Tag: 3BL

Many corporate leaders are confronting a new landscape when it comes to hiring and retaining employees. It’s not just about dollar signs anymore–people want to work for organizations that are intentional about building a positive company culture and willing to invest in their communities.

Launching a corporate employee volunteer program is a great way to set your company apart. It allows you to tap into one of your best resources—people. A corporate volunteer program empowers employees to give back by creating opportunities for them to spend time helping nonprofits and charities dedicated to causes they care about.

But like any new initiative, creating a successful, lasting program requires a plan. We talked to Chris Jarvis, an expert on corporate volunteering and co-founder of Realized Worth. He shares some unique insights to help frame your approach.

Inspired by his advice, we’ve laid out the 7 strategies you need to get people engaged and the 7 steps to launch your program.

Before you dive in, get the comprehensive guide on measuring employee volunteering impact

A volunteering program can be transformational for employees, community members, and your business. Measuring that transformation may seem daunting, but it’s not. Get the guide: “How to Measure the Impact of Corporate Volunteering“ to learn how to gauge the full impact of your efforts.

Let’s get started.

The benefits of corporate volunteer opportunities

Before we dig into the strategy of building your program, let’s pause to ask why it’s worth it in the first place. Not only will this help you understand the potential power of your investment, but it will help you make a case to your colleagues and leadership team.

The impact of volunteering moves in two directions. There’s the effect on the people or causes being served. But also, those who volunteer benefit as well. As Chris Jarvis explains: “There’s actually data to show the reward system of helping people when you can see their face and you understand the significance of the task—it is almost indistinguishable from the yoga high, the runner’s high, and sexual activity.”

The experience of volunteering can be incredibly meaningful. And that has a profound effect on how connected employees feel to their jobs and the company as a whole.

A good employee volunteer program can contribute to:

Employee retention: When employees feel engaged in their work and connected to the company values, they tend to stick around. 
 Productivity: Connecting to a meaningful purpose helps people bring their best selves to work and can boost their effectiveness. 
 Recruiting: Potential employees are attracted to companies that invest in their communities and provide opportunities to give back on the job. 
 A positive company culture: Incorporating a spirit of service and collaboration can have a profound effect on your workplace dynamics. 
 Community impact: Putting your resources toward a community need can make a big difference in addressing society’s biggest challenges. 
 Brand reputation: Consumers are looking to support companies that show up for their communities in meaningful ways. 
 Leadership development: Volunteer projects give employees opportunities to try on different roles and develop new skills.

When it comes to facilitating a corporate volunteer program, it’s truly a virtuous cycle. Let’s move on to how to implement one effectively.

7 tips to increase participation

One of the big questions about corporate volunteer programs is: if you build it, will they come?

According to the latest Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose (CECP) report, employee volunteering participation has seen a steep drop. Of course there are some external factors at play (looking at you, COVID), but even before the pandemic, only 30% of employees were taking advantage of volunteering opportunities provided by their employers.

So that begs the question: how do you inspire people to get involved?

As you look to build or revamp your program, keep these 7 strategies in mind.

1. Provide paid time off to volunteer 

This is a pretty easy one, but it’s important. Give employees dedicated time off to volunteer that they can use during regular working hours. If you set up a program, but then ask people to volunteer on their own time, you’re sending the message that your company is not willing to put resources toward this effort.

And don’t lump volunteer time in with PTO or sick leave. Create designated VTO (volunteer time off) and encourage everyone to use it.

2. Make it easy

Like any process, if you make it difficult or confusing to sign up for volunteer opportunities, people won’t do it. Make it as easy and simple as possible. Think of the sign-up process as part of the program itself. You want it to be a positive experience right from the start.

Using an employee giving software platform that allows each person to browse and sign up for opportunities, view and track their VTO, and get important information all in one place can help. No one wants to sort through spreadsheets or long email threads—don’t make them.

3. Eliminate the unknowns

Some people might be hesitant to volunteer because they haven’t done it in the past. You can help them get over this barrier by providing simple information up front.

People like to know what’s coming. Think of times you’ve been reluctant to say yes to something because you weren’t sure where exactly to go or who would be there. Make sure volunteers know what to wear, where they’ll be working, and if they need any special skills. This can make a big difference in helping people feel comfortable as they try something new.

4. Make it social

Corporate team volunteering is a great way to connect with teammates on another level. It’s also a good chance to work with new people—if you’re at a larger company, there are probably a lot of folks you don’t get to interact with directly. Volunteering can facilitate new and deeper relationships across your organization.

Choose a platform that allows employees to see who else will be volunteering with them so they can start forging those connections early. This also allows them to invite others and coordinate plans.

Jarvis explains that not all volunteers are alike. He breaks them down into three stages. “The first stage space is for individuals who don’t volunteer much and who end up volunteering because of an extrinsic reason,” he says. Social connections are a great external motivator. Building this into your program will help inexperienced volunteers take that first step.

From there, some volunteers will move onto the second stage of volunteering in which they’re motivation to give becomes intrinsic—they derive a deeper meaning from the work. In stage three, which only a small percentage of participants reach, volunteering becomes an integral part of someone’s identity. At this stage volunteers are considered guides; they can lead and inspire inexperienced individuals.

