GABE GOTAY
Good afternoon, welcome to Promo Perspectives, a live podcast presented by SAGE, dedicated to giving promotional products suppliers and distributors tips, tricks, and insights to help them grow their businesses. Today, we’re going to be talking about sustainability and responsibility in the promo industry. We’ll dive into what that means, what steps others are taking to achieve sustainability, how you can learn from them and take similar steps, and why doing so is beneficial not only for the planet, but for the success of your business and the industry overall in the long term.
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I’m going to be doing something a little new in today’s episode, I’m going to be sharing some clips from a recent interview that I did with Kara Keister of Social Good Promotions, they are a distributor dedicated to, quote, “using their promo superpowers for good by connecting commerce with purpose to make the world a better place.” We’ll be releasing the full interview with Kara in a few weeks as a bonus episode, so keep an eye out for that. But a few times today, I’m going to be calling on our wonderful producers, Lafonso and Taylor, to play some clips here on the live stream. I’m also going to be drawing heavily today from resources made available to the promo public by PPAI. As the leading global organization in promo, they have put a lot of work into outlining the topics related to sustainability and responsibility, and I’m going to break those down and share some of my key takeaways with you.
To kick us off, I’ve got a question for the audience. Go ahead, share your answers in the chat. What does sustainability mean to you? Sustainability has many definitions. Oxford defines it simply as the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level, or as avoidance of the depletion of natural resources to maintain ecological balance. Wikipedia provides a less clinical definition. They say sustainability is a social goal for people to coexist on Earth over a long period of time. Both of those definitions refer to ecology, and the term eco-friendly is frequently used in these discussions. However, in the context of the promo industry, eco-friendliness is only one part of this multifaceted discussion.
In August of last year, PPAI officially defined sustainability in promo as, “Sustainability in the promotional products industry means making, sourcing, and distributing promotional items in a way that reduces negative environmental and social impacts while supporting long-term economic success.” Elizabeth Wimbush, director of sustainability and responsibility at PPAI, makes the important caveat that, quote, “Sustainability doesn’t have an end goal, only ongoing improvement,” and she says that the definition will be updated as the industry evolves. Perhaps the most essential quality of their definition is that it considers more than just the environmental impact. It also ties in with the importance of making positive social impacts and supporting the industry’s long-term economic success.
PPAI did not come to this definition arbitrarily. Miss Wimbush joined PPAI in 2023 and made defining sustainability her immediate priority. She worked with the Sustainability Action Group, a PPAI volunteer committee that includes over a dozen different suppliers, distributors, and business service providers in the industry, to come up with a definition that they felt was, quote, “well-rounded, fair, and approachable.” The goal was not to set the highest possible bar for morality, but instead to provide an actionable guideline for businesses in this industry to make the most positive impact possible, using an approach focused on using resources fairly and wisely.
They further break it down into five key areas. One, environmental responsibility. This covers the topics that most likely come to mind first when discussing sustainability, such as materials used in the products, the waste created by their production, and the carbon footprint of the companies in the industry. Second is social equity. While it might seem diminutive to call human beings resources, people are in fact the greatest resource in any business. Social equity is about ensuring that everyone involved in the supply chain is treated fairly and equally. Third, product life cycle considerations. Beyond how products are manufactured, it’s essential to consider their entire lifespan, including shipping, use, and disposal. Therefore, part of sustainability is making products that last and can be repaired or recycled efficiently. Fourth, transparency and accountability. Without these, anyone could claim to be pursuing sustainability. Setting and communicating your mission, goals, and benchmarks, and having an auditing process that ensures they are being met is critical. And fifth, is governance. It is critical to put strong leadership and governance practices in place to ensure sustainable decision-making. The culture and policies must start at the top, and they must be enforced in the long term.
Today, I’m going to be diving into all these considerations, drawing from examples in the industry, including my interview with Kara Keister, and hopefully providing this audience with a clear promo perspective on sustainability. Of course, in 30 minutes, I won’t be able to comprehensively cover sustainability and responsibility. I highly encourage you to do your own research and find your own examples to emulate, so that you in turn will become the shining example of responsibility in promotional products.
