green products come from green companies

(pictured above: our biodiesel truck)

from the start of method's existence as a company we've been focused on how to do good through our business. from both social and environmental perspectives, we've tried to ensure that we leave things better than we found them - hopefully radically better. when making our products, we've focused the design process on the greenest chemistries, materials and formats around and constantly push to raise the bar. and this has been successful - we are fully confident of the health of the materials from which we make our products and stand behind our record of innovation in designing products.

now we are taking the next big step – using this same design mindset to redefine the processes that are used to actually manufacture the products. the trick is, we don’t own any of these facilities. this means intense collaboration with all our supply chain partners, helping them develop green manufacturing as their bread and butter so that our processes improve in terms of the materials, water and energy they use.  we are making the leap from product design to process design.

we are gearing up to start into this in earnest in the coming months, and will share our tales of blue collar sustainability as we make the transition from designing green soap to designing green processes to make the soap.

what other companies do you admire for their ability to design a process for operating green in addition to making a green product?

hi, i'm drummond, and i approve this fragrance

 

think about how many times you’ve passed someone on the street and realized that all of a sudden you were transported back to high school, remembering that sweet, curly gal you let get away. then you rummage through your brain wondering, “where did that thought come from?” your nose knows – that woman you just passed was wearing her perfume.
 
scent has a way of ultimately changing and enhancing our experience by taking us back, lifting us up, or simply allowing us to enjoy that “ahhh” moment.  at method, it’s the reason we revel in it and see its importance in just about every product we make.
 
fragrance blends like mandarin mango contain both essential oils from natural sources (like citrus oils) and complementary components that are man-made. the essential oils are selected to best capture the essence of natural scents, while the man-made materials are selected to deliver the broadest possible pallet of aromas by enhancing or complementing the natural oils.

when we’re developing a new fragrance (enter mr. mango), we start with a list of safe ingredients. all of our fragrances avoid commonly used dirty ingredients -  like phthalates, alkylphenol ethoxylates, styrene, irritating materials like musk derivatives, and other nasties.

we work closely with our fragrance houses to develop innovative aromatic experiences that exceed our strict internal health and environmental standards. like all the ingredients we use, our third party partner, the epea, assesses the materials we plan to use to make sure they are safe for people and pets non-irritating, non-toxic and non-allergenic and will biodegrade in the environment.

 

once a fragrance has passed all of our tests (including, of course, the sniff test), we blend it into our soap, and it becomes the star of the show.

efforts in reducing climate change

Clearly we love penguins – we just launched our penguin-inspired bottle design. And we love homes. So what about penguins’ homes? Antarctica is where a lot of them live, and due to global warming its ice sheets are melting fast. We sure wouldn’t want our home to melt, so we’re taking steps to minimize our impact on the climate.

With global warming as one of the greatest challenges humanity has ever faced, we believe businesses have a role to play in finding solutions. We at method are keen to be leaders in showing that a low-carbon business can be a successful business. Here’s what we’re doing:

• We offset all the carbon emitted by the work travel and daily commute of all our employees, as well as for the energy used by our offices and to make our products.
• We work with our suppliers and factories to help identify the most energy efficient ways to produce our products.
• We design products that take less energy to make, ship and use - for example concentrated laundry detergent and bottles made from recycled plastic.

But that's not all. You can make an impact too. There is a wealth of great tips to reduce your carbon footprint. Here are some of our faves: 

• Eat more veggies. Meat takes over 10 times the carbon to produce one serving than veggies do. One pound of beef produces 12 pounds of carbon.
• Ride a bike or take public transit. Cars are among the biggest producers of carbon in the US, so try leaving it in the driveway more often. 
• Better insulation for your home. This is an easy one: save money on heating and AC bills, and reduce your footprint by updating your insulation.
  

To check out some more tips on what you can do to help reduce climate change, visit the EPA website to learn more. 

people against dirty, for dirt

Though we may be people against dirty, we do make one exception for the grimy stuff…compost! A family of happy, well-fed worms resides in our 3rd floor kitchen, and chomps the day away while the rest of us work.


