Responsible Retail

Last year,upholstery brand Portico decided to do away with all the PVC that they were using in the packaging of their products. Their motive: to reduce their carbon footprint.

TALK looks at some business establishments whose green practices go beyond the annual gimmick

Last year,upholstery brand Portico decided to do away with all the PVC that they were using in the packaging of their products. Their motive: to reduce their carbon footprint. However,that left them with a problem how would the customers,who could earlier see the material and pattern of the products through the plastic cover,know what they are buying? While the management toyed with rolling back their decision,the packaging team suggested that the patterned cloth that is being used on the product should also be used for the packaging. That way,customers would get a first-hand feel of the cloth and if the packaging is made in standard cushion sizes,they also gets a free cushion cover to go with the bedsheets. Though it increased the cost of manufacturing,the decision helped us avoid plastic,a step that has won us the Du Pont Packaging award, says Pallavi Tibrewal,head of product marketing,Portico.

Many across the world celebrated the World Environment Day on Sunday,by planting saplings,taking part in bike rallies and conducting awareness drives. But there are a few who

work beyond the annual gimmick,to adopt eco-friendly practices in their daily dealings.

Good news is that some business establishments are making an effort and taking baby steps towards eco-friendly practices. A case in point are hotels like ITC Maurya,The Courtyard by Marriott and WelcomHotel Sheraton in Delhi. The latter,for instance,has solar panels to heat water,uses LED lights and recycles water for flushing and gardening. Energy and water conservation training modules have been prepared for all associates and training is imparted on regular basis on rain water harvesting and domestic water savings such as re-using kitchen and linen-wash water at home, says Prem Prakash Srivastava,chief engineer,WelcomHotel Sheraton. He also points out that the hotel is in the process of setting up a sapling bank in Delhis Malviya Nagar Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya.

The premium leather brand,Hidesign has been employing eco-friendly practices since its inception in 1978. We adopted these practices way before it became fashionable. Our factory in Puducherry is a green workshop made from bricks. The interiors are designed using eco-friendly materials. We use vegetable dyes for our products,which ensures everything is biodegradable, says Dilip Kapur,the companys president.

The challenges in sticking to eco-friendly ways can be plenty. Tibrewal points out that sometimes these measures are rather costly. Most people dont understand that systems like water and waste recycling help save cost in the long run, Heidri points out.

Story continues below this ad

For many others,such as Anurag Tyagi,the brand manager of the skin care brand Kiehls,its about returning to Mother Earth what she gives us. The world over,Kiehls stores have an eco-bin where they encourage customers to return the empty product containers for a discount and then use a unique technology to recycle the bottles into bags. The famous limited edition bags are not for retail and are given as tokens to selected guests. Its about imbibing and passing on these values to our customers, says Tyagi.

With inputs from Pallavi Pundir

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram

Tags:
world environment day