5. Consider behavioral science

In some ways getting people to volunteer is like getting them to exercise. People know volunteering makes them feel good, but still, finding motivation can be tricky.

A lot of Chris Jarvis’s work centers on how behavioral science comes into play. Behavioral science explores how people make decisions. Surprisingly, it isn’t always a matter of logic. Jarvis explains how this relates to employee engagement and volunteerism: “Most programs are not configured based on how people consider options, evaluate, and make decisions,” he says.

“Incorporating behavioral science is about taking advantage of the insights that we have around our cognitive biases—the shortcuts or heuristics we use to make decisions,” he says.

For example, Jarvis highlights the power of loss aversion bias. People don’t like to lose things. In fact, that aversion to loss is much stronger than the desire to make gains. How can this play into a corporate volunteer program? You can make VTO hours “use them or lose them”. Psychologically, this can help motivate people. Suddenly, they don’t want to lose the opportunity to volunteer and they feel a greater sense of urgency to get involved.

Tapping into behavioral science doesn’t require a big overhaul of your program. It’s about finding opportunities to align how your program is structured with how people actually perceive the world and make decisions.

6. Keep the pressure off

Nothing can sour the joy of volunteering like making it mandatory. As much as you want employees to get involved, don’t apply intense pressure. In the end you want it to be their decision.

Rather than trying to force employees to participate, do your best to lower barriers that might prevent them from getting involved. For instance, you can ensure that opportunities are convenient—no one is likely to sign up for a shift that would force them to sit in rush hour traffic, for example.

Jarvis frames the approach around nudges, or subtle interventions that encourage employees to be more engaged in giving. In fact, he has recently launched Nudge the Good, an initiative that seeks to leverage behavioral science, neuroscience, and transformative learning theory to help improve results in corporate citizenship.

7. Incorporate virtual volunteering

Virtual volunteering has taken off over the last two years. Of course it can’t replace the experience of being in person, but including some opportunities to volunteer remotely will help engage more people. It’s a particularly good option for distributed teams.

Don’t skimp when it comes to planning these virtual events. You’re not just trying to check a box—you want everyone who participates to feel like the work they do has meaning.

7 steps to launch your program

1. Choose a cause

When it comes to choosing a focus for your volunteer program, you want employees to be involved. Too often an executive sets the priorities and the program begins to feel like a pet project for the boss—not a great model for getting people across the company excited and invested.

You can use an employee engagement platform to create a survey or a nomination process so that employees can weigh in on what causes matter to them and which organizations they want to support.

Maybe it makes sense to have some coordinated volunteer opportunities, but you may also consider letting employees choose when and where they volunteer. Perhaps they already have a relationship with an existing nonprofit and they want to use their VTO to continue that work. To take it a step further, perhaps you can empower employees to leverage their relationships with nonprofits to bring new opportunities to their coworkers.

Starting the volunteer experience with a sense of ownership and autonomy ensures that your employees will feel more engaged in the work.

2. Create a unique program

Although it might be worth taking some inspiration from other companies with volunteer programs, don’t just copy what someone else is doing.

You want to lean into your strengths. Craft your program strategy so that it aligns with your organization’s mission. Think about what inspires your team to do its best work and try to tap into that energy.

One way to leverage the unique skill sets of your employees is through skills-based volunteering. Your team can put their talents and expertise to work for nonprofit organizations. Not only can this provide deeper meaning and engagement, but it can help nonprofits address some of their critical needs.

Don’t be afraid to get creative and try new approaches. Across philanthropy there has been a reckoning around “best practices”. Sometimes processes have become so entrenched, organizations adopt them without interrogating whether they truly serve the mission at hand.

As Chris Jarvis puts it: “A square wheel was a best practice until someone invented a round one.”

3. Center the meaning

Part of the power of volunteering is the deep sense of meaning participants feel when they give back. Chris Jarvis explains it as “transformative experience” for volunteers “at a psychological level (changes in understanding the self), a convictional level (revision of belief systems), and behavioral (changes in real-world actions)”.

Be sure to keep this meaning at the center as you build your program. If employees feel like the company doesn’t care about the outcomes and is only trying to create good PR, they will be much less likely to participate.

Help volunteers connect with the meaning of the work. This can mean connecting them directly with the people who benefit. For example, instead of just packing boxes of food, can they help deliver food to people in need?

Roy Baumeister at Florida State University explains that people derive meaning from situations in three ways: when they see purpose and value in what they are doing, when they have a sense of personal efficacy and control, and when they feel a sense of self-worth.

Do everything you can to help participants get close to the meaning of the work.

4. Get leadership involved

When it comes to getting company leadership involved, it’s all about striking a balance. As mentioned earlier, you don’t want executives setting priorities and undercutting the sense of ownership employees feel. On the other hand, you don’t want the higher ups to seem disengaged or uninterested.

Organization leaders should be your program’s biggest cheerleaders. They should volunteer alongside employees so they understand the value of the work and can speak honestly about the experience.

Updates and information about volunteering should be included in company-wide communications. Leaders should champion these efforts in the same way they celebrate business wins. And the positivity needs to be genuine. Employees can easily recognize inauthenticity. If your leadership team isn’t truly invested in giving back, it will show.

