By Sabine Lenz

“At [insert corporate name here], we see sustainability as one of the most important opportunities for both the future of our business and the future of our world.”

This quote is actually from Walmart, but could just as well be from any number of companies today. The retail giant is pushing its sustainability initiatives and creating some sizable pressure on its suppliers here and abroad to get with the program.

The company created a short video called “The Secret Life of Sour Cream” that explains what Walmart and the businesses producing the sour cream are doing to make it a more sustainable product.

While my vegan friends would have other valid points about the cows in this clip, I want to focus on some of the important underlying lessons it holds for those of us going green and marketing green. Why? Because sustainability has become a key issue for organizations of all sizes.

The Company You Keep
“Focusing on sustainability is a requirement for responsible businesses today,” says Geoff Verney, VP at Monadnock Paper Mills. “It is important to reduce the environmental impacts of manufacturing through continuous process improvements. Most companies want to do business with companies that demonstrate  a commitment to sustainability. Some companies will only do business with suppliers committed to sustainability.”

This becomes even more evident as businesses seek to work with like-minded operations. The suppliers in the Walmart video have taken the steps to become knowledgeable about the environmental impact their businesses have, are actively involved in creating more sustainable practices and are saving money in the process. A win-win for stakeholders up and down the supply chain.

So if you’re not concerned about the company you keep, you’ll be doing more than playing catch up. And if you don’t inform your clients that you’re actively part of these deeper solutions, how will they know?

Understanding “Green”
EcoAlign, a strategic marketing firm specializing in green issues, has released a report that shows that, while consumers care about green issues, they don’t understand much of the basic terminology or make clear distinctions between terms.

Compared to two years ago, consumers today have a greater understanding of the importance of conservation and clean energy, but have not moved this awareness into action.

The Walmart video is one example of the type of communication needed to turn that around. It explains to potential customers what the issues are and how the company is tackling them. In the end, there’s a more educated consumer who feels they’ve made a better choice among competing products.

If you can’t do a video, then think about publishing a sustainability report or posting a list on your Web site of the environmental initiatives your company is undertaking. Make sure your sales force is educated and able to speak to clients’ sustainability needs and goals. Don’t forget to explain how your actions make a customer’s world better and his or her bottom line healthier. This kind of communication makes it easier for our customers to move from awareness to action.

Tooting (no pun intended) Our Own Horn
For those who may not have watched the Walmart video, let me mention here one of its highlights. The milk for said sour cream comes from cows at Twin Birch Dairy Farm, which uses a methane digester that converts the methane gas from cow manure into electricity. No small matter for sustainability considering methane gas has a greater impact on global warming than all tail pipe emissions on the planet, is a renewable resource and saved Twin Birch $12,000 per month.

But you have only to look at the paper industry to find examples of innovation and leadership in the sustainability movement that are second to none.

The Neenah Paper mill in Wisconsin has developed an award-winning method of producing green steam by converting some 5,000 tons of sludge (sludge is the residual semi-solid material left from industrial, water treatment or wastewater treatment processes) into steam, electricity and glass aggregate every year. This reduces its natural gas consumption by 80 percent annually.

Wausau’s Brainerd mill calls a hydroelectric dam its own. NewPage and Domtar employ biomass fuels, which in both cases cover more than 50 percent of these companies’ total energy use. Mohawk Paper offsets 100 percent of its energy use through the purchase of windpower credits.

There are design guides and environmental calculators on nearly every mill Web site showing savings in terms of trees spared, greenhouse gases prevented, energy not used or miles not driven. Labels from eco-certification schemes like FSC and SFI are explained and available for clients to place on their own products. The availability of higher postconsumer recycled content papers is increasing.

The bottom line is that neither sour cream nor sustainability should have a secret life. We need to be practical about what our environmental initiatives are, what they mean to customers and clearly tie them to the economic benefits. So toot your horn about manure digesters or specing eco-friendly paper and packaging or using FSC-certified printers or …

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Seeing designers struggle worldwide to stay current with new papers and paper trends inspired Sabine Lenz to create PaperSpecs, an independent and comprehensive Web-based paper database and weekly e-newsletter. Growing up in Germany, she started her design career in Frankfurt, before moving on to Australia and the United States. Lenz worked on design projects ranging from corporate identities to major road shows and product launches. From start-ups to Fortune 500 companies, her list of clients included Oracle, Sun Microsystems, Deutsche Bank, IBM and KPMG. Lenz is a noted speaker and author on paper issues and educational topics related to the paper industry.

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