SAN DIEGO (Feb, 12th 2020) SEAL Awards announces the winners of the 2019 SEAL Business Sustainability Awards, celebrating corporate leadership and commitment to sustainable business practices.
Green Standards is thrilled to be receiving a SEAL Environmental Initiative Award for the second straight year, recognizing our exemplary waste diversion efforts on corporate real estate projects. Global brands – several of whom are clients of Green Standards – such as Adobe, Cisco, ENGIE and more, were among those selected for SEAL Sustainability Awards in 2019.
The SEAL Awards honor businesses committed to driving true progress towards a lasting, healthy planet.
Our mission at SEAL is to rigorously assess and then celebrate extraordinary sustainability leadership. We are excited to present this elite and impactful 2019 award winner group.
Matt Harney, SEAL Awards’ Founder
“Companies, CEOs and corporate boards have a simple but not easy choice before them: whether to exhibit real leadership by investing in sustainable business practices. The sustainability leaders – like our SEAL Award recipients – can secure lasting legacies for their grandchildren and corporate stakeholders alike; ESG leaders will have reputations and balance sheets that survive the climate crisis,” commented Matt Harney, SEAL Awards’ Founder.
Other notable brands like adidas, AMD, Disneyland Resort, and Procter & Gamble’s Tide received recognition for their sustainability initiatives with a 2019 SEAL Environmental Initiative Award.
Green Standards Environmental Initiatives:
In 2019, Green Standards had our most impactful year to date, diverting more than 14,500 tons of furniture and equipment from landfill with a 99% landfill diversion rate. We achieved these staggering numbers through our sustainable decommission program that manages the resale, recycling and in-kind donations of corporate furniture, while benefiting non-profits across North America.
Since inception in 2009, our circular economy-inspired office solution has gifted furniture to more than 5,000 non-profit beneficiaries with in-kind donations worth in excess of $29 million cumulatively.
In 2018, our first SEAL Award winning year, Green Standards diverted more than 11,000 tons and when combined with our 2019 totals, it takes us to nearly 70,000 tons diverted from landfill since we started reporting on these metrics over a decade ago.
Why and How
The EPA estimates that 8.5 million tons are sent to landfill each year in the US alone, costing Americans $750 million just to throw it out. Our solution is doing our part to change that but there’s still a long way to go.
By keeping gently used office items out of the landfill for our corporate clients, Green Standards reduced CO2e emissions by more than 164,000 metric tons. With sustainability and corporate social responsibility becoming more of a focus in recent years, the best companies have seen a need to be more transparent and responsible with their decommission projects. As the industry leaders in sustainable decommissioning, we’ve seen the demand for our process grow significantly.
Green Standards’ clients are typically leading brands from all sectors, including Microsoft, General Motors, Salesforce, Georgia Pacific, VMware, Expedia, United Airlines, and others.
By combining donation, resale, and recycling strategies with turnkey project management, Green Standards maximizes asset recovery, streamlines community donation, and virtually eliminates waste. It’s this innovative approach that generates value for businesses, local communities and the environment.
Case Study Example
With each office requiring unique solutions for their existing furniture and equipment, Green Standards is able to recover usable resources and repurpose valuable products, keeping them out of the landfill with our network of resellers, recyclers and 17,000+ registered non-profits across North America.
As of January 2020, Green Standards has donated $29,995,383 worth of surplus office assets to 5,000+ community organizations since inception. The 69,202.3 tons diverted from landfill is equal to reducing GHG offsets by 164,601 metric tons.
Green Standards’ office solution takes responsibility for vendor onboarding and management, engages resellers, recyclers and local non-profits, coordinating and documenting asset delivery, and provides clients with environmental and community impact reporting for each item in their inventory.
Together, these offerings create a unique, triple bottom line service available to corporations anywhere in the US and Canada.
SEAL Awards
SEAL Environmental Initiative Award:
This award honors specific environmental and sustainability initiatives. Key criteria for selection included: Impact Metrics, Innovation, Sharing of Insights, and Investment Levels.
