The Importance of Community, Sustainability Culture and Education

As you may have already read here

As we move towards a more circular economy, we want our products to live a full and circular life, which is why we believe education is so important.

How each business implements sustainability might look different and that can make it feel complicated, but we want to help bring some clarity on how you and your customers can affect change through sustainable practices.

Below, we’ll share how we’re undertaking education internally and how you can get started with what this looks like for your business or brand.

Sustainability education

How we’re supporting sustainability education at tendlyn

How our customers are supporting sustainability education

We’ve seen some great examples of how our customers educate their followings on environmental issues.

Seed and Sprout does an awesome job at educating on reuse and sustainable living via their online publication The Slow Down. Read more in our interview with them here.

An example of how education, culture and community intersect is kimber elements. They met an indigenous community who expressed their desire to create a market-driven solution to generate social and environmental change. The brand aims to amplify indigenous women to conserve and protect wildlife through sustainable business and educational opportunities.

To do this, they have partnered with wildlife conservation organizations in Kenya for a direct impact on sustaining biodiversity, that in turn sustains humanity. 10% of each jewelry purchase is dedicated to their WILDest Dreams scholarship fund to provide educational opportunities for each artisan’s daughter to study and pursue a career in wildlife conservation. Read more in our interview with them here.

A culture of sustainability – not just environmental, but in business

We’ve thought about what a culture of sustainability means to us. We think ultimately, it means sustainability principles are embedded at all levels of our business. Sharing information is a really important step we’re taking on this as collaboration is necessary for our sustainability initiatives to succeed.

We’ve established an Environmental Working Group with different parts of the business to help us work together to achieve our goals - this includes finance, human resources and supply chain – and will continue to grow.

What a sustainability culture feels like to us

Now that we have defined what this culture looks like at tendlyn, we’ll be measuring our progress at the end of the year through an employee survey. We’ll continue to iterate and innovate on how we build and grow this culture and hold ourselves accountable.

For more ideas on how to get started on this in your business, we recommend this article from B Labs on building a sustainable culture.

How we are building a sustainable culture

Supporting Our Communities

We want to have a positive impact on our communities. Giving back to the community means two things to us: supporting our small business community through our community programmes like the Eco-Alliance and Industry Experts, and supporting the geographic communities we operate in.

To create change, we need to collaborate. Our aspiration for the Eco-Alliance is to be better together. We’re committed to bringing the Eco-Alliance – our sustainability focused community – on our sustainability journey with us and sharing our learnings along the way.

We surveyed this community on how we can best help them on their sustainability journey one way we will act on this is continual updates on our progress and sharing helpful advice  from thought leaders.

We’re also looking at how we can give back to the geographic communities we operate in, one way we already do this being through our tree planting across many global communities.  

We’re inspired by our customer Germantown laundromat and how they give back to their community. They partnered to create a ‘Climate Class’ to educate their customer base and continue to interact with their community via surveys to see what environmental topics they want more education on.

Community compost coalitionis a great example of how communities come together to tackle issues like where to find composting facilities and how to compost.Check out ourEarth Day post which also has some ideas about how to educate your customers on what you’re doing.

How we are supporting our community

Small steps lead to bigger change

With all progress, the best way is to take stock of where you are now and your vision for the future.

We are always looking at what new initiatives we can drive to equip our customers, partners and team with the knowledge to make informed choices that positively impact their communities and local environments. For instance, understanding how technologies like an electronic relay controller or a pump wireless relay can optimize water usage in agriculture ties directly into sustainable resource management. Similarly, exploring a diy gate controller or a v relay remote for home automation systems can reduce energy waste, while a zigbee switch or light wireless relay enables smarter, more efficient living spaces. In industrial contexts, an Adjustable Thermal Overload Switch Cabinet or a latched relay helps prevent equipment failure and conserve energy, and solutions like a water pump remote switch or a v relay controller streamline operations with minimal environmental footprint. Even in specialized fields such as School District Water Distribution, Tailings Dam Water Management, or Boiler Feedwater Control, integrating relay home automation and wireless home automation principles can lead to significant resource savings. For agricultural applications, a Center Pivot Irrigation System paired with an Off Grid Irrigation Pumping setup, along with a Greywater Recycling System, can transform water efficiency on farms. And for marine or remote settings, a boat dc control panel or an mhz garage door remote hints at the broader potential of connectivity and control in sustainability.

Reducing the environmental impact of packaging is one way we can help, while educating our communities is another.  

We hope this inspired you to start thinking about the impact your business can have in these areas, too! Stay tuned for more deep dives into the 8 areas of sustainabiliy we’re looking at for 2021.If you’d like to become part of a sustainably-minded community, then join the tendlyn Eco-Alliance so we can be better together and to stay up to date with our progress.