Case Study

Carbon Neutral Wines – it’s more than just Green Marketing

By Arshabhi Rai | Published: December 12, 2014

When you see a product that says carbon neutral, what does it mean?

I recently enjoyed a bottle of Italy’s number one selling wine in Canada, Santa Margherita’s Pinot Grigio. Each bottle has a green label that says “Carbon neutral from ground to store. Measured and offset with Carbonzero”. It is produced in Italy, imported into Canada by Lifford Wine, and certified by Carbonzero as carbon neutral. I investigate its Italian supply chain and production, shipping to Canada, and sales and consumption in Canada to learn what it means to be carbon neutral.

Carbon neutrality, or having a net zero carbon footprint, refers to balancing carbon released with an equivalent amount of offset. Claiming carbon neutrality generally involves three steps: measure, reduce, offset.

Also posted in Featured Articles, Green Consumer, Green Marketing, Marketing and Communications, Sustainable Food, Sustainable Supply Chain, The Hub | Tagged carbon footprint, carbon neutral, carbon49, carbonzero, Climatesmart, Food Waste Valorization Project, life cycle analysis, Lifford Wine, Niagara Landfill to Gas project, Santa Margherita, Tinhorn Creek, Transport GHG Reduction Project, Tree Canada, wine | Comments closed

Mr. Muscle is pushing the envelope on lean manufacturing. But is SC Johnson really a sustainable business?

By Tom Idle | Published: June 9, 2014

Tom Idle takes a tour of SC Johnson’s Amsterdam Plant. The plant has been zero-landfill for more than a decade, and recycled almost 800 tons of its waste in 2013. SC Johnson is clearly very proud of it.

Pronto, one of many SC Johnson products coming off the production line at Europlant in Amsterdam.

Recently, SC Johnson announced that its plant in Manaus, Brazil had become its eighth zero-landfill facility, putting it well on track towards meeting a 2016 target of cutting manufacturing waste from its facilities across the world by 70%.

Its other zero-landfill facilities – defined as being achieved without incineration – include two in China and one each in Pakistan, the Netherlands, the US, Poland and Canada. In 2012, ten of the company’s 20 sites achieved waste diversion rates of at least 90%.

Also posted in Business and Sustainability, Leadership & Culture | Tagged corporate sustainability, csr, Europlant, glade, Mr Muscle, sc johnson, sustainability case study, waste diversion, zero landfill-facility | Comments closed

Four Green Team Tactics That Can Be Readily Adapted To Your Organization

By Derek Wong | Published: December 18, 2013

Small green teams tasked with transforming large corporations, governments, cities, and neighborhoods face some tough challenges. TD Bank’s three-person green team employed a range of strategies to inject sustainability thinking into 27,000 employees dispersed in 1,300 locations. I find four of their tactics very smart and can be readily adapted by green teams everywhere.

Also posted in Behaviour Change, Business and Sustainability, Communication, Culture Change, Employee Engagement, Employee Engagement, Green Communications, Organizational Change, Organizational Culture, The Hub, Thought Leader | Tagged Behaviour Change, corporate sustainability, csr, Derek Wong, green behaviour, green teams, Net Impact, TD Bank | Comments closed

The Boomerang Box: Sustainability Inspired Customer Loyalty

By Derek Wong | Published: February 20, 2013

Each day offices across Canada and the world receive thousands of shipments in cardboard boxes. Once unpacked they go straight to recycling depots or landfills. Office supplies chain Grand and Toy and its US parent OfficeMax launch their reusable Boomerang Box to help their customers go green and reposition themselves from a commodity supplier to a business partner. We take a look behind the scenes to see how they use sustainability as a business strategy.

What is this new cardboard box? Instead of using regular one-time-use cardboard boxes to deliver office supplies to their customers, Grand and Toy custom designed a reusable box they called the Boomerang Box. Once a shipment is delivered, customers save the empty Boomerang Boxes until they are picked up by Grand and Toy’s delivery staff at the next shipment.

Also posted in Business and Sustainability | Tagged BMO, Boeing, Grand and Toy, office supplies, OfficeMax, Ogilvy & Mather, Oxford Properties, RBC, recycling | Comments closed

CASE STUDY: At Life Technologies Quantifiable Benefits Support a Holistic Approach to Sustainability

By Michael Townsend | Published: February 14, 2013

Life Technologies – Dedicated to Accelerating a Sustainable Future.

Life Technologies is a company working on new frontiers in biotechnology, pursuing solutions that will ultimately lead to a more sustainable world. Their products are used to address fundamental challenges, like how we will feed and power the world.

Their story is striking on a number of levels. Through its Global Citizenship approach, the company has generated an impressive commitment to integrating sustainability principles, not only as a part of the company’s stewardship of community, people, science and ethics, but also as a compelling business strategy, with a strong focus on quantifiable benefits.

Also posted in Business and Sustainability, Culture Change, Organizational Culture | Tagged biotechnology, corporate sustainability, csr, Earthshine Solutions, eco-efficiency, Life Technologies, transparency | Comments closed

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