5. Provide structure

Although you want employee enthusiasm to drive your program, your company needs to provide the logistical support and infrastructure.

Your CSR or HR team should work to build relationships with community partners so you can develop a deep understanding of the community’s needs. Establishing these partnerships gives your program legitimacy and will help employees understand the wider impact of their work.

Before you launch, you also want to choose a corporate volunteering platform that allows employees to view available opportunities, sign up easily, and track their VTO. Having this piece in place from the outset is essential. If employees’ first impression of the volunteer program is that it’s difficult or confusing to sort through, they’ll lose interest and it’ll be difficult to re-engage them.

One part of your plan should involve setting goals. Decide what outcomes matter most to you. You could set goals around participation rates, total VTO hours used, employee experience, or community impact. Don’t get bogged down by trying to track too many metrics—choose a couple aspects you want to focus on and use your employee volunteer management software to track your progress.

6. Take stock

A lot of energy and excitement can go into launching a volunteer program. That’s great. Initial enthusiasm is important to get everyone on board. But creating a successful program that lasts is all about continuing to cultivate what you’ve built.

First of all, you want to take stock of what your program achieves. Are you reaching the goals you set? Are you seeing the engagement and impact you want to see? Share your findings with employees and the public. This transparency will show that you’re willing to show up authentically and honestly.

Make it a practice to seek feedback from employees about their experience. Use their insight to refine or reshape your approach.

You also want to continue to develop your program. Maybe you seek out additional community partners or add new volunteer opportunities over time. Or perhaps you find fresh ways to celebrate participation. What’s important is keeping the program relevant and active–if it starts to feel stale to employees, interest will wane.

7. Make volunteering part of your company culture

You want to integrate the spirit of giving and stewardship into your company culture. The last thing you want is to create a volunteer program that feels at odds with or separate from how you do business.

People from all across the company and all departments should be engaged. For example, if only folks from HR are showing up, you want to figure out why. Are some managers not supportive of employees taking time to volunteer? Is messaging around the program not reaching everyone?

Celebrate the successes of your program both internally and externally. Become a brand people associate with giving. This also means you need to look at how your business operates more broadly. If you’re creating volunteer opportunities to address problems you’re helping to perpetuate, people will be quick to point out the hypocrisy.

Look at your business practices. Are there more ways you can consider the social impact of your work? Sometimes a volunteer program is just the start.

Find the right partners to support your work 

As you look to build or reshape your corporate volunteer program, you want to leverage tools that will simplify the process and increase engagement. Submittable is a social impact platform built to help you launch, manage, and measure your CSR programs. Find out more.

The best way to celebrate Gopher Tortoise Day is to ensure there are more gopher tortoises across their natural range in the southeast. The Forestland Stewards Partnership between the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and International Paper, founded in 2013, provides conservation grants to restore and conserve gopher tortoise populations and longleaf habitat.

Helping gopher tortoises to thrive isn’t just good news for tortoises; it also means good news for hundreds of other species that depend in big and small ways on the tortoise in its role as a keystone species. “They are called a ‘keystone species’ because more than 350 other animals — like owls, snakes, foxes, toads, skunks, and lizards — use gopher tortoise burrows to shelter from the heat, fires, and predators,” says Kurt Buhlmann, Senior Research Associate at the University of Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. Gopher tortoises spend most of their lives in burrows that can be more than 20-feet long and eight-feet deep.

Forestland Stewards Partnership grants are helping gopher tortoises and their habitat by supporting collaboration between The Longleaf Alliance, the University of Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, and the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. These organizations are augmenting and restoring gopher tortoise populations through a technique called “head-starting.” About 350 eggs have been collected from wild populations to hatch in captivity. Hatchling tortoises are reared indoors for one year to achieve larger body sizes than would occur naturally, and thus become more resistant to predation. This gives tortoises a greater chance to survive, and eventually become subadults.

Head-starting increases survival

“Hatchling tortoises have naturally low survival in the wild. Raccoons, coyotes, and other predators often eat tortoise eggs and hatchlings, and mortality rates can be as high as 95%,” says Lisa Lord, Conservation Programs Director at The Longleaf Alliance. “The head-started juveniles are about a year old — but the size of wild 3-to-4-year-olds — when released back into well-managed longleaf pine habitat. The juveniles are released in a 1.5-acre pen to minimize wandering, help establish fidelity to the site, and increase their chances of staying in the area when the pen walls are removed.”

Gopher tortoise habitat covers the coastal plain from South Carolina through Florida to southeastern Louisiana, mostly in longleaf pine savanna habitats. The gopher tortoise is federally listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in the western portion of its range (from Louisiana, east to the Mobile River in Alabama).

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency responsible for assessing the potential listing of species as threatened or endangered under the ESA, issued a decision in October 2022 announcing that the eastern population of the gopher tortoise (east of the Mobile and Tombigbee rivers in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina) did not warrant federal listing as threatened. The agency cited the collective work of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other federal agencies, state agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and private landowners to restore, maintain, and protect longleaf pine habitat and head-starting efforts like the one in South Carolina as contributing to their decision.