The 2019 Environmental Initiative winners are:
- adidas
- AMD
- ASM
- Ball Corporation
- Bridgestone Americas
- Coca-Cola Turkey
- CoKoon
- Compass Group
- Connected Kerb Limited
- Coyuchi
- DARIACORDAR
- Disneyland Resort
- Dubai Electricity & Water Authority
- Essity
- Event Network
- Gotham Greens
- Green Standards Ltd.
- Hargol FoodTech
- Humanscale
- Intrepid Group
- K.Raheja Corp.
- Kiverdi
- KPS Global
- Mkopa
- PATHWATER
- PayByPhone
- Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens
- POP Displays
- QTS Realty Trust
- Radio Flyer
- Roads and Transport Authority of Dubai
- Sappi North America
- Simple Syllabus
- Stericycle Environmental Solutions
- Stone Edge Farm MicroGrid
- Sutter Health
- Teadit Group
- Tide Eco-Box
- Vecor Ltd
- Veolia North America
- Young Living Essential Oils
In a separate category, SEAL Organizational Impact Award winners were selected by combining and ranking the aggregated results of two rigorous, world-class sustainability assessments – specifically, the recently released 2019 CDP A-List and the SAM Corporate Sustainability Assessment. Given SEAL Awards environmental focus, the ranking methodology weighted CDP and SAM CSA scores at 65% and 35%, respectively.
SEAL Organizational Impact Award:
This award recognizes overall corporate sustainability performance and represents the 50 most sustainable companies globally.
One hundred percent of the award entry fees were contributed to SEAL’s ongoing Environmental Research Grant initiative, which has to date provided funding to 19 environmental researchers at institutions like UC-Berkeley, Duke, MIT, and UCLA.
Results & Achievements
Green Standards’ programs sustainably decommission 10 million square feet of office space annually, reducing CO2e by 164,000+ metric tons since inception.
Environmental Impact – 2009-2020
- 69,202.3 tons diverted from landfill
- 98.6% landfill diversion rate by weight
- 164,601 metric tons of CO2e emissions reduced
- $29,955,383 fair market value of in-kind donations
- 5,500+ non-profit beneficiaries and charitable organizations received furniture donations
- 1500+ projects across North America
2019 Sustainability Awards and Recognition
- Environmental Initiative – SEAL Award 2019 – SEAL
- CSR Leadership Award – REmmy Awards 2019 – CoreNet Global
- Canada’s Clean50/Clean16 – Delta Management Group
- Canada’s Top Growing Companies – The Globe & Mail
- Canada’s Fastest-Growing Companies – The Growth 500
About
ABOUT THE SEAL AWARDS
SEAL (Sustainability, Environmental Achievement & Leadership) Awards is an environmental advocacy organization that honors leadership through our business sustainability awards & environmental journalism awards while funding research and pursuing our own environmental impact campaigns.
Our core beliefs maintain that our environmental progress requires true leadership and sustainability leaders deserve recognition.
The SEAL Awards core pillars are:
- Business Sustainability Awards – honors the most sustainable companies in the world, like Adidas, AMD, Cisco, and Tide
- Environmental Journalism Awards – representative past winners include journalists from Guardian, New York Times, and Grist
- Environmental Research Grants
SEAL Awards is not affiliated with the CDP, CSA, or S&P Global. The selection process for the SEAL Organizational Impact Award drew entirely upon publicly available information from each of the CDP and CSA. https://sealawards.com.
About Green Standards
Capturing Value In Workplace Change
Green Standards has spent the last decade developing rigorous practices and global networks that deliver optimal value from workplace decommissioning. Our enterprise program measures and maximizes ESG performance while virtually eliminating landfill waste. A partner to the world’s largest organizations, Green Standards enables the efficient and ethical redistribution of furniture, fixtures, and equipment (FF&E) during times of workplace change.
Media Contact: Marc Borins, 1-855-632-8036
