Waste Reduction Awards Program (WRAP)

Greenfeet

WRAP Award Winner: 2005 and 2004

The Green Mission

Encouraging the general public to practice environmentally preferable purchasing is the aim of Greenfeet. A 2004 and 2005 Waste Reduction Awards Program (WRAP) winner, Greenfeet sells more than 2,500 "eco-friendly" products online and in its 2,200-square-foot retail store located in Chico.

The products that Greenfeet sells are intended to "leave smaller, 'greener' footprints" on the environment, according to the company's website. Included are household products such as sheets and towels made from organic cotton, hemp clothing, knapsacks, long lasting cookware, reusable coffee filters, toothbrushes, razors, and plastic bags made from recycled plastic. Natural scents and soaps are sold along with non-toxic cleaning products and drying racks made from reused wood.  Also available are frames, letter holders, and other items made from a variety of reused materials such as bike parts, glass, and old records. The Consumer Packaging Reduction (CPR) kit includes a reusable nylon shopping bag that folds up into a small pocket, a stainless steel water bottle, and a coffee cup.

Greenfeet is the brainchild of Valerie Reddemann, who started it as an online business in 1997. Reddemann was interviewed by Board staff in February 2006 at her Chico store.

"Our goal is introducing green products to the everyday person in a friendly, accessible atmosphere," explains Reddemann, standing inside the natural-light-filled, tidy Chico store. "We wanted to have a nice store with cool, hip, environmentally friendly, everyday products that anyone can use. We know our customers by name; we see them in the community. The store is all about customer service. A lot of new customers come to us through word-of-mouth."

Reddemann started the business in Los Angeles, where she moved after graduating with a marketing degree from California State University, Sacramento. "I was working very hard selling corrugated boxes and retail displays and got burned out," she explained. "I learned about essential oils, started using them myself, and then went to work for a company that produced and distributed them."

Not long after, she started her own business selling essential oils at home parties. That business grew and she began to add other products consistent with a greener lifestyle. The business went from home party sales to online sales. Reddemann and her husband, Robert Reddemann, who helps with the business, eventually decided to move out of Los Angeles.

"We wanted to be where we could bike to work and where everything wasn’t so far away," Reddemann explains. "We also wanted to be closer to family and in a healthier environment." They picked Chico, which has an urban area population of about 102,000, and in 2002, opened the Greenfeet store. Today they have five full time employees, two part time employees, and rotating interns.

Product quality is essential and price is a consideration in the business, notes Reddemann. "Products must pass our quality inspection. We do our best to keep prices down because we’re consumers too. However, quality items will last longer, so customers save over the long run. It’s a mindset."

Reddemann’s message goes beyond individual pocketbooks to environmental costs. "The key is to identify what’s important to the customer and how to talk to them," says Reddemann, who said she used to shop without thinking about where products came from, who made them, or what they were made of, because she "just wanted to get the cheapest thing." Reddemann's philosophy is different now. She says, "We educate that it’s important to look at all costs, including both environmental and social impacts that a product has during its creation."

Reddemann acknowledges that she has a huge passion for the company’s mission, and that she has to be careful not to get on a soapbox. "People have to want to be green," she explains. "You can’t force it. More than a store, this is a place where people can learn and be inspired. Once people understand the environmental connections, they want to do things. It’s about taking baby steps, starting to make better choices."

"There’s an exercise I do when talking to large groups. I ask someone to stand up and take ten steps while another person times them. Then I’ll ask 100 people in the audience to stand up and take one step, which is also timed. What you see is that the small efforts of lots of people can make a bigger impact than the larger effort of one person."

Reddemann also expresses that people making the little steps need to be applauded. "We hope to get more people in the same mindset. Some people will stop, some people will keep going. We want to get the message out there that being green is possible."