So, let’s kick it off with environmental responsibility, that first consideration, by reviewing some of the resources that PPAI provides. According to their website, environmental responsibility is a core component of PPAI’s strategic goals for the whole industry, and as such, they provided documents outlining best practices guides covering standards organizations and governing bodies. One of these resources helps businesses create their own environmental responsibility policy. We’ll start there. It’s a comprehensive guide, and we’re not going to cover every detail. I’m just going to highlight the key takeaways and how you can use them to build this as a strong foundation for your own efforts. You can find the full guide on the PPAI website. It emphasizes that every business, regardless of size, can take steps towards environmental responsibility. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach. It’s about finding what works for your organization and making gradual, consistent improvements.
One of the most important aspects is defining the scope of your policy. This means identifying all the areas of your business that it will cover, from manufacturing and distribution to even sustainable development. Think about your entire supply chain. Who are all the parties involved in getting your products to your customers? Your policy ideally should extend to them as well. The guide also outlines essential elements of developing a strong policy. These include having clear and concise goals and strategies. You know what specific areas of your business are you targeting? How does the policy connect with the other programs you have in place? And crucially, how will you ensure you’re complying with regulations and ethical standards? Next is a strong statement of beliefs. This is where you communicate your commitment to environmental stewardship to all of your stakeholders, and it is not just about the words, it’s about demonstrating your values. The guide suggests focusing on principles like conservation, you know, reduce, reuse, recycle, preventing environmental threats, and continuous improvement. Next is defined responsibilities. Someone’s got to be in charge. So, the guide recommends assigning a compliance officer who will oversee the implementation of your environmental program. This person will be the point of contact for all environmental issues and will ensure that your goals are being met. Next is having a robust code of conduct in the document, so that this is going to be a tangible document that outlines your commitments to product safety, social responsibility, and environmental sustainability. It’s something you can share with your distributors, if you’re a supplier, or with end buyers, if you’re a distributor, anyone who wants to know what you stand for. Beyond all of those elements, the PPAI guide also stresses the importance of training your staff on your environmental policy. Everyone in your organization needs to understand their role in achieving your sustainability goal. And of course, monitoring your progress is essential. You need to track your efforts, measure your impact, and make adjustments as needed. Finally, the guide offers valuable advice on vendor selection. It recommends implementing a due diligence process to ensure that your suppliers align with your environmental values. This includes asking them to complete self-assessment questionnaires and sign agreements that include clauses on compliance with your code of conduct.
In my interview with Kara Keister, I talked to her a little bit about this. Social Good Promotions values itself on working from a list of what they call defendable suppliers. I asked her a bit about what types of things they’re looking for in a supplier, and this is what she had to say.
KARA KEISTER
“We have like a three-prong kind of approach to it. First and foremost for us is giveback. So we’re looking for product lines that have a giveback associated with them. So if the supplier has committed to earmarking a dollar amount to go back to XYZ, we’re always looking for that. We are absolutely looking for eco-product and sustainable manufacturing practices. We have to usually dig and ask those questions though. Some of our suppliers are getting really, really good about coming forward with that information, you know, as part of their marketing strategy, which I thank you all for doing that. And third, and the one that I really love, is we do some digging on corporate social responsibility and what our suppliers are doing to make the world a better place. We have uncovered things as, you know, grand as sponsoring a village in Guatemala or building a Habitat for Humanity house in on a weekend as a group, right to, hey, we had some overruns that we sent to the, we sent to California to rebuild schools with, right, like to fill backpacks so that kids can go back to school as soon as schools are available. We’re asking those questions because we want to know what you’re doing to fulfill that goal within their own walls.”
GABE GOTAY
So you’ve developed a solid environmental responsibility policy inspired by PPAI. That’s fantastic. How do you know if it’s actually working? That’s where sustainability key performance indicators or KPIs come in. PPAI also offers a helpful guide on this, and I’m going to break it down so you understand why they’re so important and how you can use them effectively. They emphasize that tracking your performance is crucial for continuous improvement. The guide helps you identify areas where you’re succeeding, and more importantly, where you need to focus your attention. Now, what kind of KPI should you be tracking? Well, it depends on your specific business goals and your sustainability goals, but here are some common examples inspired by that guide.
