WORKPLACE: SSC Helps Walmart Supplier Become a Sustainability Pro!

We do a lot of boasting in this blog (and wherever we can convince someone to give us a microphone), but some of you may want a little more evidence of our successes.  Since it is Walmart supplier month here, today we thought we’d highlight the accomplishments of one such company over the past year.  They didn’t want their name mentioned here – even though you should be proud of your decision to go green, it means admitting that you had a problem in the first place – but we’re honored to have helped the organization make tremendous strides. 

Firm X is a medium-sized consumer products company that imports much of its inventory from China before shipping it off to Walmart.  The firm’s headquarters lie adjacent to its one million square foot warehouse; executives are able to see first-hand how implementing sustainability improves company-wide operations.  They came to us with a common problem: Walmart was demanding sustainability improvement and reporting, and Firm X had no idea where to start.  

In just one year, SSC helped Firm X: 

• Issue its first sustainability report
• Implement reporting guidelines and metrics, including GRI, CDP, and the World Business Council on Sustainable Development’s water tool
• Conduct its first waste audit, energy audit, and green office audit
• Conduct an audit of one of the firm’s major Chinese manufacturers
• Start an employee Green Team – which quickly resulted in a 10% increase in company-wide recycling!
• Finalize and implement new Sustainable Purchase Guidelines, a vendor code of conduct, and vendor evaluation forms
• Design company-wide processes for data collection for use in next year’s strategic planning and reporting processes
• Host a packaging workshop to investigate green packaging 
• Improve its Walmart Sustainability Scorecard numbers by 66% in just 10 months 

Whew!  A representative of Firm X told us that the experience changed their views on sustainability; they previously had seen it as necessary process to appease its buyers – now they consider sustainability to be a moral and business imperative that benefits both stakeholders and the environment.  And, of course, Walmart.  

By the way…we can help you too!  Here’s a link to our Walmart Supplier website!

INNOVATIONS: Sustainable Packaging Decisions

The other day one of our team members ordered a short cable from Amazon for his new (energy efficient) TV.  Wrapped tightly and packaged in plastic wrap, the neatly wound cable was around 4 inches across, and, lay flat, less than an inch high. It came packaged in a big old encyclopedia-sized box!  Amazon, to its credit, prominently featured ways to provide feedback on the packaging on the box.  You can believe that they heard from us, loud and clear (and politely, of course). 

The use of effective, efficient, and sustainable packaging is an important area in which we advise our clients.  Amazon is responsible for an incredible amount of packaging waste (boxes, inflated air packing cushions, polystyrene foam, etc.), and, to its credit, the company is trying to lead by example.  It launched the aforementioned packaging feedback program in 2009, and has developed software that automatically determines the correctly sized packaging for any given order.  There’s still a lot of work to be done, but Amazon is on the right track. 

To help get you on the right track, here are a couple innovative packaging ideas that some companies are using to limit their eco footprints.  We think that you can accomplish change through small steps as well as major operational overhauls, so hopefully these examples will get you thinking about what you can do to improve your company’s packaging.

• If you’re like us, you like shoes.  The problem is they come in those bulky boxes that clutter up our closets and, all to often, our landfills.  Athletic apparel and sneaker company Puma is working to solve that problem.  In 2011 the company introduced its “Clever Little Bag” solution, which uses 65% less paper, and delivers your shoes in a nifty little reusable bag.  Using flexible, multi-use materials in your packaging can drastically reduce your packaging waste, and give you a stylish competitive advantage.

• Speaking of bags, another one of our team members loves Three Sisters cereals.  These lovely ladies make “natural, sensible, and sustainable” cereals.  The company’s motto, “Ditch the box and save a tree” is manifest in its packaging which, as you probably guessed, eschews the cardboard box.  While this does create a little more of the dreaded crushed cereal dust at the bottom of the bag, it certainly makes us feel better about buying the product!  Again, bags are your friend. 

You can also help by supporting companies that use sustainable packaging.  In addition to the well-known recycling insignia, you might want to think about steering clear of products that come in PVC packaging, and avoid purchasing groceries that are individually wrapped, such as American cheese (or move to Seattle – the city has recently outlawed individually packaged food!). 

By the way…you can read more about Amazon.com’s packaging initiatives here,

and for more information, check out our resources page, where you can download our webinar on creating a paperless office, or get a free quick tip about bottled water.

INNOVATIONS: Sustainability in the Health Care Industry

This August the blog features new green initiatives, technologies, and innovations.  We hope you’ll take away some insight and ideas about how you can work to green your organization, regardless of your industry!

It’s always puzzling to come across a company or industry that exists in large part to affect the betterment of humankind, yet neglects to adopt even the most basic sustainability initiatives.  “Socially responsible” grocery stores and restaurants, law enforcement organizations, NGOs that aim to eliminate disease and famine…we’ve seen countless examples of these groups (you know who you are!) that haven’t even considered sustainability policies. 

So it gives us a warm fuzzy feeling when we think about one group of do-gooders that’s making huge strides to maintain a profitable triple bottom line – the health care industry.  That’s one of the reasons SSC sponsors the GreenCare Awards every year.   While a lot of our clients are Walmart suppliers and mining companies, we also work hard with health care groups to accomplish their sustainability goals. 

We like to give recognition to the folks who work as hard as we do in health care.  The folks at Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) work to implement ecologically sound and healthy alternatives to health care practices that pollute the environment and contribute to disease.   We’re specifically excited about the HCWH’s innovative approaches towards waste management.  Mercury, PVC and phthalates, flame-retardants, electronics, cleaners, and pesticides – these are all potentially lethal by-products of health care operations.  HCWH works with hospitals to not only reduce the amount of all waste generated, but to implement new, safer no-burn technologies to effectively treat and disinfect medical waste.  You can learn more about their waste management initiatives here. 

By the way…we have a number of resources that are appropriate for the health care industry.  Check out our Build a Customized Green Team toolkit, and download a couple of our free white papers, including Cut the Wrap! Packaging Waste and Strategies for Mitigation and Reduction and The New Way to Shine: A Guide to Greening Your Cleaning.