At 1908 Brands, we're proud to be a 1% for the Planet Business Member. Each year, we set aside 1% of our sales in a reserve fund to donate to environmentally focused non-profits. In addition to providing unrestricted funds to support the protection and conservation of public lands, we often to partner with environmentally focused non-profits that can advise our team on ways to improve the waste, water and energy required to run our business operations.
One partnership we’ve found to be incredibly valuable is with the 1% for the Planet certified non-profit organization, Green Blue. Green Blue is dedicated to the sustainable use of materials in society. Green Blue brings together a diversity of stakeholders to encourage innovation and best practices to promote the creation of a more sustainable materials economy.
Since 1908 Brands packages food and cleaning products, we work with Green Blue to make sure we're holding ourselves to their highest standards.
1908 Brands is part of Green Blue's CleanGredients program, which provides a resource for suppliers to verify and market that their “ingredient” products meet Safer Choice criteria.
We also participate in the How2Recycle Label® program which is a standardized on-package labeling system that clearly communicates recycling instructions to the public.
Finally 1908 Brands is a part of The Sustainable Packaging Coalition program, which provides the leading voice on packaging sustainability with a membership that encompasses the entire packaging life cycle.
After recognizing the impacts of single use packaging on our natural places, oceans, and landfills (60% of packaging ends up in the landfill*) we made the decision to take part in creating solutions.
In March of 2018, 1908 Brands made a commitment through the Climate Collaborative to improve our packaging and convert one product package to compostable or recyclable packaging by 2025.
To work towards this commitment, 1908 Brands made a $15,000 donation to The Sustainable Packaging Coalition to host the Essentials of Sustainable Packaging Training and opened the event up to the whole “Naturally Boulder” community.
Along with packaging leads from 60 local companies, we learned about the fundamental principals of sustainable packaging. The training covered Bioplastics, Compostable Packaging, Fiber Sourcing and the lifecycle of packaging materials.
In addition to working with the Naturally Boulder community and Justin’s, we had representatives from local materials manufactures in the room to answer questions about where we go from here. ePack, Elk Designs, and Futamura helped breakdown how each layer of flexible plastic packaging might be improved for end-of-life recovery.
We discussed how we, as businesses, could maintain our economic opportunity while increasing the environmental sustainability of our business operations.
Working towards sustainable packaging solutions is one element of our strategy to improve our business operations. Through our 1% for the Planet giving program we’re also working with non-profit partners to conserve land and wilderness, provide children with access to outdoor opportunities and reduce our water and energy use in our office, kitchen, and warehouse.
*Source: EPA, Advancing Sustainable Materials Management Report, 2016
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