Tag: 3BL

Originally published on 3M News Center

The 3M Open, in partnership with 3M Community Impact and 3Mgives, successfully hosted its fourth-annual Golf 4 All Day on Tuesday, July 22, at TPC Twin Cities.

The event welcomed over 500 students from across the Minneapolis and St. Paul metro area, offering a unique introduction to golf while also highlighting the exciting world of science and skilled trades.

Collaborating with Tickets for Kids and local organizations such as Solomon Hughes Sr. Golf Academy, First Tee Minnesota, and the Sanneh Foundation, Golf 4 All Day created an atmosphere that celebrated the joy of golf for all ages.

The afternoon was packed with experiences designed to educate and entertain. Kids gained hands-on experience with golf through “club-in-hand” activations expertly led by First Tee – Minnesota. Additionally, the 3M Swing Lab presented by TaylorMade, the 3M Open Primrose Playground, and interactive demonstrations with the 3M Visiting Wizards, a STEM education program led by volunteer 3Mers, brought scientific principles to life in captivating and accessible ways.

The event also saw an impressive lineup of celebrities and personalities join the students, including Minnesota Timberwolves star Mike Conley, former NBA player Cole Aldrich, Minnesota Vikings legends Randall McDaniel and John Randle, former Vikings wide receiver Michael Floyd and former Minnesota Timberwolves player Wally Szczerbiak. Their presence added an extra layer of excitement and inspiration for the young attendees.

A significant focus of this year’s Golf 4 All Day was its expanded emphasis on STEM and career pathways in the skilled trades, notably with the introduction of the 3M Safety Roadshow. This new initiative operates as a mobile training center, directly addressing the growing manufacturing skills gap in the U.S. and the anticipated retirement of a significant portion of the current skilled trade workforce.

The Roadshow showcases 3M’s industrial safety expertise and personal protective equipment, or PPE, providing students with valuable hands-on advanced manufacturing activities and safety demonstrations.

“So far, we’ve inspired over 1,300 students on six stops across Alabama, Arkansas and Missouri,” said Torie Clarke, Chief Public Affairs Officer at 3M. “Today, we hope that the Safety Roadshow and other activities will inspire you, our future workforce, to consider a career in STEM or the skilled trades.”

The 3M Open and its partners extend their sincere gratitude to all the students, 3Mers, and 3M partners who made this year’s Golf 4 All Day an overwhelming success. The event reinforced the positive impact of community collaboration and highlighted the endless possibilities within golf, science and skilled trades.

GENEVA, August 6, 2025 /3BL/ – A recently published series of scientific papers is calling for action to strengthen research and harmonize methodologies for measurement and assessment of tire wear emissions.

The series, titled “State of Knowledge: Tire wear emissions during the use phase,” is the most comprehensive review of its kind, analyzing more than 850 peer-reviewed scientific publications from the last 40 years. It reveals how the current knowledge base on tire wear emissions is scattered, inconsistent and inconclusive, due to varying approaches and assumptions. The papers summarize the main observations on the topic, as well as highlight the data gaps, emphasizing the need for additional scientific investigation with a common approach across tire industry stakeholders.

Supported by the Tire Industry Project (TIP), the series consists of three distinct papers, each addressing a critical layer of tire wear emission knowledge. The first two published papers focus on the characterization of tire wear emissions and assessment of their environmental impact. The third paper, expected to be published in late 2025, will focus on potential health impacts.

Dr. Stephan Wagner, a guiding force behind the papers, explains, “The topic of tire wear emissions is extremely complex, multi-dimensional, and unfortunately only partially understood. While notable progress has been made over the years in analyzing such emissions, significant knowledge gaps and inconsistencies prevent a full understanding of their behavior and impact. Until these gaps are closed, there is a growing concern that decisions about tire emissions could be based on incomplete science. Resolving this requires all stakeholders—academia, industry and policymakers—to collaborate and drive for consistency, built on shared research and assessment models such as those proposed in our papers.”

