Green Actions
Granville Island Candle Company works hard to protect the environment in everything we do. We recognize that there are some things that are beyond our reach at this time and hope to be able to implement them in the future. In the meantime we have many policies and procedures in place that help to reduce our consumption of paper products, reduce our carbon footprint, and reuse everything that we can. Whenever possible we source environmentally safe products, and use packaging materials that are re-usable and recyclable.
Current actions
Here is a list of ways that we currently meet our environmental goals:
- All Wax used in our candles comes from Renewable Resources
- Reuse leftover wax in our Simmering Soy Bean Products
- No PVC used in any products (2009)
- New Tealite 6 and 12 pack boxes are now made out of paperboard, not plastic (2009)
- Refill Containers at our Retail Store
- Offer a Refill Program for Spas and Event Management Companies
- When available we purchase and use office equipment that is energy efficient and creates limited waste
- We consolidate shipments whenever possible and order in the largest feasible volumes to minimize the number of trucks required to produce our products
- We try to source from the closest (local) supplier within reason
- Whenever possible we do not use foam packaging for shipping except to resuse packaging from products sent to us.
- When shipping product we use inflated plastic packaging materials
- These use much less material than old style foam peanuts
- These plastics are recyclable in most areas
- Extensive Paper Use Reduction Program in Place
- We cut up old paper and turn it into note pads (note: paper with confidential information is immediately shredded for security purposes)
- We place a suggestion to not print emails on the bottom of our emails whenever possible
- We do not print emails unless absolutely necessary
- Faxes are received on a digital system and not printed unless required for a signature or regulatory purposes
- Sent faxes are composed and submitted digitally without being printed to paper
- We only print and attach one copy of your final invoice and it is placed with your shipment. No envelopes are used to mail a separate invoice
- Statements and additional invoice copies are emailed whenever possible. If not they are then faxed and only mailed if neither email nor fax was possible
- We do not have a print catalogue available for order as each change results in reprints. We use an online digital catalog
- We strive to send all price lists, information packages, and other documents via email
- We use a digital paper system to track orders, complaints, and special issues. Most cases do not require more than one piece of paper used to take the initial complaint if by phone. If not by phone no paper is likely to be used.
- Newsletters and marketing material are ONLY sent to clients with an email address on file.
- We do not do any sort of direct mail marketing as it wastes paper and creates carbon emissions in its delivery
- We submit orders to our suppliers electronically whenever possible, and never print a record for our selves
- We request that all of our suppliers send us digital bills instead of mailed or faxed copies
- We use electronic payment methods (Online Banking, Credit Card, Bank Transfers etc) to pay our suppliers whenever possible to reduce the use of paper cheques.
- All documents except production order forms are printed double sided
- All paper products that have reached the end of their in-house life cycle are recycled
- Whenever possible recycled paper products are purchased and if available they will be approved by the Forestry Stewardship Council