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A Practice of Reuse, Reduce, and Recycle

Store
The Greenfeet store opened in an existing building in a small shopping center near downtown Chico. Reused shelving was utilized for some of the display racks. The offices have used cabinets, file cabinets, and chairs. In the stock room, they attached reused cardboard to the ends of the open stocking shelves to prevent items from falling.

Noting the building had no bike racks, Reddemann was able to finally convince her landlord to install some. "Both customers and employees use them nearly every day," she said, contributing to a reduction in air pollution and energy use.

Shipping
Since 80 percent of Greenfeet’s sales are online, the company does a lot of shipping. Order verifications are sent via e-mail rather than on paper, Reddemann explains. For packing, Greenfeet reuses as much cardboard, peanuts, and bubble wrap as possible, and supplements with shredded ledger paper. The company even stamps packages with a "Blatantly Reused Packaging" stamp as a way of educating people about reuse.

Greenfeet has asked other businesses for their used packing material. A local bank gives Greenfeet packaging peanuts for reuse, and neighboring businesses bring in used cardboard boxes.

Customers also bring in boxes and packing material, something Reddemann encourages to get people thinking about reuse, even if Greenfeet can’t always use them. Once a vendor shipped items to Greenfeet that were packed with used plastic bags. The bags did not look good and did not seem clean, so they could not be reused for packing.

As indicated in the WRAP application, Greenfeet also promotes customer reuse of packing materials. A tip sheet with reuse ideas is included as part of customer invoices on shipped items.

Some of the companies Greenfeet buys from will ship directly to customers, which helps reduce the packing material and the space needed for handling products. About half of the store’s current space is devoted to the stock room, shipping area, and offices.

Towards a Minimal-Paper Office
"I made a commitment early on that we would not print a paper catalog," explains Reddemann, "even though people do ask for one." Greenfeet's paperless company newsletter is e-mailed to about 26,000 subscribers. Another paperless form of communication and advertising is their weekly podcast available over the Internet.

Other efforts at minimizing paper waste include the following:

• Within the office, Greenfeet seeks to minimize paper use through its shared computer system that allows employees to get information and share messages from any computer in the store. Employees also use erasable message boards, notepads made from used paper, the company intranet, and e-mail, as well as their voicemail system.
• Greenfeet also has a magazine swap where employees and customers can share magazines. Outdated magazines are donated to local day care facilities for use as craft projects, or they go into the mixed paper bin for recycling.
• Whenever possible, customers and employees are encouraged to avoid bagging products, to use reusable shopping bags, or to reuse disposable bags. Cashiers are trained to not offer bags to customers unless the need for one is obvious.
• Greenfeet also tries to eliminate or minimize nonpaper waste streams. For example, as reported in its 2005 WRAP application, Greenfeet provides employees with reusable cups and silverware to use in the office.

Recycling
Greenfeet recycles material that they cannot reuse, including damaged cardboard or boxes that are made of cardboard that is too weak to withstand a second shipping, mixed office papers, plastics, glass, and aluminum.

When the store opened, there was no collection of recyclables for the site. Reddemann contacted the local waste company and ask them for recycling bins. The waste company now collects recycled materials on a weekly basis from a 2-yard cardboard dumpster, a 96-gallon container for white office paper, and two 64-gallon recycling cans. In 2004–05, Greenfeet sent approximately 1.8 tons of material to be recycled.

Greenfeet has a 96-gallon garbage can that is emptied weekly by the waste company; it is rarely more than half full. Disposed of items include film plastics, other plastics deemed unrecyclable, and used paper towels (Greenfeet is working to find out about composting these).

As a result of its waste reduction and recycling efforts, in 2004-05, Greenfeet saved an estimated $423 in waste disposal costs.

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Environmentally Preferred Purchasing

In addition to selling environmentally preferable products, Greenfeet also seeks to buy such products for its own use. Its office supplies come mostly from the Office Depot Big Green Book, explains Reddemann. The company uses office paper with 35 percent postconsumer recycled content. Business cards, brochures, stationary paper, and packaging materials are at least 25 percent postconsumer. Toilet paper and paper towels are 100 percent recycled, 40–60 percent postconsumer.

