This month I’ve looked at an inspiring local business developed over 14 years that is profitable, employs a number of local people – and operates on eco friendly principles.  Jill Main New Zealand designs and makes beautiful quality products for our homes and our bodies.  I wanted to discover how being an eco-friendly producer affected her business so I asked Jill ….

Bridget:  You are proud to be an eco friendly producer.  Can you tell me what you mean by that?

Jill: We’re proud to produce product that creates a sense of wealth/value for the end receiver.  It’s likely to be used until it’s totally thread bare (I’ve often seen our bags in this state still being used by their loving owners!) or passed to a loved one before at worse it ends on Trademe! I’m particularly aware and sickened by the general publics lack of value of “things” these days with the advent of cheap imports and ever lowering standards of quality creating a disposable mentality.

Bridget: What do you do on a practical level that supports this your personal and business commitment to an ecofriendly footprint?

Jill:  Practically, we buy as many raw materials as possible from local suppliers (this isn’t easy as more and more manufacturers are going offshore). We rarely if ever discard any raw materials or seconds etc. There is always some use found. Even our smallest fabric swatches are donated to schools.

Every bit of paper is recycled within the business – using both sides of paper where printing is needed. Between a staff of seven we’re lucky to put out ½ to 1 rubbish sack per week and less than 1 blue bin of recyclables every 2 weeks. We’re very aware of our power useage and if offices aren’t in use, doors are closed to retain heat in smaller areas and lights are turned off in those spaces.

We use recycled boxes for our dispatch of product – for many years I used to scoot around filling my car from the bins behind the 4 Square, chemists and when the shops were putting out their old boxes – I haven’t done that for a while but now remembering that I’m thinking perhaps I should do it again – nothing like finding a good solid clean box for free!!!  For a number of years now we have reduced the packaging of our products and when we have used packaging it’s been either from recycled card/paper or we have made the packaging (never from plastic!) desirable enough and useable enough for the customer to hopefully hang on to and continue using – I personally have a huge passion for plants and trees and plant as many of these as I can afford to do (most of Jill Main NZ profits goes into this!!!)

Bridget: What do you want your customers to understand by eco-friendly?

Jill: I want our customers to understand that we do care and consider our methods and means of production. That we’re not producing for the sake of just making money. That we are considerate of our environment, our environmental practices and the future of this planet.

Bridget: Why is being an eco producer important?  And why is caring for our planet important?

Jill: It’s important to me to know that I’m doing my bit within my personal and business life to reduce the impact on our planet. I see cleared land with erosion where there was once native forest and this depresses me, that people continue to leave these areas with no regard for what that is doing to our environment, money being at the forefront of their mind. If I can someway do my bit to compensate for this kind of thing, I will. Our planet is a beautiful place and there are so many species that have already been made extinct or are on the danger of extinction lists and these seem to keep growing. Of course the ultimate is that like the Easter Islanders – Man could be the next threatened species!

An example for this is that particular customers are equally if not more aware and educated on sustainability and are not interested in product that doesn’t meet certain criteria for them eg what materials are used in the product, where it is sourced from, reduced packaging or what packaging materials are used.

Bridget: How has it helped your business?

Jill: A great “feel good” factor about our product and our customers sense of having chosen a product from a caring company.

Bridget: What about marketing messages?

Jill: Without a doubt. Our brand image is of a professional slick business – but we have a “make do” mentality with all our furnishings being bought second hand through auction houses years ago. And my personal philosophy’s have definitely rubbed off on the staff and they are very aware of wasteage, power useage etc It’s also made us inventive, creating product from “ends of lines” materials usually generating greater profits than if we were to buy new materials outright.

Bridget: Which costs have you been able to reduce?

Jill: When I am faced with a choice of a material that doesn’t meet desired sustainability practices but I love it just the same and can see potential sales from it – this creates a lot of procrastination!!! Otherwise I can do nothing but say
it’s a “win, win” – good for the business profile – good for the soul.

