Grand & Toy: Working Towards a Sustainable Future
With ever increasing energy prices, diminishing natural resources, a highly competitive business and economic landscape and rising consumer engagement surrounding environmental impact sustainability in business has become crucial. Identifying and pursuing sustainability opportunities can help an organization lay the foundation for long-term organizational success in an ever-changing, resource-stressed world.
As one of the largest Canadian business solutions and B2B office products and service providers, we strive to be a leading example of how businesses can improve sustainability practices, inspire social innovation and reduce their environmental footprint while still optimizing their bottom line.
Our Journey
Grand & Toys sustainability journey started in 2008 with the publication of our first corporate social responsibility report. The purpose of the sustainability program was to strive to find ways to be better for our environment, our communities and our Canadian business community. This intention has not changed and remains just as relevant to us as an organization today.
To establish our most important sustainability priorities, our executive team has continued to reach out to stakeholders, associates, customers and suppliers to help ensure our sustainability efforts remain meaningful, effective and relevant to both our communities and our planet. Throughout this on-going process, we have identified our most important environmental priorities to be: greener products, waste and recycling programs and community involvement.
Greener Products
We addressed the greener products challenge by introducing a new ``shades of green`` classification system for environmentally friendly offerings. This initiative (called GreenerOffice™) allows Grand & Toy customers to easily identify greener products, keep track of their green spend, set greener purchasing goals, and even get rewarded by being recognized as the best in their industry through companys Leadership in Greener Purchasing awards. In 2016, green products constituted 27 per cent of our companys total sales which was a 3 per cent increase from the previous year.
Waste & Recycling
To tackle recycling, Grand & Toy formed a partnership with TerraCycle Canada in 2014 in order to ensure customers had access to viable recycling solutions for coffee capsules. Eventually, this partnership grew. In our partnership TerraCycle we now also offer Zero Waste Boxes for other items often considered unrecyclable such as personal protective equipment, candy bar wrappers, breakroom supplies, and writing instruments. Since 2011, Grand & Toy has also been engaged in battery recycling in partnership with Call2Recycle®. Call2Recycle® North Americas first and largest battery stewardship program collects and recycles batteries and cell phones at no cost in Canada. Finally, THINK is Grand & Toy's ink & toner recycling solution for the workplace. We collect organizations empty ink & toner cartridges and remanufacture them where possible recycling all others that cannot go through the remanufacturing process.
Community Involvement
As an organization, we are also active in many communities across Canada. The Pause and Affect volunteer program allows company employees one volunteer day per year. A partnership with the Nature Conservancy of Canada was established in 2016 to provide a foundation for this program. To date, Grand & Toy associates have contributed over 1,000 volunteer hours as part of Pause and Affect.
In Conclusion
As we celebrate our 135th birthday, Grand & Toy continues to take a holistic approach towards sustainability challenges by leveraging both workplace solutions and initiatives. Together, we can not only change the face of business, but create a stronger environmental future for our communities across the globe.