Private landowners help gopher tortoises by caring for longleaf pine habitats, including by using prescribed burning 

Longleaf pine forests and savannas are fire-adapted, meaning they depend on periodic burning to thrive. They also make up one of North America’s most biodiverse forest ecosystems and are home to countless rare species, especially when they have open canopies and diverse ground cover. Longleaf pine once covered an estimated 90 million acres across the southeast but now covers only about 5.2 million acres. The diminished forest is a significant contributor to the decline in gopher tortoise populations.

The decline in longleaf pine forests means the other critical piece supporting the head-start program is having enough restored longleaf habitat for the gopher tortoise to return to. More than 80% of potential tortoise habitat is privately owned, with the rest controlled by local, state, federal, or conservation organizations.

“We have educational and cost-sharing programs to help landowners restore and conserve the longleaf pine ecosystem, which also helps gopher tortoises. A big focus is teaching landowners to use prescribed burning, which also maintains the ground cover that tortoises need to thrive,” Lord says.

The Longleaf Alliance’s Longleaf Academy Program prepares private landowners and natural resource professionals to manage, restore, and enhance longleaf pine ecosystems through techniques like prescribed fire. The Academy Program includes Fire and Longleaf 201, a three-day course that teaches people how to maintain their longleaf stands with fire.

Coming together for the gopher tortoise

Improving and sustaining gopher tortoise populations takes a multi-faceted approach — from restoring and maintaining longleaf habitat with prescribed fire to giving young tortoises a head-start in the wild. The efforts of partners like The Longleaf Alliance to rally public agencies, private organizations and landowners around this important work is critical to ensuring the gopher tortoise and the many other species that live in the longleaf pine ecosystem can thrive.

Learn more about the Forestland Stewards Partnership and The Longleaf Alliance.

About International Paper
International Paper (NYSE: IP) is a leading global supplier of renewable fiber-based products. We produce corrugated packaging products that protect and promote goods, and enable worldwide commerce, and pulp for diapers, tissue and other personal care products that promote health and wellness. Headquartered in Memphis, Tenn., we employ approximately 38,000 colleagues globally. We serve customers worldwide, with manufacturing operations in North America, Latin America, North Africa and Europe. Net sales for 2021 were $19.4 billion. See how we’re building a better future for people, the planet, and our company at internationalpaper.com/Vision-2030.

We know that because you’re here, you know the value of a strong nonprofit partnership. When executed well, cross-sector partnerships have the potential to generate sustainable solutions to some of the world’s greatest issues. But what do we collectively know about the nonprofit in its environment? Most of us have worked adjacent to the sector, but we lose visibility regarding their limitations in achieving their desired impact. 

How can we, as volunteer leaders, intentionally support our partners in impact? Hint: It starts by understanding the value of these partnerships. We, as volunteer leaders, also need to consider our role in this structure and how it has traditionally come from a place of saviorism and nonauthorized power. When we show up to our volunteer experience ready to receive a new perspective and a challenge that may not always fit into our carefully constructed box of solutions, we open ourselves up to change, too, leading to growth for us, for the nonprofit, and the communities we hope to impact with our work. 

In this blog, you’ll gain an understanding of the basics of nonprofits, what they mean to us as partners and how we can intentionally support them.

READ THE FULL BLOG.

Procter & Gamble celebrates our LGBTQ+ employees, and the unique stories that unite us, by raising visibility and acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community. P&G Australia recently brought this vision to life by leading activities in support of Sydney WorldPride and the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

Held this year from February 17 to March 5, WorldPride is a global LGBTQ+ festival that promotes and advocates for LGBTQ+ human rights around the world. Sydney was the first city in the southern hemisphere selected to host WorldPride since its inception in 2000, and it incorporated Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras events and activities across arts, sport, theatre, concerts, parties and First Nations programming, as well as a human rights conference.

P&G Australia and several P&G brands, including Pantene, Oral-B, Gillette, Olay, Fairy and VÖOST, joined together as a major sponsor of 2023’s WorldPride and partnered with Aboriginal artist, queer feminist and 2021 NAIDOC National Artist of the Year, Bobbi Lockyer. Lockyer came on board as a creative designer and developed P&G’s Lead with Love float for the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade, an interactive painting wall for Fair Day and in-store assets for the events.

P&G is donating a portion of the sales of participating products from Fairy, Gillette, Olay, Oral-B, Pantene and VÖOST to Minus18, an LGBTQ+ youth charity. The donations will provide anti-bullying resource kits to reach over 50,000 school students across Australia.

Olay is additionally partnering with Australian author, media personality and Miss Universe Australia 2020, Maria Thattil, to support Glow Up Your Own Way, an ongoing national campaign dedicated to destigmatising LGBTQ+ issues and supporting greater self-acceptance and confidence. Maria joined Olay’s float at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade on February 25th, alongside over 70 P&G employees.

Earlier in the WorldPride festivities, P&G hosted a roundtable discussion of its recently released award-winning documentary short film CODED: The Hidden Love of J.C. Leyendecker. Developed in partnership with Imagine Entertainment & Television, Delirio Films and MTV Films, the film explores early representation of LGBTQ+ communities through arts and advertising.