Larisa Kryachkova, Executive Director at the Tire Industry Project remarks, “Ever since our inception 20 years ago, our mission has been to strengthen scientific foundations to drive industry action. The SOK underscores why we need a concerted, multi-stakeholder response to close the knowledge gaps, now more than ever. It also reinforces our ambition to build a more open, collaborative research ecosystem, through initiatives such as the Open Call for Projects and the upcoming Tire Emissions Research Conference at MIT in Boston.”

The main findings and recommendations of the two papers are as follows:

Paper 1: Tire emissions during the use phase of tires—current and future trends 

This paper delves into the characterization and quantification of tire wear emissions and finds: 

1. Importance of characterization: To understand the impact, we need clear data on what kinds of emissions are released, how they are released and where they end up in the environment.
2. Different types of emissions: Tire wear emissions are not limited to particle release, but volatile and dissolved compounds as well. “Particulate” tire wear occurs in the environment as Tire and Road Wear Particles (TRWP), which consist of a mixture of tire tread, road pavement, brake systems, and mineral dust deposited at the road pavement. In comparison, “Volatiles” may occur directly from the tire during use or from released particles, while “Dissolved” compounds or “Leachables” can occur both from the tire directly if roads are wet or through abraded tire wear.
3. Conceptual Exposure Model: To assist risk characterization of tire emissions, the paper proposes a Conceptual Exposure Model (CEM), offering insights into the underlying mechanisms of emissions generation, the parts of the environment that may be affected, the potential exposure of relevant entities and the pathways through which this exposure may occur.
4. Parameters affecting tire wear emissions: Various factors affect tire wear emissions, including driving style (speed, frequency of acceleration and braking, cornering and vehicle load) and road conditions (congestion, bends, and road surface).
5. Standardization is critical: The paper proposes a tiered measurement framework for TRWP and calls for the scientific community to adopt more robust, standardized protocols to enable reliable comparisons and informed decisions.

Paper 2: Risk assessment of tire wear in the environment—a literature review

This paper evaluates whether current knowledge is sufficient for robust environmental risk assessment and finds:

1. Current data is insufficient: While initial screening suggests that the risk from most TRWP in water and soil is generally lower down the priority list, there is insufficient data on tire leachables and volatiles to make a full assessment due to inconsistent hazard data.
2. Testing methods vary: The lack of harmonized testing protocols makes it difficult to compare studies or draw definitive conclusions—highlighting the need for universally accepted guidelines.
3. Adapting existing frameworks: While there’s no agreed upon method for assessing tire wear emissions, existing frameworks for microplastics could be a good starting point, with some adjustments to fit the unique nature of tire wear emissions.
4. Tiered hazard assessment: A tiered approach for hazard assessment is proposed, starting with tests of lab-generated materials such as Cryogenically Milled Tire Tread (CMTT) and progressing to more realistic conditions.
5. Call for collaboration: All stakeholders—industry, policymakers, and academia—are encouraged to work together to develop harmonized guidelines for sampling, analysis, and hazard assessment.

To ensure an unbiased perspective, both papers were elaborated and discussed with external scientists including TIP’s Assurance Group members Dr. J. Spengler from Harvard University and Dr. How Yong from Beijing Normal University, as well as with the Advisory Panel expert Dr. T. Mincer from Florida Atlantic University.

“We are pleased with how the SOK project has evolved and the role it can play in ensuring a collective understanding of tire wear emissions, cutting through the misinformation. It has been an intense team effort for the past two years, and we appreciate how TIP supported this project, while maintaining our independence and autonomy. We hope that these papers will encourage the scientific community and serve as a catalyst for further research and standardization,” concludes Wagner.

 

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Note to Editors:

The State of Knowledge papers and supporting materials are available at https://tireparticles.info/our-research#sokpaper1 and https://tireparticles.info/our-research#sokpaper2.

The State of Knowledge papers are written by Kathrin Müller, Julie Panko, Kenny Unice, Dr. Benoit Ferrari, Dr. Florian Breider, and Dr. Stephan Wagner.