One, waste reduction. How much waste are you generating? How much of that is being recycled or composted? Tracking those metrics can help you identify opportunities to minimize waste and improve resource efficiency. So, for example, as a KPI, you could track the percentage of recycled materials used in your products or the amount of packaging waste that you generate. Second might be energy consumption. How much energy are you using? Are you taking steps to reduce your energy footprint? You could track your electricity usage, your fuel consumption, or even your greenhouse gas emissions. Water usage, this is similar to energy, it’s a precious resource. Tracking your water usage can help you identify areas where you can conserve water and reduce your environmental impact, and you can get this kind of information just from your bills. Sustainable sourcing. How many of your products are made from sustainable materials? Are your suppliers adhering to ethical labor practices? Tracking these metrics can help you ensure that your supply chain is aligned with your sustainability goals. In that supply chain, there’s transportation. So, how are your products being shipped? Are you using methods that minimize your carbon footprint? When it comes to KPIs, you could track the distance that your products travel, the type of transportation used, and the associated emissions. So, these are kinds of KPIs to track. But the guide also emphasizes the importance of setting targets for those KPIs. Don’t just track the data, set realistic but ambitious goals for improvement. For example, you might want to set a target to reduce your waste by 10% over the next year or increase the percentage of sustainable materials that you use by 5%.
In my conversation with Kara, I asked her if she had any specific and measurable goals for Social Good Promotions. Here’s what she had to say:
KARA KEISTER
“This year, we are at 87% defendable supply chain. So, the suppliers that we have deemed as defendable under our three categories, we were able to point 87% of our spend back to those suppliers. I know that that already sounds big, but I really want it to be 90. So, I really want to live at 90%. It’s not, I can’t say that we’re ever going to be 100%. There are instances where we have to use a different product or it doesn’t fulfill the marketing goals, and lo and behold, we still are a distributor working for our clients. So, we are, you know, we do sell things that don’t fall right under our categories. But I want to live at 90%. That last 3% is going to be a really heavy lift for my team, and, you know, revisiting our mission, vision, values on a regular basis, I think will help us get there.”
GABE GOTAY
Next, let’s talk about something that might not be top of mind for everyone in the promotional products industry, but is crucial for both environmental responsibility and regulatory compliance: volatile organic compounds or VOCs. So, what exactly are those? Simply put, they’re chemicals that evaporate at room temperature and contribute to air pollution. Think of things like some solvents, paints, and inks. The EPA regulates VOCs at the federal level, and many states have their own regulations as well. Why should you care about the VOCs? Well, for starters, they can have negative impacts on human health, contributing to respiratory issues, headaches, and other problems. They also contribute to smog and environmental issues. But beyond just those ethical considerations, there are legal and financial implications. Failing to comply with VOC regulations can lead to fines and other penalties. PPAI also offers a guide on this, providing a great overview of the complex world of VOC regulations. One of the key takeaways is that definitions and regulations can vary significantly depending on the specific product and its intended use. What’s considered a VOC in one context might not be in another. So, this is why it’s so important to understand the specific regulations that apply to your products.
Covered a lot of ground on sustainability, but PPAI has even more resources to help businesses in the promotional products industry when it comes to eco-friendliness. And before we move on, I want to touch on a few more of those guides. They have a venue sustainability questions guide. So, if you’re planning an event, that guide helps provide you a set of questions to ask potential venues to assess their commitment to sustainability. Goes beyond just the surface level, helps you dig into their actual practices from energy efficiency and waste management to community engagement. It’s a great tool to making sure that your events align with your sustainability values. Next, they have a waste diversion guide, which is a guide tackling the critical issue of reducing waste and keeping it out of landfills. It explores various solutions from recycling and composting to take-back programs and internal waste reduction strategies. It also highlights the importance of moving towards a circular economy where resources are reused and repurposed. This guide is a valuable resource for any business looking to minimize their environmental footprint. They also offer a textile waste decision tree. It’s a flowchart with textiles being a significant source of waste. The flowchart provides a step-by-step process for making informed decisions about textile disposal. It helps businesses determine the best options for reusing, recycling, or responsibly disposing of textile products. And finally, they have their green claims guide, which is all about truth in advertising when it comes to environmental claims. It’s based on the FTC green guides and provides guidance on how to make accurate and substantiated claims about the environmental benefits of your products. It covers topics like eco-friendly labeling, certifications, degradability, compostability, and more. That guide is essential for avoiding greenwashing and building real trust with your customers. These guides, along with all the other ones we discussed earlier, are available on the PPAI website. They offer a wealth of information and practical advice for businesses of all sizes. I highly encourage you to explore those resources and incorporate them into your sustainability strategy. Remember, every step, no matter how small, makes a difference.
