We’re making our business greener. You’re invited to watch.

We’re an international shipper based in New York City. And we pollute. Yes, that’s right. I said it. We pollute.

But today our company is making the commitment that over the next nine months-by the end of 2008-we will reduce our carbon footprint by 66% to become the most environmentally responsible air courier in the United States. Through this blog, you’re invited to watch us convert from a business that pollutes to one that is lean and green.

First Global Xpress
Before I launch into the hows and whys of what we’re going to do, let me tell you a little bit about us. First Global Xpress services the international express shipping market. We are unique because we ship directly to our client’s final destination via commercial flights, rather than using the typical hub-and-spoke system of large integrators like FedEx, UPS, or DHL. This model of shipping direct is by far the best option for the environment when an international delivery has to be completed in one to three days.

Our blog: ShipGreener.com
Through ShipGreener.com, I am going to document the changes that First Global Xpress is making to become greener. We will be changing everything about how our operation conducts itself and what kind of impact we are having on the environment. This will have an effect not only on our company’s carbon footprint, but also on our client’s footprint as well. We are an important part of our clients’ businesses and we service a sector of their company that inherently accounts for a large percentage of their footprint. By making ourselves greener, we make our clients greener as well.

There are many things that all businesses could do to lessen their impact on the environment. We are in the enviable position of being able to drastically reduce our impact through very attainable goals. Our business has a lot of moving parts, and where there is something moving or being produced there is room to make it more efficient. Some examples of this are in the packaging we are using, the vans our couriers are driving, and the means by which we transport our goods.

To the extent that our business pollutes less, we’ll bring that efficiency to our clients. In turn, we’ll show that their choice of First Global Xpress is that much more powerful and correct. We’ll document these changes so you’ll be able to see the quantitative differences derived from simple changes.

By the end of 2008, our goal is to have reduced the current carbon footprint of our business by 66%.

We’re currently working on a plan of how to benchmark our goals to represent exactly what 100% is. Considering the nature of our business, it is probably safe to say that 100% is not attainable. But once the plan is officially fleshed out, the metrics of our progress will be represented on our website by a green bar that increases as we hit our goals (look for this by Wednesday 04/02). The goals will be clearly stated on the bar with some kind of roll over functionality.

Some of our initial ideas for reducing our carbon footprint are:

• - Swap out packaging materials for greener alternatives. Xpress envelopes, Xpress pouches, windows that get stuck on the package, boxes, bubble wrap, peanuts, and air pillows, among others. I’ll be contacting alternative suppliers and have them provide me with samples. I’ll compare these products on video so you can see what we’ve come up with. Be forewarned that there will be no sacred cows during this evaluation, not even bubble wrap!
• - Source examples of biodegradable courier bags. These are the bags used to hold shipments that get loaded directly into the bellies of commercial aircraft. This one could prove to be more difficult, as the bags have to be waterproof and strong. I’m up for the challenge!
• - Analyze the energy usage of all machines and appliances in our business. We are going to look at everything that draws electricity from our physical location and target them for change. Energy Star, large commercial air-conditioning, lighting, printers, copiers, and even the coffee machine. (Remember, no sacred cows!)
• - Purchase wind power to provide the electricity in our office. I am going to document what I’m paying now and what the cost with wind power will be. By targeting energy expenses, I hope to show that you can produce a net savings.
• - Start a leasing program to put all of our drivers (i.e., couriers) in New York City behind the wheels of hybrids. I’m really going to dig into this one. This topic is just fun, and I really hope I can make it work fiscally. (I’m confident I can!)
• - Rewrite our software to print just one sticky label to affix to the shipment. If a copy is needed it will be sourced from a PDF to minimize printing on paper. This will also allow us to eliminate the plastic pouch that is used to hold paper air waybills.
• - Create a reporting system to quantify pollution reductions for each of our clients’ shipping programs. This will be pulled from a client’s monthly shipping report and will be provided with each monthly invoice. We really think it’s important to quantify for our clients the positive changes for the environment that occur by their choice to use First Global Xpress.
• - Provide our clients with the ability to offset the remaining CO₂ production associated with their shipping. I am already having talks with a great company on this. Look for future announcements about this relationship.

My blog entries over the coming months will detail the ups and downs of researching and implementing these changes. But it’s not the only thing you’ll see on ShipGreener.com. We’ll be conducting interviews with people who we think you’ll find interesting. We also hope to be reporting on some of the goings-on in NYC, mixed with some random tangents as well. (For example, could riding a bike down the streets of NYC be any more fun?)

This should be a great experience to watch so check back early and often. Or just sign up for the RSS feed/newsletter and let us take care of that for you!

Tags: biodegradable plastics, bubble wrap, carbon footprint, carbon offsets, DHL, energy usage, environment, FedEx, green appliances, green business practices, green packaging, green shipping, hub-and-spoke, hybrid vehicles, nyc, pollutants, shipping direct, sticky labels, UPS, wind power

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 at 3:05 pm and is filed under Shipgreener, Start Here. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.