C4PC PILLAR #2: RESPECT & RESPONSIBILITY
3 billion trees are logged every year for packaging. Many of these come from ancient or endangered forests. We’re overhauling our packaging supply chain yet again to decrease our impact and support next generation solutions with Canopy Planet’s Pack4Good initiative.
Back in 2010, a few members of our team saw a shipment of products delivered to one of our retail stores. Once the products were unpacked, what remained was a mountain of plastic and cardboard destined for landfill. They knew at that very moment something had to change.
Our Poly Bag Reduction program started that year. The goal was to overhaul our shipping and packaging process to remove as much plastic as possible from our supply chain.
Back in 2010, a few members of our team saw a shipment of products delivered to one of our retail stores. Once the products were unpacked, what remained was a mountain of plastic and cardboard destined for landfill. They knew at that very moment something had to change.
Our Poly Bag Reduction program started that year. The goal was to overhaul our shipping and packaging process to remove as much plastic as possible from our supply chain.
“We completely reinvented the way we ship products, and have removed more than 17 million polybags from our shipping supply chain.”
Rachel Lincoln, Director of Sustainability
Pack4Good Campaign in Partnership with Canopy Planet
While our efforts initially focused on removing plastic from our supply chain, we quickly realized this only addressed one element of the overall environmental impact of our shipping processes. We needed a solution to the impact we were having on the world’s forests. Our partnership with Canopy Planet has helped us create a complete transformation of our packaging supply chain.
“Since 30% of the climate solution lies with forests, it is imperative that we curb the pressure packaging has on the world’s ecosystems.” [1]
We recognize that single use packaging, whether plastics or paper, currently exerts an impact on ecosystems at the resource extraction point, during production and in disposal. Addressing this requires a wholistic approach that doesn’t increase pressure on one globally vital ecosystem (e.g. forests) in order to reduce the pressure on another (e.g oceans). It is both imperative and possible to create changes in packaging use, sourcing, production and end-of-product-use management to support the shift away from single-use plastics and enable conservation of ancient and endangered forests concurrently.
Therefore, we, as a supporting partner of Canopy’s Pack4Good Initiative, commit to:
- Prioritize innovative packaging design to reduce overall material needs.
- Give preference to paper-based packaging with high-recycled content, specifically post-consumer waste content.
- Encourage our suppliers that are found to be sourcing from Ancient and Endangered forests to change practices and/or re-evaluate our relationship with them.
- Work with innovative companies and Canopy to continuously expand the availability and development of next generation solutions with a focus on agricultural residues [2] and post-consumer recycled content.
- Source forest fibre from forests certified under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) system, including any plantation fibre, when recycled fibre and agricultural residue fibre is unattainable.
- Request that our suppliers recognize, respect and uphold human rights and acknowledge the right of Indigenous People and rural communities to give or withhold their Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC)
- Support conservation solutions and seek opportunities to inform the public on these issues and solutions through our marketing and communications.
- Remove all plastic-based product packaging by 2021.
- Ensure all paper-based packaging we use meets at a minimum all FSC guidelines by 2022, with further preference given to recycled content and next generation solutions.
- Ensure all paper-based packaging is made from 100% recycled content, with preference given to post-consumer waste content, by 2025.
Join the Clothing for Positive Change Movement
This initiative really strikes at the heart of Clothing for Positive Change (C4PC), and reinforces each pillar of this movement: Adventure for All, Respect & Responsibility, and Progress Not Perfection.
Want to learn more about the C4PC movement and what you can do to get involved? Visit our C4PC page to hear from Russ Hopcus, prAna President, and get started today.