Now, let’s shift our focus to another critical aspect of sustainability: social equity. As we discussed earlier, PPAI’s definition of sustainability includes not only environmental responsibility but also positive social impacts. A truly sustainable business is one that promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion. PPAI has developed some valuable resources to help businesses in the promotional products on this journey. They emphasize that diversity encompasses more than just demographics like race, gender, and age. It also includes experiential diversity, the different skills, expertise, and backgrounds people bring, and cognitive diversity, the varied ways that people approach problem-solving. One of the first steps is to assess your current employee mix. This isn’t about judging anybody or making anyone feel uncomfortable. It’s about taking a realistic look at your organization’s diversity across all three categories: demographic, experiential, and cognitive. PPAI suggests working with your HR department or management team to gather this information. You might even want to do this on a team-by-team basis as different teams have different needs and strengths when it comes to diversity. Ask yourself some key questions: What groups are represented in my company? What groups are not represented? Do we have a majority group? Do we have minority groups? This assessment will give you a baseline to work from and help you identify areas for growth. They also stress the importance of looking at your current strategies for attracting, recruiting, training, and sustaining employees.
PPAI breaks this into what they call ARTS strategies. So, let’s break that acronym down. A, attracting the community. How is your company perceived by potential employees in the wider community? Are you seen as a welcoming and inclusive workspace? R, recruiting new employees. Are your recruitment efforts reaching diverse pools of talent? Are you using inclusive language in your job postings? T, training current employees. Are your employees receiving equitable access to training and development opportunities? Are you providing training on DEI topics to raise awareness and promote understanding? And S, sustaining current employees. Are you creating a culture where all employees feel valued, respected, and heard? Are you offering mentorship programs and other support systems to help employees thrive? PPAI resources offer guidance on how to evaluate your current ARTS strategies and identify areas for improvement. They provide a framework for setting DEI goals, implementing changes, and tracking your progress. It is a continuous cycle of examining your current state, choosing an ARTS strategy to focus on, developing that strategy, implementing it, and then moving on to the next one. Building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workspace isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s also good for business. Research shows that diverse teams are more innovative, more creative, and better at problem-solving. By embracing diversity, you can create a stronger, more successful, and more sustainable organization.
All right, moving on, another key area of sustainability: the product life cycle. Just like understanding all the steps to a product’s creation from raw materials to the finished product, distributors benefit from understanding the life cycle of the products they offer. This includes everything from the environmental impact of the materials used and the manufacturing process to the product’s transportation, use, and eventual disposal or recycling. A powerful tool for understanding this environmental impact is called the life cycle assessment or an LCA. It’s a comprehensive look at a product’s journey from raw material extraction to its eventual end of life. It’s sometimes referred to as the cradle-to-grave assessment. While distributors may not always conduct full, formal LCAs themselves, it might be more the supplier thing, understanding that process and using LCA data is crucial. Even if you don’t perform one, knowing the basic steps is vital. So, a typical LCA includes, firstly, goal and scope definition. What are you trying to achieve? What product are you assessing? What are the boundaries of the study? So, for example, is it just the manufacturing of the product or is it the transportation in use? The next is going to be inventory analysis, so collecting data on all the inputs such as energy, materials, and outputs such as emissions and waste at each stage of the product’s life. This is the most data-intensive part, takes the most work to gather. Next is an impact assessment. It evaluates the environmental impacts of those inputs and outputs such as greenhouse gas emissions, water pollution, and resource depletion. And finally, is interpretation, analyzing the results to identify the stages in the product life cycle with the biggest impacts and opportunities for improvement. LCAs are usually completed by suppliers, but distributors can work to ensure the suppliers and products that they’re choosing are considering prioritizing products with longer lifespans, repairability, and recyclability. Ask your suppliers about the materials used, their sourcing, the product’s end-of-life options. Collaborate with suppliers who are committed to sustainability and have transparent LCA data. Encourage them to adopt more sustainable practices. As a distributor, you have buying power that can influence supplier behavior. Educate your customers about the life cycle impacts of different products. Offer them sustainable alternatives and help them make informed purchasing decisions. Become a trusted advisor on sustainability to all of your stakeholders.