Much to our delight, our hunky San Francisco mayor has just made sure that we’re not the only ones reveling in green bin fun. Gavin Newsom signed a new law that mandates composting across the city and county of San Francisco.

While worm-haters will eventually be fined for not separating out their food scraps, the city will first spread the message through an educational campaign. Seems like a cool way to put the carrot before the stick. We’ll be on the lookout for pizza boxes that instruct the masses to recycle a clean box and compost a greasy box (see Gavin’s demo piece above). As if the boxes are ever grease free.

The good people of San Francisco already have much to be proud of – our fair city already diverts 72 percent of waste bound for landfills to recycling and composting programs. The new pro-worm, anti-methane law will hopefully help the city meet its 2020 goal of sending zero waste to landfill. And you wonder where we get our inspiration from.

Gavin Newsom image credit: John Cote/The Chronicle, SFGate.com

Revisiting DfE 101

Here at method, two of our biggest obsessions are design thinking and environmental sustainability, so it isn’t much of a surprise that the US EPA’s Design for Environment (DfE) program is a such a good fit. DfE allows companies to apply to have their products’ formulations assessed against a series of health and environmental criteria. If the products meet a strict screen, they are recognized for their green-ness, or as the EPA puts it, for their safer chemistry. 

So far method has had over 50 products recognized by DfE, which you can see indicated by the little globe logo on many of our cleaning line’s labels. To learn more about the DfE program, visit their website here. 

A talk with our own Drummond Lawson and GreenerDesign.com

So if you’ve been keeping up with us, you know we recently became certified as a Cradle to Cradle business. This morning, one of our very own Greenskeepers, Drummond Lawson, spoke to GreenerDesign.com on the process and what’s involved.

 In the article, Drummond shares how 20 of our products received silver certification and that we’re currently in the process of certifying another 20 more. The criteria for this certification involves examining our materials to see if they’re environmentally safe, designing for material reutilization, using renewable energy, water and energy efficiency, and company social responsibility practices. A few of our practices that comply with the certification standards include using label adhesives that don’t clog up recycling systems, utilizing bottles that are made from 100% recycled plastic, and purchasing carbon offsets to make up for emissions from manufacturing and employee corporate travel to name just a few.

If you’re interested in checking out the full article, be sure to check it out here.

what being a Cradle to Cradle business means

We recently had the honor of being endorsed as a Cradle to Cradle^SM company by some pretty inspiring people – green architect Bill McDonough and environmental chemist Dr. Michael Braungart, who literally wrote the book on green product design (called Cradle to Cradle). This endorsement comes after a few years of working with these two, and shows that running a company in an environmentally intelligent way is just as important as making a green product. What does that mean? It means we’ve been recognized for being a green and sustainable company in ALL that we do - not just the products we create. We’ve been recognized in being green as a whole (rather than just having green products) and that we don’t take part in practices that aren’t environmentally sustainable. Everything we do meets the C2C standards even if  we don’t choose to certify every single one of our products.

So why did method get named a Cradle to Cradle^SM company? Well, all the work we’ve been doing with Dr Braungart’s team at EPEA to assess each and every material that go into our products means that everything we make literally has the C2C principles built into them.

But this recognition is because Michael and Bill also saw that how we do things as a company strives to be truly good for the environment: from how we make and ship our product, to the office we work in, to the environmental innovations we create with our suppliers and partners, we are seeking to drive change in the system of how things are made.

This reminds us that a green product is a reflection of a green company – of the vision and goals of the people working there, and not a one-off to satisfy a trend that some forecaster observed. Everything we make at method reflects the belief that we can create a better functioning, more beautiful, and greener product, and change the way that industry works in the process.

Adam goes to TED

One of our co-founders, Adam Lowry just got back from attending the TED conference down in Southern California. When he got back, we asked him how the experience was.

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Late last week I got to go to the TED conference for the first time.  TED stands for “Technology, Entertainment, and Design”, and is basically a conference about the bleeding edge of everything. The attendees are a who’s who of business, film, television, and design, so I was super excited when I got the invite.