P&G’s commitment to the LGBTQ+ community is grounded in our mission to create a company and a world where Equality and Inclusion is achievable for all. Click here to learn more about how P&G is leading with love, championing LGBTQ+ visibility and inspiring progress.

The World Bank estimates that 2 billion tons of waste is generated, from both businesses and residences, across the globe each year. As one of those companies, Yum! is looking to change this by leveraging the power of its 55,000 KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and The Habit Burger Grill restaurants to be part of the solution by reimagining its iconic packaging like the KFC bucket, Pizza Hut pizza boxes and Taco Bell sauce packets.

In collaboration with parent company Yum!, each brand is shifting its existing packaging to more sustainable options. This includes transitioning away from plastics, while simultaneously developing packaging solutions – via a new policy – that sets sustainability standards for its restaurants and possibly influencing the industry to make broader change. Yum!’s new policy, led by increased investments in circularity, which is the creation of a product with the intent that it gets recycled and thus goes back into the supply chain, consists of the following three measures:

The elimination of unnecessary packagingThe shift to more sustainable materialsThe support of better recycling systems and reusable products

“It’s our responsibility as the world’s largest restaurant company to help solve for the amount of waste that ends up in landfills,” said Jon Hixson, Yum! chief sustainability officer & vice president of global government affairs. “And for years, we’ve been diligently working on this challenge, and it’s now been unified across the 150-plus countries and territories in which we operate, so that’s what’s really exciting.”

While each brand is in a different stage in its sustainable packaging journey, they now have one cohesive blueprint to follow and can lean on each other while striving toward the same three goals. Here’s how they plan to do just that.

Eliminate unnecessary packaging and shifting to sustainable materials

Unrecoverable plastics are often found in wrappers, cup lids, cutlery and bags and are prevalent around the world due to their inexpensive cost and abundance in supply. But they can’t be recycled, which makes them a key focus area in Yum!’s new policy.

As companies move away from unrecoverable plastics, which most likely end up in landfills, there’s an opportunity for them to build their reputation as sustainable stewards when it comes to packaging by shifting to more sustainable alternatives.

“At Pizza Hut, we’re lucky to be starting from a position of strength when it comes to plastics due to using primarily corrugated cardboard,” explained James Watts, Pizza Hut global chief people & Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) officer, adding that plastics in consumer-facing packaging have completely been eliminated from its restaurants in India and Brunei. Pizza Huts in New Zealand and Australia are close to the complete removal of consumer-facing plastics and are 95% and 90% plastic-free, respectively.

“We remain focused on closing the gaps that exist around unnecessary plastics and have also started to explore how we can use our packaging as a way to educate customers on how to recycle them,” Watts said.

Pizza Hut’s sister brands, KFC, Taco Bell and The Habit Burger Grill, are also in the process of removing unrecoverable plastics from their packaging.

With 27,000 restaurants across 147 countries, KFC is taking “a mindful approach” when it comes to transitioning to more sustainable materials, according to KFC Global Director of Sustainability & Packaging Susan Miles. Globally, the brand has moved from expanded polystyrene plastic (styrofoam) to more recyclable plastic or fiber-based containers for its side items and has purchased most of its paper-based packaging with fiber from responsibly managed forests and recycled sources.

Also, several KFC markets have eliminated plastic straws, cutlery and bags. But, Miles said, that’s just the start, and the brand is now looking to adopt additional practices developed in its individual markets, like a widely recyclable, plastic-free bucket in the United Kingdom (U.K.) and Canada’s compostable poutine bucket made of bamboo.

“By using new materials and methods of making buckets, we are able to source a more sustainable alternative while staying true to our iconic bucket, which our customers know and love,” Miles said.

For its part, Taco Bell is rolling out recyclable wraps and bags for its burritos, tacos, Crunchwraps and more. And The Habit Burger Grill transitioned from plastic to-go bags to paper in 2022, eliminating 288,000 lbs. of plastic in the United States (U.S.). annually. The brand also sources more than 97% of its paper-based packaging from responsibly managed forests and recycled sources.

“These are exciting changes for us because so much of our brand is tied to authenticity and living with purpose, just as our founders did,” said The Habit Burger Grill Chief Operating Officer Iwona Alter. “Creating a platform for packaging that is focused on sustainability ensures that we can continue to serve our guests delicious food that people trust.”

Recycling and reusables

Despite Yum!’s best efforts, not everything in each brand’s packaging suite can be eliminated or sustainably sourced. This is where the implementation of recycling programs is making a difference.

In addition to converting consumer-facing packaging to recyclable, compostable or reusable materials, Taco Bell is also adding recycling and/or composting bins in its restaurants where infrastructure permits. Another important change happened when Taco Bell provided a recycling option for its sauce packets in the U.S., giving customers the ability to mail-in used sauce packets for recycling, thanks to a partnership with TerraCycle, a New Jersey-based company known for recycling hard-to-recycle materials.