• Kathrin Müller is a PhD Researcher at the Institute for Analytical Research (IfAR) at Hochschule Fresenius University of Applied Sciences in Idstein, Germany. Her PhD research is on the analysis of tire and road wear particles as environmental contaminants focusing on the identification of tire-borne environmental water contaminants.
• Julie Panko is Principal Scientist and Senior Vice President at ToxStrategies, a scientific consulting firm in the United States.  She has more than 30 years of experience conducting and managing a wide variety of occupational, environmental, and consumer health risk assessments and is a Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH).
• Kenny Unice is a Principal Health Scientist and applied researcher in human and environmental health risk, exposure assessment, and sustainability at Stantec. Kenny has more than 20 years’ experience investigating and driving understanding of how chemicals travel, persist or change in the environment to impact organisms and ecosystems.
• Dr. Benoît J.D. Ferrari is a researcher in the field of ecotoxicology. He is the Director of the Swiss Centre for Applied Ecotoxicology (Ecotox Centre) and Head of the Soil and Sediment Ecotoxicology group. His main areas of interest are the ecodynamic of contaminants and their effects at different levels of biological organization.
• Dr. Florian Breider is the Head of the Central Environmental Laboratory at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne—EPFL. His research focuses on the fate and effects of micropollutants and micro/nano plastics in ecosystems, and their implications for human health.
• Dr. Stephan Wagner is Head of the Institute for Analytical Research at the Hochschule Fresenius University of Applied Sciences in Idstein, Germany. He is an expert in the analysis and fate of anthropogenic materials such as tire and road abrasion particles, micro- and nano plastics, nano materials as well as organic trace contaminants in the (urban) water cycle. 

More information about TIP’s Open Call for Projects can be found here https://tireindustryproject.org/open-call-for-projects-2024/

More information on TIP’s Research Conference at MIT in Boston, USA, September 3–4, 2025 can be found here https://tireindustryproject.org/2025-tire-emissions-research-conference/

About TIP

Formed in 2005, the Tire Industry Project (TIP) is a voluntary CEO-driven initiative with a mission to anticipate, understand, and address global environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues relevant to the tire industry and its value chain.​

TIP acts by commissioning independent research of the highest standards, collaborating on sectoral solutions, and engaging with external stakeholders. ​

TIP is part of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), bringing together 10 leading tire companies that represent more than 60% of the world’s tire manufacturing capacity. ​

In 2025, TIP marks its 20th anniversary—a milestone that reflects its long-term commitment to advancing scientific knowledge and fostering collective industry action to improve sustainability across the tire value chain.​

For more information, visit The Tire Industry Project.

In the latest blog, Cascale Board Chair, Tamar Hoek, celebrates the organization’s strong foundation and reflects on the strength, clarity, and momentum Cascale has built collectively. As the search for a new CEO begins, she highlights Cascale’s commitment to excelling amid uncertainty. Tamar commends former CEO Colin Browne for his leadership, and welcomes Interim CEO Harsh Saini re-affirming Cascale’s dedication to moving forward with a clear strategy and strong direction.

Read the full blog, titled: From Strength to Strength: Cascale’s Path Forward

By Kimberly Bishop|Corporate Responsibility

For the second year in a row, Gen team members from around the world came together for our annual Global Volunteer Week, seven full days of service that support the communities where we work and live.

Through a combination of in-person and virtual events, more than 600 employees logged roughly 1,800 volunteer hours in support of 37 nonprofits. These figures represent an 11% increase over 2024 in terms of the number of people participating and a 35% increase in the total number of volunteer hours, making May 18-24, 2025, seven of the most impactful days in Gen’s history.

Highlights from these events, which spanned 13 Gen sites across three continents, are included below. They demonstrate the strength of our company-wide culture of giving, which remains at the heart of everything we do, and partly comprise the consistent yearly increase in Gen employees’ annual volunteer hours, which are up 35% since 2024 and 75% since 2023.