   
In a nutshell, some of my favorite highlights were: 

• chatting with Al Gore face to face about how to combat global warming using the power of consumers
• having dinner with Robin Williams and laughing hysterically as he put on impromptu show for our table
• seeing the looks on peoples’ faces when Bill Gates released live mosquitoes into the crowd during his talk about malaria

In the technology area, I was blown away by Bonnie Bassler’s ability to determine how bacteria talk to each other, and engineer that speech to get them to do almost anything.  Watch out, because this is one we’re going to bring to method.  Using antibacterials means using chemicals that kill bacteria - all bacteria, including those that are actually good for you and help you stay healthy.  The next generation is probiotic products, where you use bacteria to get the job done instead!

There were other fascinating talks by Ed Ulbrich on how he created Benjamin Button out of Brad Pitt; Dan Ariely on why people cheat; and Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert on creative genius.  And many, many others….

It’s not often with today’s crazy schedules that we get to take time out to get truly inspired, and that’s exactly what I was last week.  My head is brimming with innovative ideas to bring to method’s products, the way we do business, and how we create good in this world through that business.  Just wait, even bigger things to come!!!

Mr. Lowry Goes to Washington

Earlier this week, Adam Lowry, co-founder and head Green Giant, was called upon the Obama-Biden Transition Team to participate in something very cool. Adam got to speak among a panel of other sustainable businesses about the future of green business and a green economy. We asked Adam what the trip was like...

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Last week, I got a call from the Obama-Biden Transition Team.  They wanted me to come to Washington and present method’s policy priorities and recommendations to the Administration.  After briefly lamenting the extra travel and subsequent carbon emissions (offset, of course), I realized I was being an idiot, and this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.  So off I went to Capitol Hill!!

After a morning getting prepared with other members of the sustainable business community and my friend Jonathan Greenblatt, founder of Ethos Water and GOOD Mag CEO, who is running the Transition’s Social Innovation Team, we headed over to Transition Team HQ.  Apparently, the man himself was in the building, as evidenced by the black SUV’s out front with peculiar appendages and the men in suits talking to their sleeves (and no, I didn’t meet Obama).

 

After goofing around in the green room, we were escorted up to a conference room to get down to business.
 

In the room were 15 of us – some sustainable business practitioners like me, Seth Goldman from Honest Tea, Gary Hirschberg from Stonyfield Farm; some public policy specialists; and some of the leaders in the green jobs movement (like Melissa Bradley-Burns from Green for All).  We spent two hours hearing about the priorities of the Administration, and sharing our thoughts and wish list for policy over the next 8 years.


For method, our recommendations included nationwide recycling infrastructure and green chemistry policy, a new corporate form for sustainable business, and increasing transparency in the supply chain.  Incredibly, many had similar themes, and the Administration walked away with some action items to put to work. 


While it’s hard to walk out of a meeting like that feeling that something concrete has happened, it was clear that we are entering a new era.  The Obama Administration understands that the deck has been stacked against businesses trying to do the right thing, that government has been padding the coffers of polluters, and we need to rebalance the playing field.  The feeling in the room that change was coming was palpable. 


I don’t know if any history was made on Monday, but it sure felt like one small step that represented the first step in a change toward a sustainable economy that uses business to help, not hinder, our environmental and social condition.  I’m incredibly excited for what comes next….

honored by the EPA

We were recognized last week by the US EPA at the SDSI awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. Our Good Cop, Ryan, happened to be speaking at a green cleaning products conference in Alexandria, VA and swooped into the event to receive our plaque, commemorative pint glass, and cash in the two drink tickets!

The Safer Detergents Stewardship Initiative is a program through the EPA's Design for the Environment that recognizes industry leaders who voluntarily commit to the use of safer surfactants. That means they use ingredients that break down quickly to non-polluting compounds and help protect aquatic life in both fresh and salt water. We are honored to be recognized at the Champions level, the highest level for this award.

If you're looking for more info, be sure to check out the EPA website that also has a full list of DfE certified products.

Thanks Ryan!