“The TerraCycle partnership is one that consumers are enthusiastic about,” said Missy Schaaphok, Taco Bell director of Global Nutrition & Sustainability. “But the big unlock with this program is the fact that we’ve expanded it to include sauce packets of any kind and brand, not just Taco Bell’s. At the same time, we’re also exploring other ways to bring our fans the sauce they love, with less waste.”

Pizza Hut also is focused on making its packaging, primarily made up of corrugated cardboard, more recyclable. Pizza boxes in Australia are made from 100% recycled content while that number is up to 70% in the U.K. At the same time, the brand is looking to educate consumers and work with groups that influence local governments and municipalities on the recyclability of its cardboard pizza boxes.

What the future holds

While Yum! and its four brands remain committed to making a difference, challenges still exist as they must work around fragmented regulations worldwide surrounding packaging and sustainability.

“There has been a lot of progress made, at the global level, in terms of creating a more sustainable ecosystem of products and operational efficiencies throughout our restaurant system. At Yum!, we’re committed to good growth. We can’t do that without a plan to preserve our planet,” Hixson said. “From our packaging initiatives to the work we’re doing on forest stewardship and climate change, we are dedicated to making progress on our Recipe for Good.”

Moving forward, Yum! and each of its distinctive brands have an eye on the future and are working toward their public commitments.

For more information about Yum!’s Recipe for Good, click here.

Originally published on Built From Scratch

ATLANTA, April 10, 2023 /3BL Media/ – The Home Depot Foundation increased its financial pledge to communities impacted by tornadoes and severe weather this spring, taking its commitment up to $400,000 to support relief efforts across the Southeast and Midwest.

The Foundation’s nonprofit partners, including Convoy of Hope, Operation Blessing, Team Rubicon, American Red Cross, ToolBank Disaster Services, Inspiritus and World Central Kitchen, are collectively supporting damage assessments, debris removal, supplies distribution, sheltering and food distribution across Arkansas, Iowa, Indiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia.

Over the past two weeks, Team Depot, The Home Depot’s associate volunteer force, has partnered alongside nonprofit organizations in more than 14 cities, building disaster relief kits, distributing food, supporting cleanup efforts and more. Through Team Depot, local stores have donated nearly $100,000 in relief supplies to more than a dozen organizations, including local school districts, police departments, city governments and nonprofits.

“We’re heartbroken to see the number of communities facing such significant loss after weeks of severe weather systems across several states,” said Shannon Gerber, executive director of The Home Depot Foundation. “The Home Depot Foundation and its nonprofit partners stand with these communities and pledge to support both immediate needs and long-term rebuilding efforts in the weeks, months and years ahead.”

The Homer Fund, Home Depot’s employee assistance program, is providing emergency financial support to every impacted associate in need of safe housing, food or clothing. Since inception, The Homer Fund has granted more than $28.6 million to support associates impacted by natural disasters.

The Home Depot Foundation is committed to supporting communities with natural disaster preparedness, short-term response and long-term recovery. In 2022, the Foundation committed more than $7.3 million to disaster response efforts across the country.

Keep up with all the latest Home Depot news! Subscribe to our bi-weekly news update and get the top Built from Scratch stories delivered straight to your inbox.

In episode 8 of Source De[Code], host Ben Coffin interviews Derek Ong to explore Big Data’s place in the manufacturing world. Derek and Ben play with analogies from the Marvel Comic Universe (MCU) to illustrate how Big Data is helping to transform this data-rich sector. I am not an expert in Big Data, manufacturing, or engineering; I am, however, an expert in the MCU. Framing the conversation this way painted an entertaining and informative picture of how Big Data is influencing transformation in the industrial sector– and beyond.

Every MCU comic leverages advanced technologies as a compelling plot device. At their core, however, these comics have become a blockbuster franchise because the heroes we root for are relatable– witty, flawed, and above all else, human. Technologies developed at Stark Industries or the Wakandan Design Group are means to an end that enable our heroes to defend the multiverse. This story is no different.

“Data gives us superpowers,” says Ben Coffin. “It gives you insights to be able to sift between processes and operational efficiencies to determine what’s working and what isn’t.”

BEFORE BIG DATA: THE ORIGIN STORY

This hero’s journey, like every comic book series, begins with a winding origin story filled with broken processes, frustration, and the faintest spark of change. Our story begins in the early days of Industry 4.0 when computing was still a nascent industry– the 1980s. In the film adaptation, the narrative would be set to Kraftwerk’s 1981 album, Computer World. This oracular magnum opus presaged the marvels and mysteries of today’s ubiquitous digital connectivity. During this time, factories were adopting computerized manufacturing systems with limited automation capabilities that captured data. This data enabled factory managers to coordinate processes with an eye toward improving productivity and efficiency.

These integrated systems created onion-like data pyramids that, while a vast improvement on what they replaced, were far from ideal. Each layer sanitized and condensed valuable data at each stage. Hardware and software that comprise the core’s Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system collect equipment- and systems-level operational data to facilitate automation processes. The SCADA feeds the captured information detailing machine temperature, equipment status, and whether machines are operating within thresholds into a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) which looks at the factory from an operational level to assist factory managers in asset optimization. The MES data is then fed into an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system which takes an even higher-level view of operations. ERPs are the domain of corporate decision-makers who use the information to track and control inventory for resource and shipment planning.