Genovators in Brno, Czechia, spent a day cleaning and conducting site maintenance at House for Juliet, Czechia’s hospice care center for children

Supporting Vulnerable Populations 

Teams all over the world rallied their collective efforts in service of our communities’ most vulnerable members, from survivors of domestic violence to adults with disabilities and many more. Examples of these activities include:

• Through collaborations with National Network to End Domestic Violence and Project Helping, team members across every single one of our U.S. sites, as well as our remote U.S. employees, packed 500 backpacks filled with essential items and uplifting notes for survivors of domestic violence.
• Our team members in Brno, Czechia, spent a day cleaning and conducting site maintenance at House for Juliet, Czechia’s hospice care center for children. After the staff mentioned a shortage of equipment, Brno staff subsequently donated multiple laptops and monitors.
• Teams in Tempe, Arizona, and Plano, Texas, respectively packed nearly 42,000 meals for Feed My Starving Children and sorted more than 15,500 meals for North Texas Food Bank. Mountain View, California, employees cooked and served 150 dinner plates for families at Ronald McDonald House Charities Bay Area.
• More than 50 team members supported people with disabilities through in-person and virtual sessions led by ACCEL. In-person volunteers visited ACCEL’s adult education services, and remote volunteers led a virtual round of Jeopardy to help boost the players’ confidence.
• To care for elder populations, volunteers at the NAM Sales kickoff wrote 100 cards to seniors facing isolation, and in Chennai, India, volunteers visited an elder care home and spent the day with the patients there.

“The shelter was filled with laughter, music and connection,” said Dinesh Bhalaji who volunteered in Chennai. “We played Tambola, danced together and most importantly, we made some wonderful new friends. It was a reminder that somethings, the simplest gestures can bring immense joy to someone else.”

Protecting Local Habitats 

We have a long history of supporting our plant and animal neighbors as part of our volunteer efforts, and this year was no different. Employes in Dublin, Tempe, Brno and Prague convened at animal shelters, zoos and equestrian centers to beautify the grounds and help make the physical environments as safe and comfortable as possible for both the animals and their visitors. Similar efforts include tree planting, beautification of a learning center in Bucharest to support children and families, sprucing up the outdoor space for Palata Home for the Visually Impaired in Prague and more.

Empowering the Next Generation 

Teams in multiple countries used Global Volunteer Week as an opportunity to reach out to children and young people. They shared their enthusiasm for reading as well as their expertise in digital safety, and they prepared school supply kits for students starting or returning to school next year. Examples include:

• Team members in Dublin participated in a CyberSafe Kids workshop, providing a fun, informative session to help protect youth in Ireland from online scams and cyber threats.
• Chennai volunteers helped design educational games about financial literacy to help teach children about saving, spending and budgeting.
• More than 100 Chennai volunteers assembled nearly 500 school supply kits, helping students have what they need to start the school year with confidence.
• Through Food for Thought, virtual volunteers created heartfelt, encouraging cards for school-age children in South Africa.
• Team members took part in events encouraging students to read, including a virtual read-a-thon with Our Kids Read.

Additional events in Serbia, Romania and beyond saw Gen team members continue to work in support of the causes and organizations that they care about. For more information on our volunteering and giving programs, read our latest Social Impact Report.

In this article we explore the resurgence of Safety in Design as a proactive strategy for eliminating workplace hazards from the outset of a project. Discover how integrating safety into design improves outcomes across industries—from construction to retail—and drives efficiency, compliance, and worker well-being throughout a system’s lifecycle.

 

Safety in Design: Where Hazards Begin

Decades of experience in workplace health and safety point to two primary sources of risk: unsafe conditions (flaws in physical designs) and unsafe behaviors (human adaptations to poor systems). Both originate from design decisions.

Design shapes our workspaces. It determines whether machines avoid pinch points or walkways prevent congestion. When these design details fail, risks take root. Worse still, flawed design encourages poor behavior: a 30-meter trek for tools might seem minor, but it wastes time and pressures workers to take shortcuts that may ignore safety protocols.

The takeaway? We must design systems that accommodate human imperfection if we expect safe outcomes. Integrating safety into design helps eliminate risks upfront, reducing costly fixes and reactive solutions later.

 

Safety in Design: A Lifecycle Perspective

Tools like HAZOP, LOPA, SIL, and FMEA are highly effective in high-hazard industries, but true safety by design demands a broader, human-centered lens.

While traditional process safety aims to prevent catastrophic events like chemical leaks, many incidents arise from routine tasks—awkward lifts, poor visibility, or conflicting layouts that push pedestrian routes into machinery zones. These gaps emerge when function overshadows usability.

