Positive Change

From new recycled paper facestock to marble-based “paper” and compostable adhesive, Avery Dennison is offering brand owners and converters an increasingly wide choice of sustainable options for their needs.

CITGO Petroleum Corporation is donating up to $6 Million to Rebuilding Together Houston with an immediate goal of repairing up to 300 homes in Houston.

For Josh Kaplan, giving back to the community is part of who he is. Driven by the Jewish concept of Tikkun Olam, or “repairing the world,” he believes each of us has the power to create change and participate meaningfully in the world around us.

For any business looking to reduce its environmental impact, establishing a sustainability game plan is critical, but complex. Companies that set out on this path will want to look at ways to use fewer and renewable resources in their products; make their facilities more efficient; adopt sustainable procurement practices; and launch internal initiatives like recycling programs.

Keep America Beautiful, the nation’s iconic community improvement nonprofit organization, announced the national Grand Prize Winners of its “How Will You … End Littering?” Video Contest, which was open to high school students from grades 9-12.

When Mount Pinatubo erupted on the Luzon Island of the Philippines in 1991, hundreds of people lost their lives while thousands were displaced. It was the second largest eruption recorded in recent history. Marina Bay Sands’ Operational Evaluation and Analysis Manager, Charlene Ong, who was 10 years old at the time, followed her parents as they set up a donation drive to collect necessities for the victims in Manila and also volunteered at the medical and dental missions to help victims in remote villages in the Philippines. Through this experience, Ong realized she could positively impact the lives of others in her community and make a difference to those in need. With her parents as a source of inspiration, she embarked on her own volunteerism journey and has not looked back since.

Last year, global outdoor lifestyle brand Timberland celebrated the 25th anniversary of its Path of ServiceTM volunteer program, which offers employees up to 40 paid hours each year to serve in their communities. The brand finished the year strong by engaging employees at its Stratham, New Hampshire headquarters to serve 200 families through the annual Holiday Giving Tree. Other year-end service events included sorting and wrapping donated toys at Seacoast Adopt-A-Block, a local non-profit that serves low-income families, and serving meals with Gather, a New Hampshire food pantry.

There is a desire by companies to show customers and employees that they are not just interested in profits, but that they care about the state of the world. And saying so is not enough. So determined are they to show impact — the latest buzzword in philanthropy — that they are marshaling metrics to prove it.

Consider Subaru of America. In the first nine months of 2017, 512 employees have volunteered their time for 105 events for 46 different organizations.

“Lead with purpose and profits will follow.” This mantra from Helen Sahi, RBIS’ senior director of Sustainability, echoed last week during a panel discussion at London Fashion Week.