American residential case goods manufacturer, Stanley Furniture, hosted a unique Earth Day celebration this year, jump starting the company's short and long-term sustainability goals.
Spearheaded by Stanley Furniture's Vice President of Engineering and recently appointed “Green Czar,” Cristina Loth, the company developed and launched a creative recycling initiative to honor Earth Day as well as its unwavering commitment to environmental stewardship. Over two days, Loth, along with fellow members of the “Green Team,” traveled throughout the South Carolina area collecting packaging waste materials from six of Stanley Furniture's participating retailers.
J Banks Design Group, Coastal Chic, Stuckey Furniture (in Ridgeland and Beaufort), Morris Sokol and Marty Raes were among the events recycling donators, contributing enough packaging waste material to fill out the 3,500 cubic foot Stanley Furniture truck.
According to Marty Raes of Lexington, leftover packaging material is a huge concern for furniture retailers. In fact, 3,500 cu. ft. of waste represents less than two weeks worth of deliveries for the retailer, resulting in a great deal of material, not to mention unusable space.
Cost is also an issue when it comes to recycling packaging waste materials. Joe Sokol of Morris Sokol in Charleston, S.C., makes every effort to recycle his stores discarded packaging materials. “Cardboard can be recycled through the county, but it's not so easy to dispose of other packaging materials such as styrofoam, plastic bags and even skids.”
Stanley Furniture's Earth Day celebration was the first of many initiatives designed to foster one of the company's key initiatives, called “Our World Made Better.”
According to Glenn Prillaman, Executive Vice President for Sales and Marketing, “Our World Made Better,” or OWMB, is part of Stanley Furniture's corporate-wide mission “to positively impact the lives and futures of the company's customers, associates, shareholders, partners and planet.”
“Over the next three years, it's one of our goals to improve our packaging as a means of reducing cost and waste,” said Loth. “We saw this initiative as a great way to begin increasing awareness in this area.” In addition, Stanley Furniture has pledged to channel its energies into two other major areas, including air quality improvement and the reduction of hazardous waste via a corporate-wide solvent recovery program.
Coastal Chic owner, Susan Tygret added, “I'm thankful that Stanley Furniture has set the pace for such an important initiative. It's definitely a step in the right direction for furniture manufacturers.”
For more information about Stanley Furniture's commitment to sustainability, visit www.ourworldmadebetter.com.
Stanley Furniture is a leader in design of residential wood furniture, covering all major style categories for every room in the home. Founded in Stanleytown, Va. in 1924, the company remains committed to its heritage as an American manufacturer, with approximately two-thirds of all revenues coming from products made in the USA. To learn more visit www.stanleyfurniture.com.