Strathcona Green Zone

Today, everyone says they're 'green'. It's meaning is washed out. All too often overlooked is the social side of sustainability, the people who make up our organizations, the communities in which we operate, social justice issues, and building diverse constituents in all our stakeholder groups. It's the people who I find interesting in the work that we do as they make me feel the rewards of our labour. In Vancouver's downtown eastside and inner city there's one organization that's been doing a great job at bridging the gap between socially distraught down and out people and the businesses that inhabit the neighbourhood and drive the economy, Building Opportunities with Business, commonly referred to as BOB.

Last month I got a call from Brian Smith, the on the ground business and social enterprise developer at BOB, letting me know about their 'Consultant Fees' grant program available to inner city businesses working with consultants on various projects to green their operations. Opportunity knocks! At the time we were just negotiating terms with our brand and marketing consultant Andy Maier at Courageous B, looking at revising our brand and redeveloping our website (Scheduled to go live on Sept.15/10, stay tuned for some upcoming changes!). Given the green emphasis of our business, the product sourcing we do from DTES social enterprises and our participation in BOB's social purchasing portal we were awarded a $7,500 grant to contribute to this work we're taking on. If successful, it'll help us to grow our business and further the positive social and environmental impacts we're having on the community. I'm honored to work with BOB and receive their contribution, every bit helps and allows us to take some risks and leverage our marketing budget for the year. With the Christmas gift basket season approaching we're eager to see how our investment will pan out.

In total $36,000 was distributed to 8 Vancouver businesses. We're in good company with our neighbours at the Strathcona Business Improvement Association whom we collaborate with on the Strathcona Green Zone and other leading DTES organizations including Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden, EMBERS, Recycling Alternative, Megaphone and Potluck Cafe. The Vancouver Aquaponics initiative received some funding as well which is an exciting opportunity to convert under utilized space in parking garages into highly productive aquaculture businesses to supply the local market demand for fish. Would love to see that happen! Thanks BOB!

This Saturday, June 26th, the culmination of thousands of hours of hard work and creative brainwaves will take shape in the form of The Cheaper Show No. 9. It's a project that I'm very proud to have helped out in a small way as a volunteer. As the finish line nears, and final preparations for the Show are made, I've been thinking about the community focus that's a principal driver behind the show and the relationships that develop with volunteering.

First, about the Show: The Cheaper Show is a one-night only event that has grown leaps and bounds since its original inception ("Cheaper Than A One Night Stand") ten years ago. However, the concept has always remained the same. For one night, a collection of artists showcase their work to the community, and agree that everything displayed will be sold for one, accessible, price. For the past two shows, that price has been $200. While this represents a remarkable a bargain for the work that's available, the Show is not about being a fire sale for art. Rather, the act of sacrifice (on the part of the artists, some of whom regularly sell their work for many times the asking price) shows a concerted willingness to engage everyday people with the arts and offer them a chance to own a piece that sings to them. With the cost barrier lowered, many more people can participate in the normally rarefied air of art collection, which in turn, promotes a different level of interaction with what's in the gallery. Even for those not looking to buy, the strength of the show and the chance to commune with so many talented people promises an extraordinary evening for everyone passing through the doors.

As a volunteer, I've had the chance to appreciate the talent and dedication behind this show first hand. A small corps of staff and volunteers have completely transformed the W2 Storeum into a gallery space to be proud of. Behind the scenes, the Cheaper staff have marshalled funds, recognition, and artistic support to make this the largest art show in Western Canada. I've met incredible people through the Show (many times working back to back painting, mopping, or measuring hanging points) and I know we all share deep feelings of pride and satisfaction as the night approaches. I've felt similar feelings working with the Strathcona Business Improvement Association and their green zone initiative in the Downtown Eastside. It's no accident that the Show is located on the edge of Vancouver's most challenged neighbourhood. The motivations behind bringing art to the public echo the efforts being made by innumerable groups to improve the quality of life of many of the DTES's residents.

Saul Good Gift Co. is proud to be the gift sponsor for the Show. We will be recognizing the efforts of the volunteers by putting together unique customized gift boxes for everyone who helped make this event happen!

If you’ve received a Saul Good gift box recently, you’ve probably noticed that there's some unique shredded paper inside. Well it’s more than just pretty confetti, it’s an example of sustainability in action!

What does local mean?

Transparency and assurance

Where's your shit from?

