For this post, I’ve decided to highlight a company that I believe is making a strong impact through its pure sustainable business practices.
Alter Eco is a small food company that represents the very best of a truly sustainable business, in my opinion, due to:
1) Global Outreach: The company aims for the very highest environmental and social standards, sourcing only Fair Trade commodities. Since its beginnings in 1998, the company is said to have changed the lives of thousands of struggling farmers around the world.
2) Carbon Footprint: Where the company imports its certifiably organic goods from afar – including from local farming communities in places such as Peru, Bolivia, and Thailand – it also makes the extended effort to offset its carbon emissions. For example, in Peru, the company paid cocoa farmers to plant thousands of teak trees which absorb carbon emissions, replenish soil, and offer additional income to farmers.
3) Green Packaging: Alter Eco uses bio-based, compostable packaging without any petroleum or chemicals included.
4) Green Awareness: Direct on the company’s website, Alter Eco makes visitors to its site aware of ‘greenwashing’ techniques by different companies
Below are two videos, one which describes one of Alter Eco’s products, and another which spotlights the company’s sustainable business practices:
A small company, however, Alter Eco sales topped just $10m in 2013, and though the company does expect a full increase of 44% in sales by the end of this year, it still has a long way to go to rival food giants like General Mills – which earned sales of nearly $18b last year. Always “pushing the envelope towards full sustainability,” as CEO Mathieu Senard has said, the company now hopes to reposition its brand to put it at the forefront of consumers minds – aiming to be associated not just for sustainability, but also quality.
Alter Eco truly embodies what companies looking to integrate sustainable practices into its business strategy are or should be striving for. And despite a minor curiosity on my part on how the words ‘compostable packaging’ apply to the thin aluminum foil wrapper of that ‘Swiss Made chocolate’ seen in the video, it’s great to see a company so transparent in its business practices, while also making an extended effort to improve or positively affect the communities it touches. If the company is also successful in adjusting its positioning to address quality as well as sustainability, then the potential to reach a larger consumer base of not just green-conscious individuals would be great step for not only the company, but also the greater global community.