Greenfeet purchases good-quality computers and electronics, notes Reddemann. "We would rather repair equipment than dispose of it. Our focus is on functionality; we aren’t big on the newest, latest, and greatest. Computers that can be upgraded are preferable. When it’s time to upgrade to new equipment, we offer older items first to school donation programs or local charities before recycling."

When the business moved into its Chico location, Reddemann emphasized green methods in the renovations. No or low-volatile organic compound emission paints were used for the walls. To reduce off-gassing, solid wood flooring was used rather than particle board. For some of the wood shelving, Reddemann used pine that was certified as being sustainably produced by the Forest Stewardship Council and was milled in nearby Chester. The track lighting in the store uses compact fluorescent lights.

Fostering Sustainability

Finding Products
"It can be challenging to find companies that offer goods that fit our guidelines," says Reddemann. "We go to several trade shows and hope to identify a few new vendors with products we can sell."

Part of the challenge is finding reliable vendors. Greenfeet often works with small companies that face production challenges. One example was a local vendor who made bird houses out of recycled materials. "The bird houses were great, but we could not get them consistently," Reddemann says.

Greenfeet tries to use as many West Coast vendors as possible, notes Reddemann. This saves fuel and energy and cuts down on the shipping costs, which are higher if suppliers are located farther away.

Reddemann has made vendor contacts through Co-0p America’s annual Green Business Conference and the Green Economy Expo, which is part of the annual Green Festival sponsored by Global Exchange and Co-Op America.

Obtaining textiles from the United States is difficult because most mills have moved out of the country, Reddemann noted. Unfortunately, Greenfeet has had production problems with one of the remaining mills. Also, hemp, a very durable fiber that can be grown without pesticides and with much less water than cotton, cannot currently be grown legally in the United States.

Some of Greenfeet’s products may support a sustainable lifestyle but may not necessarily be sustainable themselves, explained Reddemann. An example is the CPR kit nylon shopping bag, mentioned above, which is made in China from petroleum derivatives. "One reusable bag can save over 1,000 plastic bags from the landfill based on its life expectancy," she noted.

Reddemann is working on putting Greenfeet's product standards in writing for vendors. This would include specifying the origin of products and their components, environmental concerns, labor rights, fair trade certification, and other issues. Distributors and manufacturers would then be asked to provide information about how their products addressed the standards.

Reddemann, a member of Co-op America’s Fair Trade Alliance, also wants to work with companies to help them meet the standards. "If Co-op America finds a company making a good product but not using fair trade, they will encourage and offer to work with them to make a change. We want to do that also."

Promoting a Sustainable Community
Promoting a green community and green business in Chico is important to Reddemann. She writes for Insideout, a local magazine, and has been interviewed on local radio and television. Reddemann is currently working with other local green-oriented businesses to create a green business directory.

Reddemann supports the Slow Food Movement, which encourages people to be more mindful of what they eat, have more civilized meals, and minimize "fast food" meals. "It's about being conscious of even the most ordinary choices, such as what we’re going to have for breakfast," she says.

Greenfeet has held classes on organic gardening, gardening with native plants, skin care, aromatherapy, and other topics.

What’s Next

Expanding the Greenfeet store is one of Reddemann’s goals. This would allow for a more diverse inventory including green building products such as paints with no or low volatile organic compounds, renewable floor coverings, recycled counter tops, and other materials. Reddemann would also like to add more quality, multipurpose appliances and carry more nonplastic housewares such as glass, ceramic, and stainless steel to help people deplasticize their homes.

Reddemann has also considered looking at a more retail-oriented location, ideally in a free-standing building. She would also like to be able to keep both the retail store and the Internet order business in the same location.

Contact Information

Valerie Reddemann
Greenfeet
1360 E. First Avenue
Chico, CA 95926
(530) 894-5255
www.greenfeet.com

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