistic its time will come. The Regency Clean Car Solution Program offers employees $2,500 toward the purchase of a hybrid car or $1,500 toward a lease. Keefe says he introduced the program because vehicle emissions are one of the top causes of global warming and with the number of available hybrids rising, there will be more choices.
Another small company, Image4, a visual marketing and branding-support company in Manchester, has won many accolades for its green initiatives. That is because Image4 not only uses green materials whenever possible, which earned it the title of the World's Greenest Trade Show Exhibit Producer by Inc. magazine last year, but they have a business model that helps and encourages others to be greener as well.
President Jeff Baker recently received certification from the Green Advantage, the green building environmental certification program. That allows his company to become a strategic partner to architects, builders and contractors completing green building projects. When a significant percentage of a project's building team is Green Advantage certified, the project could earn LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) innovation credits and market the project as a silver, gold or platinum project depending on its credits, according to the U.S. Green Building Council.
For more information on Image4, visit www.image4.com. For more information on Regency Mortgage, visit www.regencymtg.com. For more information about Timberland's programs, visit www.timberland.com and www.earthkeeper.com.
Current Issue - May 2024