Sustainability is defined as “the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level”, and in the case of environmentalism, “conserving an ecological balance by avoiding depletion of natural resources”.

With this in mind, most would agree that a sustainable product is:

1. Not made of, packed in, or transported by non-renewable resources.
2. Not use an excessive amount of water to manufacture.
3. Not use toxic or destructive farming processes in its manufacture.

A fully sustainable business would only produce and sell products which meet these standards, and all of its practices and processes would have no environmental impact. While businesses can work toward this standard, the reality is that currently even the most sustainable businesses are unable to remove all environmental impact from their operations.

This is why it is so important for businesses to be transparent around their efforts toward sustainability, their current ability, and their goals for future development.

Kwindie’s Sustainability Policies and Goals

Current Processes and Policies

Low-carbon website hosting

Kwindie currently uses InMotion Hosting for all Kwindie and customer websites. Find more information about their green data servers here and here.

“Reduce first” policy

“Reduce, reuse, recycle” is in that order for a reason. The most important thing businesses can do to mitigate our impact on the environment is to reduce our consumption of physical materials. Kwindie reduces waste by keeping business virtual, only using physical office supplies when absolutely necessary. Features like paperless billing and online payments reduce paper usage and have allowed Kwindie to be in operation its entire existence so far without purchasing a printer.

Recycling policy

Any recyclable waste generated is recycled appropriately, and compost is utilized to reduce methane emissions from landfills.

Solar powered operations

Installed and portable solar panels allow Kwindie operations to be run almost entirely on solar power.

Remote operations

As a home based business, Kwindie has no transportation associated with daily operations.

Local manufacturing

Using manufacturers and suppliers located close to the end customer’s location reduces greenhouse gasses used in transportation (shipping).

Eco-conscious offerings

Kwindie offers eco-friendly product options to customers (in addition to the conventional products requested) where such options exist. While many customers still choose the conventional option (primarily due to price), offering alternatives increases the chances of a customer choosing a more sustainable option, even when they may not have considered requesting this.

Goals

Short term:

• Website hosting run entirely off of alternative energy sources
• Plastic-free packaging
• Work primarily with brands, manufacturers, suppliers, and decorators which have sustainability information available to customers (and which appear to be genuine)
• Applying for the Certified Leaders in Sustainability certification from Clackamas County

Long term:

• Work only with brands, manufacturers, suppliers, and decorators which have been thoroughly verified as genuinely sustainable (according to current technological advances).
• Offer only eco-friendly product options to customers.
• Ultimately have full control over the supply chain in order to make every step of the process as sustainable as possible, including fully electric trucking transportation (charged with renewable energy), working with farmers to establish more soil friendly farming practices for raw materials, and being at the forefront of work toward less harmful decoration options.

Ever Evolving Information

We learn more every year about our environmental impact on the planet, and steps we can take toward mitigating that impact. Currently, there is not infrastructure and technology in place to allow for any business or individual to be 100% sustainable. This may not always be the case! Research is ongoing, and what we know now as the most sustainable practices may not be in the future. Kwindie strives to be flexible, and will update these guidelines and goals as available information changes.

Every Little Bit Helps

Kwindie is a small company that believes that small steps are important on the path to overall lowered environmental impact. See https://kwindie.com/values/ for up-to-date information, and subscribe to the email list for update notifications.