 

Effective safety in design anticipates every phase of workflow:

• During construction: Materials can be moved without risky lifting, scaffolding supports natural work flow, and safe access is available for work at height.
• In daily operations: Maintenance and procedures are practical and intuitive. A filter that takes 20 minutes and a system shutdown to change might be ignored; make it a 5-minute job with simple access, and compliance improves.
• Long term: Design allows for adaptability and future upgrades without introducing risk—transforming temporary fixes into lasting solutions.

 

Safety in Design: Across All Industries

So-called “low-risk” sectors—retail, office spaces, and tech environments—often overlook safety in design at their own expense.

In retail, a poorly placed shelf becomes a hazard if overstocked. In offices, non-ergonomic furniture can cause long-term strain injuries. Prevention is always more cost-effective than correction.

One bookstore chain experienced this after a shelf collapse. By involving store managers in the redesign, they resolved safety issues and improved efficiency—aligning layout with actual worker movement.

The key? Engage daily users early in the design phase. Builders, operators, and maintainers know the friction points—the minor inconveniences that, left unchecked, become major risks. Early involvement isn’t just inclusive; it’s smart engineering.

Check out this recent webinar, Safety in Design: The Next Frontier in Design Processes from our Associate Antea Group USA here.

 

Conclusion: Why Safety in Design Matters

Safety by design is more than a checklist—it’s a mindset. It’s the recognition that safety, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness all emerge from thoughtful design systems that work with people, not against them.

The most effective safety programs aren’t enforced—they’re embedded into blueprints from day one. When design serves as the backbone of safety, the workplace becomes not just compliant, but comfortable and intuitive.

Find out more about construction safety solutions and related services here.

Subscribe to the Inogen Alliance blog for expert insight into building sustainable, risk-smart operations worldwide.

Driving down our energy emissions through electrification and transitioning to renewable energy as well as our efforts towards more energy efficient processes is part of reaching our long-term goal of net-zero carbon further expanding the sustainability of our operations.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Approximately 54% of the electricity used in our manufacturing sites was renewable, compared to 45% in 2023 ⁽³¹⁾
• Approximately (37)% CO_2e emissions reductions across our manufacturing operations (vs. 2018) ⁽²⁾

STRATEGIC APPROACH

Our three key strategic areas:

1. Improving energy efficiency within our internal operations 
   Focusing on our operations, we are working to make our manufacturing plants more efficient by continuing to invest in advanced energy-management systems and energy efficient technologies. Solutions already in place are energy efficiency improvements to biscuit ovens and steam boilers, including heat recovery. We also invest in higher-efficiency equipment.
    
2. Transition to renewable electricity and electrification
   We are electrifying our operations and aiming for all the electricity we’re using across our manufacturing sites by 2030 to be renewable by transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable electricity and electrification.

   We have been working towards shifting away from fossil fuels as the primary source of the power we use and transferring to biofuels and renewable electricity. Electrification combined with our transition to renewable-sourced electricity are drivers of our decarbonization strategy.
    

3. Increasing the use of renewable electricity
   We’re working closely with governments and suppliers to promote renewable energy wherever we operate by either buying Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) or generating at our facilities with onsite solar panels. This approach is working. About 54% of the electricity we used in 2024 came from various renewable sources, increasing from the approximately 45% achieved in 2023.⁽³¹⁾

ACTION PLANS AND PROGRESS

In our transition to electrification, our Viana bakery plant in Spain achieved in September 2024 an exciting and historic milestone where for the first-time ever, our beloved Oreo cookies were baked in a fully electric oven. The oven’s innovative features bring significant benefits, including lower energy consumption, minimal energy loss due to exhaust gases, and no combustion gases – resulting in lower emission baking. This remarkable achievement marks another important step toward our sustainability goals.

Installing heat pumps to provide hot water is part of our tactical approach towards our decarbonization goal. During 2024 we continued expanding this technology in our operations. Our Skarbimierz plant in Poland and Bludenz plant in Austria replaced boilers with heat pumps for hot water supply, the latter achieved an approximately 60% reduction in the annual gas consumption of the site.

