GROW YOUR BUSINESS AND APPEAL TO ENVIRONMENTALLY CONSCIOUS CUSTOMERS
BY REBECCA OSTERMAN
If you want to be a supplier for large companies, there’s a good chance that you will need to meet sustainability expectations.
Large companies are under increased pressure from a number of sources to commit to sustainable business practices. In addition to regulatory requirements, companies are looking to differentiate themselves in a market where consumers increasingly consider sustainability in their purchasing decisions. In fact, a recent Neilsen study found that 66 percent of global consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable brands.
As companies focus on achieving their sustainability goals and those of their customers, many of them are finding that the environmental impact of their supply chain far outstrips that of their own operations. For these businesses, there is a greater opportunity for positive change through the decisions they make when purchasing goods and services than there is by acting only within their own operations. This means that smart buyers are putting greater demands on suppliers regarding sustainable business practices.
As a label distributor who wants to appeal to big brands, it’s to your benefit to work with a label converter that utilizes the most current green technology. Diversified’s eco-friendly label manufacturing practices can help you meet the sustainability expectations of your corporate customers.
At Diversified, we take our role as an industry leading label converter seriously. So we recognized the importance of finding ways to reduce our impact on the environment. Ultimately, we found a feasible, effective way to decrease our environmental impact, while streamlining our label manufacturing practices… power pellets.
A longstanding label industry problem is the large amount of waste created during the label production process. Typically, landfills receive the waste created by DLS and other label converters, but Diversified now turns the label production waste from our Illinois facility into fuel pellets. To accomplish this, we worked with waste hauler Republic Services; Channeled Resources, who source and qualify label feedstock for energy companies; and Convergen Energy, a waste converter and power company focusing on alternative fuels.
These fuel pellets are compressed label waste that is used as a coal alternative. Used to generate electricity, these fuel pellets reduce the need for fossil fuels, and reduce CO2 emissions by 40%. For DLS, this also translates to keeping over 2 million pounds of label waste per year from reaching landfills.
In order to make this process work, it was necessary for everyone at Diversified to participate in the effort, and significantly change how waste is processed within our plant. Previously, all waste went into a large compactor that was picked up and processed several times a week. Now, only label waste that will be turned into power pellets goes into the compactor. Other recyclable materials such as: clean paper, plastics, metal, packaging film, pallets and corrugated are collected and recycled separately.
Not only is this method of waste disposal attractive to buyers who believe in sustainable business practices… it’s the right thing to do! In fact, in 2019 Diversified was recognized with a special environmental award by TLMI for our innovative waste solution.
DLS is committed to continuing to find innovative ways to adopt sustainable label manufacturing practices that align with our corporate values and our commitment to distributors. In the future, we plan to expand this waste recycling program to our other facilities.
It is our hope that continuing to implement sustainability efforts like these will not only lessen our environmental footprint, but will help you with greater opportunities with your sustainability conscious customers.