About two years ago, we realized that our company could make real and substantial changes in the way we operate our business in order to lessen our environmental impact. First, we purchased wind power through renewable energy credits, and then we became a Chain of Custody holder for the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Investigating and moving forward with these two initiatives opened our eyes to a new way for us to view our business.
First and foremost, we made these changes because it is the right thing to do and we could. As we looked at these initiatives more closely, we realized that we could gain some real bottom-line benefits and make our efforts economically viable and sustainable for the years to come. This wasn’t just some management fad.
This editorial was contributed by Brian Cowie, the Founder and CEO, The Paper Mill Store. The company is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Chain of Custody (CoC) Certified (SW-COC-1981) and buys Green-e certified wind certificates for 100% of its electricity needs.
About two years ago, we realized that our company could make real and substantial changes in the way we operate our business in order to lessen our environmental impact. First, we purchased wind power through renewable energy credits, and then we became a Chain of Custody holder for the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Investigating and moving forward with these two initiatives opened our eyes to a new way for us to view our business.
First and foremost, we made these changes because it is the right thing to do and we could. As we looked at these initiatives more closely, we realized that we could gain some real bottom-line benefits and make our efforts economically viable and sustainable for the years to come. This wasn’t just some management fad.
To make these and future initiatives work for us, we knew we had to build credibility. We wanted to make sure to avoid any perception of “green washing” or not really standing behind our efforts. To this end, we have sought out third-party certifications either for ourselves or for our suppliers. Consumers don’t have to take our word for our claims; they can check these out themselves through our third-party certifiers and remove any question of credibility.
We currently purchase Green-e certified wind energy for 100% of our electricity needs, a purchase which qualifies us as an EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) Green Power Partner. Green-e is the nation's leading independent certification and verification program for renewable energy and greenhouse gas emission reductions in the retail market.
In addition, we are certified by the Rainforest Alliance SmartWood program as meeting the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Chain of Custody (CoC) certification requirements. This allows us to sell FSC paper and envelopes to our customers. FSC certification ensures that a product came from well-managed forests, where people, wildlife and the environment benefit from the forestry practices. Maintaining the FSC Chain of Custody is a key component to the FSC audit trail structure, which ultimately allows customers to use the FSC logo of forest responsibility within their design projects. If a designer buys an FSC paper from a supplier who is not FSC-certified, they are unable to print the FSC label or any FSC claim.
We submit to annual audits to keep our certifications up to date, and we are currently in discussion on several other certification programs.
Again, we inherently knew these initiatives were the right thing to do, but then a pay-off we didn’t anticipate happened — not from our customers but from our current and soon-to-be suppliers seeking out partners using sustainable business practices. Within the first year, we brought on two new major suppliers and had renewed interest and new products from our current suppliers because of our ability to penetrate markets in a way we had not previously realized.
Partially because of our environmental initiatives, our business experienced explosive revenue growth during 2007 of more than 100%. Less measurable and more antidotal than the supply side and revenue growth is the reaction of our customers. We constantly hear how much they appreciate working with a company who takes these matters so seriously and takes action to reduce environmental impact as well as provides resources to help its customers do the same.
We strive to promote green graphic design and assist with providing various “How to’s” regarding logo usage, what eco-papers and envelopes are available, how these strategies can benefit clients and how to make the case for sustainable design strategies.
When you use less energy, you obviously pay less, which accounts for another real bottom-line benefit. We made a small investment in some climate control equipment earlier this year with the intent of reducing our energy usage and getting better control over our ambient environment within our distribution center. Shortly after we implemented this new equipment our Neenah, WI plant manager received a telephone call from the local natural gas company concerned that we had a malfunctioning meter or some other issue because our warm month natural gas usage went to zero and our overall electricity usage dropped.
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Throughout the company, we have enlisted the help and input of our team to ferret out where we can use recycled materials and help identify opportunities and practices we can use to lower our energy usage. One such instance was our desire to use sturdy shipping boxes with high percentages of recycled fiber content. We thought this would be easy until we realized that corrugated high percentage recycled fiber is much more difficult to find than you might think. After some months of searching through the major box manufacturers, and frankly a lot of pushing by us, we were able to develop a box for ourselves with 50% recycled fiber. No small feat but well worth the effort.
The economic benefits come to us is several ways, some more tangible than others. One thing we know for sure is that no one chooses not do business with us because we’re too clean of a company, but some consumers choose not do business with companies that do not at least make a real effort to conduct themselves in a sustainable manner. So this tells us that operating our company in an increasingly sustainable manner only has upside potential and real bottom-line benefits for us as a profit-motivated, private company.
About The Paper Mill Store .com
The Paper Mill Store, thepapermillstore.com, is an authorized, multi-mill e-commerce site launched by CTI Paper Group, Inc. in May of 2004 to provide graphics professionals with easy access to premium text and cover papers and envelopes, regardless of their location or order size. TPMS partners with mills, local paper merchants and authorized envelope converters to provide unparalleled service, top-quality products and fast delivery. TPMS is Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Chain of Custody (CoC) Certified (SW-COC-1981) and buys Green-e certified wind certificates for 100% of its electricity needs. For more information, contact Carrie Chase at 800-790-8767, ext. 228 / This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