All right, let’s pivot to the fourth part of the PPAI framework for sustainability, and this is transparency and accountability. Transparency and accountability are cornerstones of any credible initiative. Without them, claims of eco-friendliness or sustainability are just going to ring hollow. It’s not enough to say that you’re sustainable, you have to show it. This is especially true in today’s market where consumers are increasingly savvy and skeptical of greenwashing. They demand proof, not just promises. So, for distributors, transparency and accountability manifest mainly by knowing your supply chain and openly communicating your own practices. So, let’s explore this a little bit. Transparency, it begins with understanding where your products come from. This kind of goes back to what we were saying earlier about understanding the LCAs. It means going beyond just simply knowing the name of your supplier and actually diving into that manufacturing process, their labor practices, their environmental impacts. Do they have certifications that you can share with your end users, like are they Fair Trade or B Corp? Are they transparent about their factory locations and working conditions? Don’t just rely on their supplier self-declarations, ask for documentation, certifications, and audit reports. Consider visiting factories whenever feasible to see firsthand how these products are made. Transparency isn’t just about what you do, but it’s about how you communicate it. Be open, be honest about your sustainability efforts, both internally and externally. You can also publish a sustainability report, share your progress, challenges, and goals in a publicly accessible report. This demonstrates your commitment to transparency and accountability. Engage with your stakeholders, communicate regularly with your employees, your customers, and your suppliers about these sustainability initiatives. Solicit feedback and then incorporate that into your next strategy. And be honest about challenges. No one is perfect. Be transparent about the challenges you face in achieving sustainability goals. It builds trust and shows that you’re committed to continuing improvement. For example, a distributor could publish a supplier code of conduct on their website outlining their expectations for suppliers in terms of environmental and social responsibility. They could also include information on what percentage of products they source from these certified sustainable suppliers. This level of transparency builds trust with customers and differentiates the distributor from competitors. By embracing transparency and accountability, distributors can build trust with their customers, strengthen brand reputation, and contribute to a more sustainable future for the promotional products industry overall. It’s not just good ethics, it’s good business.
Okay, we covered a lot of ground today. We defined sustainability in the promotional products industry. We explored environmental responsibility, social equity, product life cycles, and the crucial roles of transparency and accountability. It’s clear that building a sustainable business is a multifaceted journey. So, I might sound like a broken record, but I want to recap some of these key takeaways in this time that I have with you today. Sustainability is about more than just being eco-friendly. It encompasses environmental responsibility, social responsibility, product life cycle, transparency, and governance. It’s about making, sourcing, and distributing promotional items in ways that reduce negative environmental impacts and social impacts while supporting long-term economic success. PPAI resources, including their guides on environmental responsibility, KPIs, VOCs, venue sustainability, all of these things, offer invaluable support to businesses like yours looking to improve their practices. So, don’t forget to go and check those out on PPAI.org. Don’t forget to take a close look at all aspects of this. I think that’s all I’ve got to share with you guys today. I want to thank Kara Keister for giving me such a great interview. I want to remind you that we’re going to have some bonus episodes coming out where we’re going to have her full interview, and you’ll get a little more insight on what it means to be a distributor who’s actually taking these steps and making these choices. We have some other episodes coming out with some sustainable suppliers a little later on. A lot of great things are coming up. So, thanks for joining me today. Please make sure you go and register for the next live stream and go subscribe to the podcast anywhere you get your shows. Thank you so much, everybody. Have a great day.