B.  Are there any downsides to this business philosophy?

Jill: We definitely have stores that do not buy product that has excessive packaging and question the source and composition of materials before they buy from us.

Every business can profit from taking a look at their operations and working out how they can be more resilient and profitable and good for the planet at the same time.

If you’d like to work out what would be the most beneficial place to start from your profit perspective and your customer’s perspective give me a call 09 4129485 or email bridget@creatingwhatmatters.co.nz.

To listen to an audio explaining the benefits of opting for a sustainable business strategy click here http://www.profitableteams.com/about-profitable-teams/bridget-marsh/

Becoming more sustainable is taking hold as a key strategic initiative. The New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development research indicates that around 35% of businesses changed suppliers because they did not meet or were not interested in meeting their environmental or ethical standards.

Below is the article published in the New Zealand Herald on February 18th which makes very interesting reading. Is your company ready to answer the question what are your social, environmental or ethical standards when it is put to you?

Here is the article – if you’ve been thinking about this question, read on.

From NZ Herald February 18 2010-03-11
Almost a third of businesses have sacked a supplier in the past year because they did not meet their environmental or ethical standards, research suggests.
A survey to be released tomorrow by the Business Council for Sustainable Development has found more than 27 per cent of business owners, managers and self-employed people had ditched a supplier for social, ethical or environmental reasons. For business owners the figure was higher at 35 per cent.
The national poll sought the views of 1955 business owners, managers and self-employed people, 336 of them business owners.
Business council head Peter Neilson said the results showed companies would be “silly” to ignore the wishes of nearly a third of the market, who wanted suppliers to help meet their customers’ “deeply held” concerns.
He said sustainable buying policies were starting to drive more of the $25 billion the Government spent each year buying goods and services – and interest in sustainability had risen, not fallen, with the recession.
Two managers of companies with sustainable buying policies – Robb Donze, the New Zealand managing director for carpet company Interface, and Malcolm Rands of green cleaning product company Eco-store – said it was getting easier to find sustainable suppliers as more companies adopted green policies.

Mr Donze said Interface changed its freight company – a major decision for the carpet distributor – in favour of Mainfreight-owned Owens Transport “mainly because they were willing to talk to us about keeping track of our carbon footprint and nobody else was, so we dropped our other supplier”.
The company’s seven cars are Toyota Prius hybrids and Mr Donze said it also did the “easy stuff” such as buying recycled paper and using mainly natural light in its offices.
He said suppliers were asked three main questions: what goes into a product, how long does it last and what do you do with it when you have finished?
“You start asking … ‘are you going to take it back [when I've finished with it]?’ If they don’t have an answer we will probably look at buying it from somebody who will have an answer, because we are being asked the same thing by our customers.”

Mr Rands said insisting on sustainable supplies was an area of life where ordinary people had true power.
But he warned it was important to do your research. “If you don’t know what you’re looking for it is quite easy for people to bullshit you.”
For example, he said: “Nuclear waste is actually ‘biodegradable’ if you can wait half a million years.
“You have to say how long does it take to biodegrade and what sea animals does it kill on the way?”
Mr Rands said when he started his company 17 years ago he was the only one asking for items such as recycled paper and plant-based inks.
It was a lot easier now because more companies were seeing sustainability as a competitive advantage, he said.
A positive spin-off was growing demand from companies for his cleaning products, he said.

Mr Donze agreed sourcing was getting easier. “For the first 10 years I would even have staff members coming up to me and saying, ‘Why are we doing this? Nobody cares.’
“But in the last five years it has changed quite a bit.
“I think it is because there are companies who are doing it and showing they have grown in spite of [sustainable buying].”
He said choosing sustainable options had financially worked out extremely well for the company.

EYE ON STANDARDS
Has the organisation you work for or with ditched suppliers in the past year because of their social, environmental or ethical behaviour?
BUSINESS DECISION-MAKERS
Yes 27 per cent
No 38 per cent
Don’t know 34 per cent
BUSINESS OWNERS
Yes 35 per cent
No 55 per cent