Every comic book fan knows that their favorite heroes are the product of circumstance. In their origin stories, these bright everyday men and women are head-down, trying to get through the grind of day-to-day life in a much less complex environment than what we, the readers, know is coming. Our hero, like Marvel’s main characters, is naturally bright, curious, and diligent; doing their best with the limited tools and resources at their disposal. What sets the nascent superhero apart from their peers is vision.

“Technology holds infinite possibilities for mankind and will one day rid society of all its ills,” Howard Stark eloquently states in the second Iron Man film, foreshadowing his son’s heroic future and demonstrating the power of vision. “Soon, technology will affect the way you live your life every day. No more tedious work, leaving more time for leisure activities and enjoying the sweet life.”

Those of us who were alive in the 80s and 90s will vividly recall the sounds of exertion that came from computers processing the most basic requests. Despite these factory systems being objectively more powerful than the Apple II or Commodore we had at home, their bandwidth and computational powers were limited. If a comic book artist were to illustrate this scene, we would see our hero type a query into the system, hit enter, and wait. And wait. And wait as their computer heaved, whirred, and groaned to run the issuant report. In the next panel, we would see our pre-powers hero hunched over in his office chair, his head buried in his hands still clutching the crumpled read-out.

During this time, data was viewed through a short-term, action-specific lens as the means to a more efficient end. Perhaps because of this, little research had been done into effective, cost-efficient data storage methods. These factors resulted in data being stored on an as-needed basis until it served its specific efficacy or operational purpose before it was jettisoned and replaced. Our hero’s report would have lacked a more global context and, if they made the wrong inference in their query, hours would have been lost awaiting an incomplete, potentially inaccurate, answer.

FROM THE DIGITAL CLOUD, A HERO EMERGES TRANSFORMED

There is a long-standing and (mostly) friendly rivalry between the MCU and the DC Comics Universe (DCU). In the DCU, the hero leads a solitary, double life. The banal mask they present to the world comes off in secret to fight crime from the shadows. By contrast, it is only the MCU’s friendly neighborhood Spiderman who (unsuccessfully) obfuscates his true nature this way– but only because an awkward, book-smart teenager doing that sets him apart so spectacularly would break the fourth wall. Even then, Peter Parker does not operate in a silo. Like Spidey, each Avenger undertakes their hero’s journey aided in navigating their burgeoning superpowers by human and technological sidekicks. It is only when the Avengers assemble, however, that they have what it takes to save the day. Collaboration and the humility to seek out support are important to true success.

In the three decades since the computer revolution began in earnest, progress has followed Moore’s law and, for the manufacturing sector, given rise to three complementary technologies that, like the Avengers, equip our hero with the ability to fully access the superpowers Big Data affords them. First, advanced technologies have emerged in recent times that can process the vast wealth of data being generated from a growing number of sources. Next, data mining, advanced analytics, machine learning (ML), and artificial intelligence (AI) scrape those data sets to identify correlations and accurate predictions. Thirdly, a scalable and highly elastic cloud architecture has evolved which allows these immense data sets to be scaled up or down depending on the scope of insights needed. These three technologies combine to create a detailed data landscape that can be seen from views as high as Captain Marvel’s space lab, as granular as Antman in the Quantum Realm, or anywhere in between.

This culmination of technologies would represent the critical juncture in our hero’s evolution from brilliant but beleaguered to superhero. The comic’s next panel would show our hero, radiating with newfound power, tossing the crumpled report built from inferred, stripped-down, and summarized data into an overflowing bin. Subsequent pages would create a montage where our hero uncovers the extent of his capabilities.

“To manage and use big data,” says Derek Ong in the podcast, “you’re like Dr. Strange– you can turn back time. You can put the layers back on the onion the way he turned back time from an apple core to the full fresh apple.”

Like Dr. Strange’s dramatic scene in the Infinity Gauntlet series, our hero can traverse space and time to go backward and identify the root cause of an issue, then sift through contextualized data to identify influencing factors and determine the best path forward for achieving success. This origin story would end with our hero peering out over a happily productive facility, hands on hips, and realizing that he could not stop with his own success. Rather than hoarding these powers, our hero’s ongoing mission is to create new superheroes who eschew the old, data-constrictive processes and embrace the power of Big Data already at their fingertips.

ABOUT THE GUEST: DEREK ONG

Derek has over 15 years of experience in the electronics industry. Currently, he spearheads innovation in software applications and Big Data analytics for the Smart Factory and Industry 4.0 applications at Keysight. He received his electrical engineering degree from the University of New Brunswick in Canada.

What was the ‘aha’ moment that started you down the path and influenced you on your journey to where you are now?

It was the moment when I discovered I could help customers realize tangible benefits by demystifying big data analytics, machine learning, AI, and software to create something actionable, applicable, relevant, and practical.

If you hadn’t chosen your current profession, what would you have pursued instead? Why?

I would have studied finance or computer science and then gone into fintech, pay my dues, and ultimately make tons of money while jet-setting the world in business class.

Where can we find you when you’re not innovating the future of technology?

Right now, this is my focus. But I’ll make up for it when I’m retired in Penang having the time of the rest of my life.