We're in planning mode for Sustainability 2.010 (fall 2010) at the Strathcona Business Improvement Association (SBIA) where I vollunteer on their sustainability committee. Looking back at the last year I found this footage of the 'Shades of Green' panal I sat on talking about sustainable business practices in the Strathcona Green Zone in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. It's been exciting at the SBIA with the announcement of $50,000 in funding from the Vancity enviroFUND for the development of a materials exchange network so businesses in our community can easily utilize each other's waste materials and save money on disposal and recycling services. An example of this can be seen in our use of off cut paper scraps produced by a local printer as packaging material in our corporate gift basket program. In the near future we'll be looking to hire a full time sustainability coordinator for the SBIA to run with the program and hit the pavement to learn about amd engage all our neighbourhood businesses, helping to facilitate meaningful connections identifying opportunities to save money while reducing environmental impact. Besides materials exchange a community energy challenge is another area of interest, looking at how we as a community can work together to better use resources. Building on the recent success of the SOLE Food Urban Farm project, an initative by United We Can and Building Opportunities with Business, we're finding lots of ways for local businesses, organizations and community members to find meaningful employment while addressing environmental and social justice issues.

Living the Olympic dream. With 9 days to go before the world converges in Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games we're in full swing to fulfill our commitments for 2010 Olympic partners. In November we were approached by our client Gameday Auction, an innovative sports memorabilia company based on Railway St in the Strathcona Green Zone, to help them design a sustainable packaging solution for a unique 2010 Olympic collectible, official replica jerseys (bibs), the same as the ones worn by the athletes during competition in the Games. A year ago they hired us to develop a sustainable corporate gift packaging solution for the Trevor Linden "Behind the Autograph" program and the rest has been history.

Trailblazing the road to sustainable packaging

If you think producing 100% post consumer recycled packaging is easy, think again! After much work with our various suppliers we were able to create 100% recycled (95% post consumer) gift boxes for the replica bibs. The vast majority of the cardboard packaging you'll see during the Games was produced by printing various gradients of blue directly onto bleached white cardboard. VANOC guidelines for using the Olympic logo and artwork stipulate that the logo must be displayed on a white background. From a sustainability perspective this was a very poor design decision as it meant to produce low cost packaging one had no choice but to use materials bleached with chlorine! We decided to print our artwork onto sheets of 100% FSC certified paper and glue that paper to recycled cardboard. We justified the additional costs to our client by not only the environmental benefits but also the value of creating a unique looking package that stands apart on the shelf. I brought in a great collegue of mine, Andy Maier of Courageous B who takes care of our graphic design, and we worked together to come up with solutions that work not only for our client but also that are feasible to produce with our suppliers. The bibs are being sold in the Olympic store at HBC and in the Athlete's Village (also in the Olympic venues during the Games) we're looking forward to seeing if they're a popular souvenir collectible. If you like collecting autographs the bibs are a really cool item as you can get them signed by athlete's during the Games and get them framed with photos and other things you collect during your stay in Vancouver and Whistler.

Lean manufacturing - implementing what I learned in business school

As we set up the assembly line to put together 3,000 bibs I implemented some of the lessons learned during my MBA in Sustainable Business at the Bainbridge Graduate Institute. Tact time is the amount of time it takes an individual to complete a task. If everyone's task takes the same amount of time then the assembly process flows without interruption. When one person's task is a lot faster than the others down the line, 'work in progress' stacks up and creates a 'bottleneck'. Check out the video of our team on Day 1 assembling the bibs, as I watched and timed each task it helped to figure out who should do what and how many people to put at the various stages. Although I'm a firm believer that there's a lot to learn from Toyota and lean manufacturing, at a small scale it really takes people to think on their feet, see where things are getting backed up and help out as they can to help keep the process flowing.

Carbon Neutrality - the Zero program at Hemlock Printers

The Hemlock Zero program offsets the carbon emitted during the full lifecycle of the paper manufacturing and transportation. Working with Offsetters, a leading industry carbon offset provider, the offsets help to support the development of renewable energy and clean technology projects which moves society towards a more sustainable future. If you're looking for a reputable and easy to use tool to calculate the environmental impact of your paper or cardboard project take a look at the Environmental Defence Fund's Paper Calculator site.

