Sustainability starts with your own house

Look around today and it’s clear that more organizations than ever recognize the value of sustainability—whether it’s Wal-Mart selling “ugly” apples to reduce waste, Levi’s inviting drop-off of any brand of clothing for recycling or IKEA committing that by 2020 it will produce as much renewable energy as it consumes.

In fact, the 2016 Edelman Trust Barometer suggests 80 percent of people believe businesses can take actions that increase profits and improve economic and social conditions. And many companies out there are making a lot of noise and declaring moonshots about what they see as “big issues.”

But the reality is, what matters most are the fundamental choices you make every day at home. You don’t keep a house clean by building on an addition or slapping on paint. Instead, it’s a systematic, fundamental, daily process of looking in every nook and cranny and cleaning up what you find.

That’s been SC Johnson’s approach for decades, and it applies across every area of our business—from the products we produce and the way we operate to the impact we try to have on the world.

We like to tell the story of Sam Johnson, the father of our current CEO, who heard the first warnings about chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in the 1970s and decided to unilaterally remove them from SC Johnson products.

The industry went crazy. The CEO of a major chemical company told Sam he was going to ruin the industry forever. But Sam knew it was the right thing to do. And his foresight meant that we already had highly competitive, non-CFC products by the time governments started issuing mandates.

Fisk Johnson, our current CEO, is similarly visionary. When concerns arose about polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in the late 1990s, he decided to stop using chlorine in our products and packaging, including polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC), a chemical in our Saran Wrap.

The new version had less competitive advantage, and its market share dropped. But Fisk knew it was the right thing to do. And, over time, his decision provided a critical example to our product formulators — and to our consumers — of the principles we will stand by.

Why is this important? At SC Johnson, we believe it’s about trust. While some people might tell you that you only need to support the latest trendy causes, what consumers care about most is what you do day in and day out.

They want to know that you’re making decisions that are thoughtful and responsible. They want to know that you’re transparent. They want to know that you care.

As a 130-year-old family business, that’s an easy one for us. We care because we’ve spent more than a century making decisions for the next generation, not just the next quarter’s balance sheet. And it starts right at the foundation, with the chemicals that go into our products.

In the 1990s, we started formalizing our standards and created a “brownlist” system to eliminate ingredients that didn’t live up to our standards. By 2001, we had formalized our SC Johnson Greenlist process to focus on adding in “better” rather than just eliminating the “bad.”

Today, when creating a new product or reformulating an existing one, our formulators work to select materials we rate as “better” or “best.” They must include ingredients that have SC Johnson Greenlist process ratings equal to or higher than the original formula. By 2015, 52 percent of our ingredients were in the better/best categories.

We took a similarly systematic approach to our operations, declaring our first greenhouse gas reduction targets in 2000. Today, using a combination of cogeneration, biofuel and wind energy, we’ve cut global greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent since 2000.

Getting waste out of our operations has been a focus, too, and we’ve transitioned more than 30 percent of our manufacturing sites to zero-landfill operations, defined as reusing, recycling or eliminating material that would otherwise have been sent to a landfill. For waste that cannot be reused, recycled or eliminated, incineration and heat recovery may be an option. We’ve cut global manufacturing waste 72 percent since 2000.

“Our goal is for every Ziploc product to be recyclable at the curb. It’s going to be a long process and an uphill challenge, but we have to find an end-of-life solution for this very important brand of ours.” – Kelly M. Semrau, SC Johnson

We also believe that advocacy is a vital part of sustainability leadership. It’s why we’ve been a vocal proponent of chemical reform, why we explore and test new products such as concentrated refills and compostable bags, and why we have been a leader in advancing recycling opportunities related to our industry.

When research in the 1990s showed concern about aerosol cans because they couldn’t be put in curbside recycling bins, we led a national grassroots effort to bring aerosol can recycling to 5,400 communities. We worked with the Steel Recycling Institute, Pittsburgh, so that now every aerosol can is able to include “please recycle” on the label.

A 2007 project light-weighted Windex bottles, reducing consumer waste by 1 million pounds annually, but, we didn’t stop there. In July 2015, we introduced the first 100-percent-postconsumer-recycled Windex bottle, saving 1.8 million pounds of virgin resin annually.

We hope to drive additional progress for plastics recycling. We’ve worked with recyclers and communities across the country communicating that Ziploc brand bags are recyclable and can be dropped off at participating local retailers and at community drop-off sites.

But that’s not enough. Our goal is for every Ziploc product to be recyclable at the curb. It’s going to be a long process and an uphill challenge, but we must find an end-of-life solution. We’ll be working with material recovery facility (MRF) operators, communities and others to come up with an answer.

These types of efforts inspire us. Whether it’s closing a loop or opening new levels of transparency, we take these actions because we believe the choices we make every day can make life better for decades to come. As a family company, there’s nothing more important to us than that.

Kelly M. Semrau is senior vice president, global corporate affairs, communication and sustainabilty, for SC Johnson, Racine, Wisconsin.