Our commitment to increasing the use of renewable electricity is progressing as in 2024 we reached approximately 54% of renewable electricity usage globally.⁽³¹⁾ Also, during 2024, new renewable electricity purchasing agreements were signed in Poland and Mexico, the latter takes Latin America to approximately 89% of renewable electricity consumption

During 2024 eight sites globally installed solar panels to supply electricity to our sites, helping these facilities to reduce and offset CO2 emissions. With this addition Mondelēz International has a total of 34 sites with solar energy generation which is approximately 100% renewable source.

GOALS AND METRICS

We attained our goal of CO_2e emissions reductions across our manufacturing operations by 2025 (vs. 2018).

2024 PROGRESS
	2024	2023	2018
Total energy consumed (GJ) (31)	18,528,000	18,464,000	18,902,000
Total renewable energy (%) (31)	54 %	45 %	—
Manufacturing CO2e emissions from energy (CO2e market- based metric tonnes) (2)	913,000	982,000	1,458,000
CO2e emissions reductions across our manufacturing operations (vs. 2018) (%) (2)	(37)%	(33)%	—

View the full 2024 Snacking Made Right Report. 

^{(2) Please see the Carbon Accounting Manual for conversion factors applied. Reported information includes all divestitures to date and the following acquisitions (which were not included in previous years): Chipita, Clif bar, Give & Go, Gourmet Foods, Ricolino and Tate’s Bake Shop except for Evirth (subject to future data integration). We have recalculated our base year 2018 (where applicable) and most recent years (2023 and 2024). Reported information is verified by an independent third-party and available in our ESG Reporting & Disclosure Reporting Archive.}

^{(31)  Reported information includes all divestitures to date and the following acquisitions (which were not included in previous years): Chipita, Clif bar, Give & Go, Gourmet Foods, Ricolino and Tate’s Bake Shop except for Evirth (subject to future data integration). We have recalculated our base year 2018 (where applicable) and most recent years (2023 and 2024) for year-over-year comparison. Reported information is verified by an independent third-party and available in our ESG Reporting & Disclosure Reporting Archive.}

CNH brand New Holland was present at the 137^th edition of Argentina’s Expo Rural with the revamped FR 650 harvester. This product is developed to deliver the highest productivity, quality and operational efficiency on the market.

The new FR 650 offers users the possibility of incorporating the NutriSense system, which allows precise information on forage quality to be obtained. In addition, it has the MetaLoc metal detection system that improves safety during work and the IntelliFill III system that increases the accuracy and efficiency in filling the trailer, allowing the operator to focus exclusively on the harvesting task. Its new engine delivers better performance with lower fuel consumption, together with a Power Cruise system and new ECO engine management mode, which allow greater operational efficiency, delivering the highest available capacity at all times.

Another highlight of the new FR 650 is the renewed, more spacious and soundproofed cab, which includes a new 12.1″ IntelliView IV monitor and updated commands. It offers a superior on-board experience, thanks to equipment that allows the operator to work in a comfortable space during long working days.

Read the full story here.

More than 1,500 students in South Los Angeles are heading into the school year equipped for success, thanks to a collaborative back-to-school event hosted by AEG’s LA Galaxy, Herbalife and local nonprofit A Place Called Home (APCH).

The annual event brought together LA Galaxy players and Herbalife volunteers — including midfielders Riqui Puig and Edwin Cerrillo, forward Tucker Lepley, and goalkeeper John McCarthy — to hand out backpacks filled with essential school supplies such as backpacks, pencils, crayons, rulers, notebooks, calculators and books. The effort is part of a continued commitment to support education and wellness for underserved youth across the region.

“We are honored to stand alongside Herbalife and APCH in supporting the children and families of South Los Angeles,” said Gabriel Osollo, Director of Community Relations and Foundation at LA Galaxy. “This event highlights the power of community collaboration in creating opportunities and promoting wellness for all.”

This marks the fifth consecutive year that Herbalife and the LA Galaxy have partnered with APCH to support local students through the back-to-school initiative, underscoring a shared mission to uplift and empower the next generation.

The backpack giveaway was made possible by the Joint Community Partnership Fund — a longstanding initiative between the LA Galaxy and Herbalife that supports underserved communities through education, nutrition, wellness, and sports programs. In addition to school supply drives, the fund backs youth soccer field development, garden-based nutrition education, and the LA Galaxy Special Olympics Unified Team.