Lessons Learned - it's about more than profit

1. Project management - there's tremendous value in stepping back and looking at a project as a whole and having one person responsible for making sure all the details are in order. That way, one person can bring in all the people they need to get the job done as efficiently as possible.
2. Hold true to your values. Push the boundaries and create the solutions you want to see but understand that sometimes compromises have to be made to get the job done on time and on budget. Change happens in so many ways and it's important to be patient in leading the way. For example, even though we had sourced 100% recycled stickers we had to go with virgin stock product due to the long lead time needed to bring in the sustainable ones.
3. Business is more than about profit. Business is about relationships, this is how things get done. Not only from a production standpoint, thinking about how we were able to pull off tight timelines with our manufacturers and assembly crew, but also in closing the deal. It cost me money to pull off the original packaging solution for the Trevor Linden program, but because of it Gameday brought me in to help them with Olympic projects. Never compromise quality or service, that's what it's all about.

Cooperation once again triumphs. Last week Saul Good along with Eclipse Awards hosted an open house and green roof mojito party for our clients, associates and friends down at our green office space in the Strathcona Green Zone in Vancouver, BC. We wanted the opportunity to show our clients what we've been up to this past year, developing corporate gifts, recognition items and promotional products that say more than 'thank you', using sustainable materials and fair labour practices to create memorable and meaningful gifts that tell a story. Over the last couple years my strategy in this space was to throw a local, organic, wine cheese and chocolate tasting party for my clients to let them have a taste of what we have to offer in terms of our gourmet gift baskets, hosting the party in the fall leading up to holidays, giving ideas for corporate Christmas and holiday gifts. We reincarnated, made fresh mojitos, added a green roof and an amazing space and the 1st annual green roof mojito party was born.

One Planet Catering, Vancouver's leading socially and environmentally responsible catering company, provided an amazing array of things to eat and treat through the day. From hand made cinnamon buns and muffins in the morning to croissants with pear and brie to a spread of cheese and fruit into the afternoon and evening. Amazing artisan crisps from Gone Crackers paired with artisan cheeses and a selection of organic wines from Lotusland Vineyards, a local organic vineyard near Abbotsford, BC. We were also happy to showcase new artisan specialty nuts from Cocoa Nymph, a Vancouver based chocolatier, featuring espresso and cocoa covered local Agassiz hazelnuts, great items that are easy to share and enjoy for hosting or to send to your clients. Once again we were also happy to feature fair trade organic chocolate bars from Zazubean and the new single origin fair trade organic coffees from Salt Spring Island Coffee.

I felt really good getting to spend time with my clients, new and old, and meeting some of the companies that have been working with Eclipse over their 11 years in business. It was something that really pulled our team together both at Saul Good, Eclipse and how we both work as teams individually and collectively. We can't take all the credit, we had great help, insight and planning from Corwin at Red Wagon Management, whose work and experience made the event a smooth success. Did I forget to mention the party? Had a great time playing dj with Unkl' Funkl', one of my friends from BGI, mixing tunes well into the night. Thanks to all our friends and associates for coming out, contributing, good times and conversations. We're in it together and its really just begun.

After looking at the reclaimed parallam beams in our warehouse for the last 7 months I finally got around to following through on the reclaimed wood work bench I envisioned when Saul Good moved into share space with Eclipse Awards. Parallam is a recycled wood building product that Eclipse used to reinforce the ceiling to add strength for the green roof top deck on top of the building. It looks really cool, layers upon layers of in line wood grains, now playing the role of table top in our production space. It was just last week when I dropped into see our friends at Propellor Design, a local Strathcona Green Zone business that designs and builds rad lighting fixtures and furniture using eco materials, when I mentioned this project and they kicked down a super simple design that we bagan to work with. Besides scoring a design we also got a few boxes of reclaimed bamboo and nice hardwoods for our hand turned pens by Tradeworks Custom Products.

Building capacity & walking the talk

I hired Shane, one of the Eclipse production staff, to help turn the plan into action and after a day's work our new table is sorted! We're using it as our new and improved assembly benchy for our sustainable corporate gift and gift basket business. Not only does this new additon keep in line with our other green building and warehousing initiatives but also adds capacity to help meet growing demand for sustainable corporate gifts in Vancouver, BC. The new work bench has a lower shelf which we're using for our recycled gift boxes which frees up a bunch of space in our shelving for more the local organic gourmet food products we use in our gifts. With added production capacity we're gearing up for the Christmas and holiday gift season.

Getting Started

Over the past few weeks I've been chugging along as Saul Good's second employee and learning the quirks and charms of working in a sustainable corporate gift business. With a long and diverse list of projects, I've had to learn a lot on the fly, but I've found the challenge of doing something totally new nearly as rewarding as getting it done right.

