Carbon Strategy
Climate change is the seminal issue of our time. It is our primary environmental
challenge; without solving it, other environmental and developmental issues will
pale in comparison. As a business committed to being a positive force for change,
founded by a former climate change scientist, method has a commitment to carbon-neutrality.
Our carbon strategy is simple: reduce first, use alternative energy second, and
offset everything else.
Some of the things we do to reduce our carbon footprint include:
- Locating factories and warehouses strategically – this cuts down on transit distance
and reduces fuel consumption
- Formulating for “cold-blending” – many personal care and cleaning products need
to be heated while they are manufactured. We design ours to be blended without heating.
- Rail – rail uses ¼ of the fuel, and therefore carbon, of trucking. We are aiming
to move 50% of our freight in 2008 by rail
- Office space – all of our offices are located adjacent to public transportation,
reducing the footprint of People Against Dirty getting to work. Our headquarters
in San Francisco is a LEED registered facility.
- Local sourcing – from raw materials to office supplies to the food we bring in,
we prefer to source from around the corner, not around the globe
We are working with the Carbon Trust to identify more areas where we have opportunity
to reduce our gross footprint. We are constantly identifying new areas to reduce,
and making investments to make those ideas reality.
The second part of our strategy is alternative energy. We strive to have as much
renewable energy as possible in our operations and in our supply chain. For example,
our distribution center in Illinois recently installed a solar panel array and now
runs what we think are the world’s first solar powered forklifts. The result is
that method shipments in our largest distribution center are moved by solar power.
The next step is to expand the idea to all of our other distribution centers and
factories.
A second alternative energy program we have is our biodiesel use in shipping. Method
and one of our shipping partners now have trucks running on 20% biodiesel on some
routes in California. We use both secondary biodiesel (used grease collected from
restaurants) as well as primary biodiesel grown from rapeseed and soy oil.
Lastly, for whatever we can’t avoid by reduction or renewable energy use, we offset
with traceable and additional carbon offsets. Some of the offsets we use include:
- Green-e certified Renewable Energy Credits – we buy wind power in equal amounts
to the conventional energy we use and contribute this to the general electrical
grid. The non-profit Center for Resource Solutions ensures that every kilowatt is
accounted for properly so we can be confident we are offsetting exactly what we
want.
- Reforestation projects – we work with American Forests to manage a forest that we
had planted in the Chicago metropolitan area that will reduce CO2 in the atmosphere
by 700,000 lbs as the trees grow.
Top
Sustainability Philosophy
We want Method to be a sustainable business, and we know that our company, like
every other one, has a long way to go. That's why we're ready to be the best at
getting better. Our sustainability philosophy starts with our mission — to inspire
a happy, healthy home revolution. This philosophy centers around coming up with
innovative ways to create change. Eventually, being "just" sustainable is not our
goal. We want to go much farther than that. We want to become restorative and enriching
in everything we do so that the bigger we get, the more good we can create.
Method was founded on the idea that business, as the biggest and most powerful institution
on the planet, has the greatest opportunity to create solutions to some of our biggest
problems. Since the dawn of the industrial age, business has been bad for our health
and our planet's health. Adam Lowry, one of our founders, spent a number of years
working on environmental issues at the Carnegie Institution, and was convinced that
business could be a powerful agent for positive change on the planet. But first,
business would need to be redesigned.
We've created a different kind of company. We make a different kind of product,
in a different way. At the core of our business is the Cradle to Cradle design philosophy.
Cradle to Cradle is pretty simple. It says that it’s okay to use high-tech materials,
products and gadgets that make our lives better, we just need to make them the right
way so they're either always reused, or re-introduced to natural environments in
total safety. Method believes in reincarnation. We want every product to have a
past and a future. Like bottles made from old bottles, and non-toxic cleaners instead
of toxic chemicals.
Because designing products with a past and a future isn’t always easy, we've built
our company philosophy around innovation. Lots of companies strive for innovation,
it's true. But without innovation, there can be no sustainability. There are lots
of reasons and excuses for not doing the right thing: “that's never been done before"
and “the technology doesn’t exist” are common excuses. So we need to break through
those barriers to find solutions. So whether it’s the first compostable PLA wipe,
the first 3X laundry detergent or the first recyclable flat-pack film, innovative
solutions we make at our company can start to create the bigger change we want to
make in the world. And lead us farther down the road to sustainability.
We have some key strategies to making our business sustainable. First, we know that
by making a truly great product, integrating green issues with superior performance
in each product, we make a direct attack on that dated paradigm where using green
products meant sacrificing performance.
Second, we believe that how you do things is just as important as what you're doing.
We pay as much attention to how we run our business as to how we make our products.
We minimize our water use, offset the carbon used in our office and employee travel
and we keep a green office.
Third, we believe sustainability should be a part of our relationships. We work
with our suppliers and factories to make sure that every element of our business
has the same focus on sustainability that we have in our own practices.
Here are some key focuses for our environmental strategy:
- Waste — our goal is to eliminate it altogether. Have factories that recycle 100%
of their cardboard and 100% of their shrink wrap, so that nothing goes to the landfill.
We're constantly looking for ways to design away from waste.
- Toxics — we're agains them. Our products are based around the Precautionary Principle,
which essentially says, “if there’s a chance it’s bad, don’t use it." We prefer
that approach over waiting for the burden of proof to show us it’s bad. Think about
it. DDT didn't just become toxic the day it was banned.
- Energy — we are carbon neutral in all of our manufacturing, office operations and
employee commuting for travel. We achieve this through a combination of energy efficiency,
alternative fuel use, renewable energy usage and carbon offsetting. We're working
to understand the remaining emissions of our business and will address those as
we learn more.
- Water — we seek to eliminate any unnecessary water use. We have some factories that
are waste-water free, and we're trying to adapt their practices to all of our facilities.
Finally, and maybe most importantly, just like everything we do, we're going after
sustainability with style. Our style, our design, our scents — they make products
that are truly enjoyable to use. When sustainability looks good, lots of others
will catch on quick.
Top
