When most companies and individuals speak about sustainability, they typically focus solely on environmental sustainability. The economic and social aspects of sustainability complete the triad, but some experts also like to include education as a fourth lever.
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The latest industry information from Green Frontier president and CEO Tom Fitz.
Tom Fitz
Tom utilizes over eighteen years of manufacturing experience to help companies create value and competitive advantage by: conceiving & instituting environmental sustainability programs, re-engineering operations and optimizing processes to reduce operating costs, developing long and short term capital expenditure strategies, and designing world class equipment modules. These skills have been applied in the personal care, cosmetics, food & beverage, household goods and pharmaceutical sectors at companies including Unilever, Clairol, Burt's Bees, Wyeth, Bristol Myers Squibb, and numerous third party contractors.
Prior to founding Green Frontier, Tom worked at Burt's Bees for five years, the last three as Vice President of Sustainable Engineering. In this position, he led the company's environmental sustainability program that reduced non-product water usage by 35%, decreased the amount of solid waste diverted to landfill by 75% and flat-lined electricity usage despite sales growth of 55% and tripling the amount of space being occupied by the company in the three year span. Additionally, he was responsible for developing the company's three year capital expenditure strategy and executing the annual spending plan. Before working at Burt's, Tom worked as a process engineer at various personal care and engineering companies. He holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Clemson University.
Prior to founding Green Frontier, Tom worked at Burt's Bees for five years, the last three as Vice President of Sustainable Engineering. In this position, he led the company's environmental sustainability program that reduced non-product water usage by 35%, decreased the amount of solid waste diverted to landfill by 75% and flat-lined electricity usage despite sales growth of 55% and tripling the amount of space being occupied by the company in the three year span. Additionally, he was responsible for developing the company's three year capital expenditure strategy and executing the annual spending plan. Before working at Burt's, Tom worked as a process engineer at various personal care and engineering companies. He holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Clemson University.
During these times of depleting natural resources and financial uncertainty, companies continue to overlook their excessive use of packaging.
A small start-up company in Michigan, named GreenSand, has potentially identified a way to recycle almost a half billion pounds of mining tailings on Lake Superior that have been an ecological nightmare for the waterways, shorelines and surrounding areas. Although several challenges remain, the finished material remaining after a four step process could be utilized by shingle manufacturers to eliminate algae growth on traditional shingles and cut material costs associated with fabrication while resolving an existing environmental problem.
Webster defines a leader as “someone that shows the way” and “an important, influential person”. Can anyone dispute that Ray Anderson was a “leader” in the field of sustainability?
Is it just me, or when you think of Starbucks don’t you envision a company committed to social responsibility. I don’t know if it’s because their headquarters is located in the “green” city of Seattle, the rustic ambience of their coffeehouses, or their extensive global responsibility initiatives, but I’ve always considered them a pioneer in the area of environmental stewardship.
Kudos to Vax, one of the U.K.’s leading vacuum brands, for designing a vacuum cleaner made of flame-retardant cardboard. Now I don’t know how the performance of this vacuum will be versus a traditional unit, but it’s exciting to see a company taking the initiative to creatively design a product that theoretically should not have the same degree of environmental impacts throughout its lifecycle as a standard model.
I was shocked the other day when I read greenhouse gas emissions reached their highest point ever last year as 30.6 gigatons of carbon dioxide were emitted, up five percent from 2008's record level of 29.3 Gt. How could this be with all the progress being made and reported by U.S. and international corporations daily to reduce their carbon footprints?
Tags: GHG, greenhouse gas, emissions, carbon footprint, china, india, sustainability, scope 3, germany, united states
The GreenFrontier Approach
Posted by Tom Fitz
on Monday, 27 June 2011
in GFNC Services
Tom Fitz
Tom utilizes over eighteen years of manufacturing experience to help companies c
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Green Frontier will work closely with your company to build a sustainability platform that is specifically tailored to your business strategy, long-term goals and sustainability aspirations. Here's a little bit about our approach.
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