Operational Systems

In many ways, being in a business of two means that the work is more streamlined and transparent. But moving from one to two employees is a dramatic change from an operational standpoint. I’ve been working to phase in some changes in the filing and production processes that will begin to move operations out of Saul’s head and into a flexible and easily accessible system. While we’re happy with the changes we’ve made, there’s been a certain element of trial and error in our development, so I’d happily take some advice!

Materials Exchange Initiative

One of the projects I’ve been working on outside of our operational overhaul is revisiting Saul Good’s gift box filler. We’ve been searching for a way to repurpose business waste into an attractive and easily managed asset. Drawing utility out of material that is ordinarily thrown away is a satisfying and challenging creative exercise. We’ve experimented with leftover plastic film, discarded office paper, wood shavings, and shredded phonebooks. We’re still looking for a material and process that’s the perfect fit of usefulness and ease. Luckily, there are plenty of neighbourhood businesses in the Strathcona Business Improvement Association that are ready and willing to partner with us on this project. We hope to have a sustainable and attractive solution soon!

Upcoming Changes

Meanwhile, Saul is working with local organic suppliers to create some exciting new gifts for the upcoming holiday season! Look for changes to our line of Organic Office Party Gifts and an entirely new line of gifts to celebrate weddings and other milestone achievements. Also, keep your eye on our website for some cool new featured products. Saul Good is always working (now with twice the manpower) to make giving better and better!

Strathcona area businesses are finding ways to cooperate for bottom line benefts. Last week I was honored to meet with other local business owners at Sunrise Soya Foods, a Strathcona keystone business, for the purpose of exploring ways in which we can utilized each other's waste streams.  I'm happy to report back on some of the progress we've made happen to date in addition to opportunities we're continuing toll explore.  Reducing and eliminating waste pays directly into the bottom line of a business, waste = cash, but beyond saving some money this type of work also adds value by building community and relationships with our neighbours. All of this work feeds into building the Strathcona Green Zone, an initiative by the Strathcona Buiness Improvement Association (SBIA) helping local businesses maximzing value from sustainble business practices. Through cooperation we're finding ways to work together for mutual benefit and creating a progressive and innovative business cluster in close proximity to downtown Vancouver.

Meet our neighbours

Sunrise Soya Foods - Manufacturers of a variety of brands including Pete's Tofu, Sunrise Soya Milk, Mandarin and Soyganic, Sunrise has been a corner stone business in Strathcona for over 50 years.

Wing Wing - Manufacturers of Chinese style pork sausages since 1949 shipping their products world wide.

Great Day Bokashi - odour free home composting systems that ferment organic food waste, interested in locating their business in the Strathcona area

Top Success Stories

1. Pallets - both Sunrise and Wing-Wing use orange and blue pallets for shipping, these are the standard ones for shipping into major retail stores. Last week Saul Good gave Wing-Wing 3 blue pallets, helping us figure out how to get rid of something we didn't need while helping them save money on aquire something of value. We also realized that Sunrise receives plastic pallets while Wing-Wing ships products out on plastic pallets. Pallet cascading is an easy way to allow materials to flow through the area as resources, as oppose to as waste to throw away.
2. Plastic buckets - Great Day was able to source plastic buckets from Sunrise which they use for home composting systems.

Opportunities on the rise

1. Reclaimed packing materials - Saul Good is currently experiementing with various options of using reclaimed materials for gift box packaging. Both Sunrise and Wing-Wing have a laminated plastic film product that, if shredded, may be a suitable packing material for Saul Good. Because the product is made from a variety of plastics it can't be recycled, thus by using it for packing we get one more use out of it before it heads to the landfill. Although not ideal from a full product life cycle perspective, it does add some value to waste.
2. Utilizing waste heat - Great Day is looking to utilize waste heat to dry their bokashi, a wheat bran product used in their home composting systems. Food manufacturers can create a variety of heat sources from their manufacturing processes, some of which may be suitable for Great Day. We may need to bring in our consultants to help us calculate if this is a viable eco-industrial opportunty.
3. Our friends at Kona bikes introduced us to a local artist that welds waste steel into various sculptures. As we walked through the Sunrise facility I noticed some old machines and am working on forging a connection here to help Sunrise get rid of something they don't need that's taking up space while helping an artist get access to materials.