We are taking stock of climate action in 2020 and what's ahead for the industry through a series of interviews with the 2020 National Co+op Grocers Climate Collaborative Awards winners. Erin Callahan sat down with Charlie Tilt, Co-Owner & CEO, and Stacy Kraker, Director of Marketing and Sales, at Hummingbird Wholesale, winner of the 2020 Outstanding Value Chain Engagement Award. (View our previous interviews with Numi Organic Tea, Outpost Natural Foods, Stonyfield Organic, and Imlak'esh Organics).

Nutiva was one of the first companies to join the Climate Collaborative in 2017 and has made five climate action commitments, to: Regenerative Agriculture, Energy Efficiency, Food Waste, Packaging, and Transportation. They are also a champion-level donor, helping catalyze action and resource provision to our network of 660 companies. We sat down with them to check in on their climate action, detailed in their new 2019 Impact Report.

Last year, The Climate Collaborative and Trayak partnered to offer three Climate Collaborative committed companies to work with Trayak to improve the climate impacts of their packaging. We're now thrilled to be able to share the case studies from these projects, assessing efforts at Bhoomi, Boulder Organic Foods, and Theo Chocolate to optimize their packaging. 

Trayak is offering an opportunity for Climate Collaborative packaging-committed companies to engage in two package climate optimization studies. Each study will focus on working directly with one company to optimize an identified packaging type to reduce climate-related impacts; these two projects include:

• A short packaging optimization engagement to be completed by October 2019.
• A longer packaging optimization engagement to be completed by the summer of 2020.

You can download a version of this case study here.

REBBL, an organic beverage company that creates plant-based elixirs, makes strides in reducing its environmental footprint by incorporating recycled plastic into its bottles. A core part of REBBLʼs mission is to create positive social and environmental impact by leveraging business as a tool for good. Through ethical, impact sourcing of ingredients, REBBL strives for dignified supply chains, promotes regenerative stewardship of the earth and its resources, and empowers communities around the world, thereby reducing the risk of human trafficking. REBBL also contributes 2.5% of net sales to the nonprofit Not for Sale, an organization that supports survivors of exploitation.

You can download a version of this case study here.

Happy Family Organics started as Happy Baby in 2006 with the mission to “change the trajectory of children’s health through nutrition.” Since then, the company has grown exponentially and continues to offer innovatively packaged organic food options grown without artificial hormones, GMOs, or toxic persistent pesticides.

Alongside the company’s growth, they’ve deepened their commitment to climate action. They’ve made six climate commitments through the Climate Collaborative, and packaging is one of their core priority areas.

You can download a version of this case study here. This case study is from 2019. 

Guayakí’s vision holds that yerba mate culture will power their Market Driven Regeneration™ business model to regenerate ecosystems and create vibrant communities. Yerba mate is a holly plant native to South America with the caffeine strength of coffee, the health benefits of tea, and the euphoria of chocolate.

Guayakí sells a wide range of products from loose leaf yerba mate and mate bags, mate gourds and bombillas (drinking apparatus) to ready-to-drink beverages made from yerba mate in a wide variety of flavors.

Guayakí focuses on the whole product life cycle and incorporates regeneration in each step, including their packaging. 95% of their packaging is recyclable or compostable including a home-compostable bag.