Government Issues and Politics
Insurance and Employee Benefits
Business and Economic Info
Human Resources and Safety
Education Policies and Practicies
Training and Consulting Services
Welcome to CBIA's Training and Consulting site!
Small Business Human Resources Workforce Development Your Questions Answered Success Stories

September 2007 — Vol. 85, No. 7

Green your vendors and customers

 

If your vendors and customers aren’t prodding you to be greener, perhaps you could be prodding them.

When possible, R.C. Bigelow piggybacks its loads with those of other companies on its vendors’ trucks to make sure trucks aren’t being sent out half empty. “We work with our vendors to make sure our schedules are in sync,” says Dean Hearst, vice president of manufacturing.

Bigelow helps vendors eliminate waste in other ways, too. For instance, “One of our vendors had used cardboard boxes for the tags we use on our teabags. They now just put them on pallets,” Hearst says. Besides the environmental benefit of eliminating the packaging, “it also cuts out some costs.”

“Ask all your vendors what materials they’re using,” suggests Don Droppo Jr., Curtis Packaging’s senior vice president of marketing. “Can they use environmentally safer materials, such as nontoxic glue, or something water-based instead of oil-based? Then you can tell your clients you have this available,” he says.

Curtis Packaging advises customers as to how they can trim package sizes. “We had never challenged our clients before. They told us what size packaging they needed, and we made it,” says Droppo. “Big packaging is more visible to consumers, but that means you can display fewer items on the shelf. It also costs more to ship.” So, when possible, Curtis suggests making the packages smaller. “Even if we take it down just a quarter of an inch, multiplied by thousands of units that makes a difference,” Droppo says.

 

[back to main article]