To learn more about the LA Galaxy Foundation, please click here.

 

Since 1919, Griffith Foods has been committed to building a more sustainable food system—blending care and creativity to nourish the world. From our roots in food safety and innovation to our bold 2030 Aspirations, we can restore nature, improve livelihoods and deliver affordable, sustainable nutrition for all.

Join us on our journey through this time-lapse video and see how our legacy is shaping a regenerative future.

Explore more: https://bit.ly/3EHAg9f

View original content here.

Our Sustainability Journey
At Griffith Foods, we are committed to driving positive impact through a regenerative mindset. Sustainability is connected to everything we do as a business, and by 2030, we are dedicated to significantly improving the future with a singular sustainable business strategy that we call our 2030 Aspirations. To learn more about Griffith Foods and its current sustainability efforts, visit them online and download the 2023 Sustainability Report.

About Griffith Foods
At Griffith Foods, our purpose defines who we are, what we do, and why we exist, highlighting what makes us distinct and authentic in the marketplace. We help our partners meet the evolving needs and desires of consumers in ways that respect and sustain the planet. Our care and creativity mean we’ll find the right mix of global reach and local impact to serve the earth and nourish all of us who call it home.

Originally published on Aflac Newsroom

Aflac, headquartered in Columbus, Georgia, recently donated a generous amount of furniture to area public school districts, transforming excess inventory into valuable resources for students and educators across the Chattahoochee Valley. The contribution not only helps the schools create more functional, organized and inspiring learning spaces, but also reinforces Aflac’s strong corporate commitments to waste reduction and philanthropy.

All told, more than 400 chairs, desks, cabinets, bookcases, tables, podiums and framed art pieces were donated, as well as a multitude of games, blocks and other classroom items no longer in use at one of Aflac’s on-site employee day care centers. Led by Aflac employee volunteers and members of the company’s Facilities and Wellness teams, representatives from school districts in Muscogee, Chattahoochee and Talbot counties in Georgia, and nearby Lee County, Alabama, combed through and selected items over a three-day period.

According to Mark Renner, Aflac manager of Office Design and Planning, the hearty surplus of quality items was no longer in use by the company and needed to be moved to open up employee workspace. His team reached out to Aflac Corporate Social Responsibility and Human Resources team members responsible for community and school engagement for ideas as to how the items could be recommissioned for community use.

“We’re very happy to see these items getting a second life in classrooms and schools, where they’ll help foster creativity, comfort and success for students and educators,” said Renner. “This is a great reflection of Aflac’s pledge to renewable practices, not to mention our longstanding mission to help strengthen the communities where our employees live and work.”

Muscogee County School District [MCSD], which serves over 30,000 students across 56 schools and programs, left the Aflac campus with four box trucks and two trailers full of donated items. Dr. Travis Anderson, MCSD chief operations officer, called the opportunity an incredible show of community partnership. Dollars saved on items such as these means more can be put towards education, he added.

Anderson said that, while furniture is always useful, the things they are most grateful for are the surplus items from the day care center because the district’s new elementary teachers will be able to use them to stock their first-time classrooms — manipulatives, games, building blocks, kitchen sets, markers, clipboards and more. Prior to the start of the new school year, the system hosted a New Teacher Yard Sale event where they could select things for their classrooms, free of charge.

The smaller school systems in the area were equally as excited for the opportunity to receive items for their offices and classrooms.

“Donations are especially important to the smaller districts,” said Carson Grier, athletic director at Chattahoochee County School District, which serves about 1,000 students in Pre-K through 12^th grade, roughly 70% of which are from families stationed at the U.S. Military installation, Fort Benning.

“We are a small school in a rural area and every bit counts,” he said. “Aflac’s generosity to our teachers and students and the company’s commitment to education, it makes a huge difference. It truly does. We are very grateful.”

Aflac herein means American Family Life Assurance Company and/or American Family Life Assurance Company of New York and/or Continental American Insurance Company and /or Continental American Life Insurance Company. Aflac WWHQ | 1932 Wynnton Road | Columbus, GA. 31999 Continental American Insurance Company | Columbia, South Carolina

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