LISTEN TO SOURCE DE[CODE] TODAY

Tune into Source De[Code] on your favorite podcast streaming app to follow host Ben Coffin as he slips on his magic decoder ring and translates the secret language of the mystic sciences fueling innovation that influences the future. Visit Source De[Code] online and build your own metaphorical decoder ring with resources that go deeper into topics explored on the podcast. Better yet, take a note from Dr. Strange and put on Kaelcilius’ Sling Ring to open a portal to the Source De[Code] universe at your fingertips by subscribing to the mailing list.

Covia’s NSO, Ontario facility supports the protection of local turtle populations by collecting and incubating eggs. To support the Blanding’s turtle, snapping turtle and painted turtle the facility fully embraces Environmental, Social Corporate Governance (ESG) principles. Covia Team Members retrieve and incubate the eggs, then release the turtles after hatching. Over the past few years, NSO has conducted nesting surveys, collecting 991 eggs with a 70% hatch rate. This important program supports the mission of the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre “to protect and conserve Ontario’s native turtles and the habitat in which they live”.

The protection of local turtle populations and other conservation projects such as this has been recognized by the Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC), honoring the facility with gold certification.

This is just one example of Covia’s responsibility to Environmental Stewardship. Environmental Stewardship is firmly embedded in the company’s DNA and is reflected in the aggressive commitments with targeted and measurable metrics that require innovation, collaboration and problem-solving from everyone in the organization. Covia’s strategy is designed to not only meet the needs of stakeholders today, but to ensure a sustainable future for generations to come.

Covia’s Environmental Stewardship are centered around:

Improving our energy efficiency and doing our part to address Climate ChangeProtecting Essential Water Supply by monitoring, recycling and reusing to the extent possiblePreserving, Restoring and Improving Biodiversity through responsible land use and resource conservation

For full details about Environmental Stewardship at Covia, please see the 2021 ESG Report (https://www.coviacorp.com/esg/documents/).

2022 represented a strategic inflection point for Vertex and its core mission of investing in scientific innovation to create transformative medicines for people with serious diseases. Execution on its unique and differentiated strategy, combined with its special culture enabled broader access to its cystic fibrosis (CF) medicines across the globe, fueled significant advances in multiple diseases across its pipeline, and created more ways to positively impact patients, employees and its communities.  

Vertex’s unique strategy, values, talented employees, and its culture of innovation and inclusion will continue to fuel long-term success as they continue their journey in CF, prepare for commercial launches in multiple serious diseases, and drive and accelerate the research pipeline forward, all while continuing to operate its business responsibly.

Contact: 
Sarah D’Souza, 857-329-8495 

Read More

Recent record-setting inflation has made the cost of everyday essentials like food, gas, and utility bills higher than ever. Paired with the skyrocketing cost of housing, limited availability of affordable homes, and increasingly severe and disruptive weather events, many individuals and families around the world are faced with impossible living situations. When natural or man-made disaster strikes, often homes are damaged or destroyed, which can result in especially tragic outcomes for low-income households with limited means to handle extensive and costly repairs or rebuilding.

Changing weather patterns also impact how we live within our homes. According to the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, the average U.S. household spends nearly $2,000 annually on energy bills, which leads to more greenhouse gas emissions and further climate change. Exorbitant energy-bills or expensive maintenance costs can leave low-income households even more cost burdened, forcing them to forgo necessities like food or medicine to maintain power or heat. They may also keep their homes at unsafe or unhealthy temperatures. A 2020 analysis by the U.S. Energy Information Administration found that 34 million U.S. households faced energy insecurity. Rising energy costs contribute to the financial burden that comes with housing, making affordable housing unattainable for far too many families. As climate change continues to affect weather and intensify disasters, the need for sustainable building practices and climate-resilient homes is becoming increasingly apparent.

At Habitat for Humanity, we know that affordable housing and sustainability go hand in hand. From reducing utility bills through energy-efficient homes to using conscientious building practices, we’re continuously exploring ways to build our homes to benefit families and the environment. With the support of partners like Whirlpool Corporation, we are doing that and much more.

Through the BuildBetter with Whirlpool initiative, Habitat and Whirlpool are actively creating ways to help homeowners mitigate the impacts of climate change. We are building homes that are disaster-resilient and can withstand increasingly severe weather events. We are building homes that are energy-efficient and incorporate features such as solar panels, water-conserving plumbing fixtures, and high-efficiency heating and cooling. And we are building homes at code-plus standards. These measures provide Habitat homeowners the potential to not only save on monthly utility bills, but also the opportunity to live in healthier, more resilient homes. Whirlpool and Habitat have 143 homes in progress through the initiative, which began in June 2021.

During our 22-year partnership, we have made profound impact on the lives of families around the world. Home is so much more than four walls and a roof; it is a sanctuary, a place to make memories, a place for children to grow up healthy and strong.

Whirlpool Corp.’s House + Home initiative reflects their commitment of building homes and improving the communities they serve, while helping families secure brighter, stronger, and healthier futures. Whirlpool shares our vision and mission of creating a world where everyone has a decent place to live. We are excited and look forward to the future possibilities of our continued partnership.

View original content here.