The hallmark of our supplier relationships is an emphasis on shared values. We don’t manufacture our own products so the sustainability of our offerings heavily reflects the commitment of our supply chain.

When we embark on new supplier relationships, alignment on sustainability is right up there with traditional concerns such as price, manufacturing capability and quality assurance. This means we have to be very clear about our corporate responsibility expectations and provide mentoring support to help our manufacturing partners attain key goals. In 2008, we deepened our efforts to engage our suppliers by hosting a successful Sustainability Summit, in addition to completing our first round of upgraded supplier audits.

MPAR Audits

2008 marked the second full year of our Manufacturing Partners Annual Report (MPAR) audits. We completed audits of all 12 of our manufacturing partners (a process begun in 2007) as well as auditing ourselves. The day-long, on-site audit evaluates our partners in four areas they are used to reporting on (quality assurance, R&D, manufacturing, and logistics) as well as on corporate responsibility. The latter includes environmental issues such as compliance, water pollution, energy usage, and waste management, as well as employee-related categories.

Supplier Strengths (all 12 suppliers audited have strong programs in these areas)

• Manufacturing Capabilities (average score 2.6 out of 3)
• Research and Development (2.8 out of 3)
• Worker Health and Safety (2.8 out of 3)

While our partners scored well in the more traditional areas, they scored poorly in the corporate responsibility (CR) categories that lack regulatory requirements such as diversity and greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting, with an average CR score of 1.6 out of 3. These areas are relatively new concerns to many businesses. The concrete guidance we provide in our audit protocols has already helped several partners take important steps to improve their corporate commitment to sustainability. One company has hired a sustainability coordinator and is working on a comprehensive plan while others are embarking on wide-ranging sustainability efforts. Others have made operational improvements to reduce their carbon footprints.

How’d we do? Not as well as we would have liked, a fact we shared with our partners as we all work together to improve. While our partners’ average CR score was 1.6 (out of 3), we came in below average at 1.5. Some of the areas that tripped us up regarded water consumption (we rent our space and lack metered data) and formalized workplace procedures. To address the latter, we established a safety committee that will be guiding several new initiatives in 2009 including: consulting with an outside safety specialist; training people as first responders; developing formalized evacuation and fire drill plans; and generating a safety manual for our new lab.

Sustainability Summit, 2008

In October, we hosted our first Manufacturing Partners Sustainability Summit. Attended by 15 manufacturing partners, packaging and ingredient suppliers and distribution specialists, this first summit was introductory and inspirational. Our own Inspired Protagonist, President Jeffrey Hollender, got us started by sharing his commitment to corporate responsibility. The rest of the day provided opportunities to learn about sustainability best practices with break-out sessions relating to the MPAR sections on water, energy, diversity and waste. Four supplier partners illustrated the ways they have capitalized on sustainability opportunities without increasing the cost of doing business. One manufacturing partner described a new tank sterilization process that saves his company significant water and money —inspiring another company to investigate a similar approach for their operations.

Director of Quality Assurance Penny Tudor related that, “The summit provided a catapult for a lot of companies. There was tremendous positive energy at the end of the day.” A post-summit survey conducted a few weeks after the event found that ten of the 11 respondents want annual summits and seven had spoken with key staff about sustainability in the weeks after the summit. In early 2009, one of our manufacturing partners spent a full day at our office examining our sustainability practices in more detail. The session covered Seventh Generation’s integrated approach to sustainability, life cycle analysis, the recycled content of packaging, sustainable sourcing and stakeholder engagement.

2009/2010 Priorities

• Audit at least 80% of manufacturing partners in 2009
• Hold biennial Sustainability Summits
• Obtain supplier carbon footprints in 2009
• Develop an extranet for partners to facilitate sharing best practices and successes
• Improve clarity and support around sustainability plan development; add MPAR human rights questions for partners’ suppliers; upgrade audit sections on diversity and inclusion
• Obtain 25% improvement in audit scores by 2010
• Longer term goal: audit Tier 2 suppliers and distribution centers

I informed the person who called that I wanted Rockline’s President & CEO, Randy Rudolph, to leave the summit as charged up and excited about sustainability as I was so that upon his return he would make it a priority within our company. This definitely happened. Randy was very engaged in the breakout sessions; you could tell he was taking it all very seriously. Halfway through the summit, Randy leaned over and asked me to join Rockline’s Executive Steering Committee for Sustainability, which he had appointed a few months earlier. He was asking me to join because he valued Seventh Generation’s willingness to guide us and my relationship with them.

One of the biggest areas we can improve on is in our wet wipe waste stream. Rockline manufactures both coffee filters and wet wipes. Recycling wet waste is proving much more of a challenge than recycling dry filter waste, which can be returned directly into nonwovens. Since we prefer that the wet waste doesn’t end up in a landfill, we’re looking for alternate streams. We did a life cycle analysis on the Seventh Generation products per their request and now have decided to take this approach with several of our other products. As part of the life cycle analysis, there was a site assessment of our wipes facility which showed that we were losing a lot of energy with our current compressed air system. We have a more efficient compressor that will be installed within a couple of months to address this.

At the summit, there was a bottle-filler who talked about how they’d established a cross-functional sustainability team and how passionate the team members were, even meeting during their lunch hours. We are discussing “green” teams for each site and I hope they’ll have that same kind of commitment and excitement.

When I first started working with [Seventh Generation Executive Vice-President of Operations, Sourcing and Product R&D] Jeff Phillips five years ago, he told me that he and Seventh Generation were going to change the way I thought. I thought to myself, “Yeah right.” But now I find myself looking at product development much differently than I did five years ago. Sustainability is now my first consideration for everything, from packaging to nonwoven and formula, with renewable materials being number one. Jeff Phillips was right; he definitely changed the way I think, both professionally and personally. I believe he has also done the same for Randy, which was my desired takeaway from the summit.

Seventh Generation’s commitment to sustainability is very much reflected in the spirit in which they are willing to assist their manufacturing partners with their own sustainability efforts. They have and will continue to make Rockline a better company. I feel privileged to work with them.

Gregor Barnum thanks for your thoughts - we are only focusing on our major customers in the coming months and will definitely keep you in mind as we grow this program. Gregor 17 August 2009

stephanie schlecht Susan, Sounds like you are creating change agents through the GIVE program. Is Seventh Generation planning on rolling out a similar program for the independent office supply channel? If you are, you have a partner in Give Something Back Business Products. There are many opportunities for behavior change through education in this channel. We see it with our customers. Folks want to bring their values to work. There is nothing more disturbing than the smell of harsh cleaning chemicals all over one's cubical. Stephanie Schlecht Director of Sustainability http://jm.ly/xNob3F 14 August 2009