NP Initiatives
How is Nature’s Path Doing Good?
For us, making a good product is more than just putting some tasty and healthy ingredients in a box. We consider every step along the way, from the people who grow the grain to the design of the box itself. We are committed to producing products that support the development and sustenance of organic agriculture. We aim to do this in a way that minimizes our ecological footprint while striving to maintain social, environmental and financial integrity.
Here are just a few examples of the good we’re doing now.
Waterworks
This 4-minute video powerfully demonstrates the impact that Nature’s Path has had on communities, people, and sustainability.
http://www.organicgardening.com/feature/0,7518,s1-2-10-1531,00.html
Project Sunlight!
Besides saving electricity by installing skylights in our head office, most employees prefer natural light to fluorescent lights. It has been reported that there are less headaches, eyestrain, and flu symptoms when not exposed to artificial lighting for extensive periods of time each day. This allows most Nature’s Pathers to work in a happier environment, while saving electricity!
Organic Biodiversity
One of the impacts of farming is that it has the power to protect and increase (or destroy) natural biodiversity of mammals, insects, microbiological lifeforms in the soil, and the genetic biodiversity of our plant species. One of the reasons why we have chosen organic because it protects biodiversity.
Recycle Line Spills for Use by Local Farmers
We donate all unusable spills from our manufacturing line to local farmers, thereby reducing our trips to landfill.
Composting of Employee Food Waste
We believe in reducing waste in as many ways as possible. To this end we have created a composting program for staff food waste in our Richmond office. We use this compost to fertilize our organic grain demonstration field on the side of our building. We plan on extending this program to all of our locations.
Computer and Equipment Recycling Program
With a quickly growing staff and efforts to keep-up technologically we want to increase our recycling of obsolete office equipment. Currently we donate our old computers to employees for home use.
Organic Acres Used
Every time Nature’s Path makes and sells an organic product land is kept under organic stewardship. When our product sales increase the organic acreage increases thereby saving more land from chemical contamination and unsustainable use.
Investing in Renewable Energy
We recognize two ways of addressing electrical power usage as a responsible sustainability company. One is to reduce the use, and the other is to use electricity that has been generated using environmentally friendly and renewable sources. In 2009 we purchased green-e verified renewable energy credits for all of the electricity we use; supporting wind projects in the USA and Canada.
Packaging Reduction Program
At Nature’s Path we have always been concerned about our use of packaging. We offer bulk Eco-Pacs of most of our cereals and always use recycled cardboard. In order to further our commitment we have begun to resize our regular sized cereal boxes which will reduce the packaging by 10% without reducing product volume. We are also looking into biodegradable or compost-friendly "plastic" liners.
The Greenteam
Nature’s Path and Runner’s World magazine teamed up to change the global impact of races through The Greenteam, an integrated program that enlisted runners and race directors to work together to reduce the carbon footprint of running and races. From promotional material to waste collection to water stations to the souvenir t-shirt at the finish line, there are a lot of ways to make a race more environmentally friendly.
http://runnersworld-greenteam.com/
Farmers Can Be Heroes
Nature’s Path and Organic Valley have joined with Organic Gardening magazine to support the Farmers Can Be Heroes program. This program, sponsored by the Rodale Institute, is a great new outreach and education program designed to praise farmers as heroes who feed us—heroes who are mitigating climate change and preserving the earth for future generations. Farmers Can Be Heroes provides an online course for conventional farmers who are interested in making the transition to organic. http://www.hero-farmers.org
