Sunday, January 20, 2013

Reducing our carbon footprint in 2013

When www.friendlyrooster.com launched last year, we had a vision/mission to always consider sustainability and social consciousness when possible.  How did we do this?  We worked with ethical manufacturers, we started the Share Your Love of Shoes program™, and we recycled on our end.


We thought, for year one, that we did pretty good.  But as 2013 drew closer and we began to near our one year anniversary, we thought "How can we do better?  What can we do further?".  The most natural next step presented itself almost immediately.  Packaging.




We think about packaging in two ways.  First, many of our suppliers already work towards sustainable packaging.  But we asked, "Do shoes need to ship in a box, inside of another box?". Sure, shoes for as long as we remember, come in a shoe box.  But do we still need that extra packaging?  Without the shoebox, packages are lighter, which means that your purchase uses less gasoline during transport.

Second, we think about packaging/shipping materials.  We use USPS to ship our product.  They ship us USPS boxes and shipping supplies to use in shipping product to our customers.  This is a great set up for when we need it.  But we receive lots of shipping materials for when we purchase supplies online or when we receive product from our suppliers.  So, when possible, we are going to recycle those items when we ship our product to you!  So don't be surprised if your item arrives in an Office Depot or Amazon box.  It just means that we are doing our part to keep this planet going for our children...and yours!