Kruger Products is Canada's largest tissue manufacturer and offers one of North America's largest portfolios of third-party certified tissue products. The organization's first sustainability program, Sustainability 2015, launched in 2010 and has allowed the company to significantly reduce its water consumption, packaging material, energy use and Greenhouse gas emissions.
Similar to most companies working towards a more sustainable future, Kruger Products quickly realized that collaboration across industries would provide more opportunities for long-term impact. With this in mind, Kruger Products began to ideate on how to bring the top retail and CPG companies together to drive real change within the supply chain.
In partnership with Canadian Grocer, Kruger Products launched Leaders in Sustainable Thinking in 2012. The annual roundtable series invites top retailer and manufacturing companies from the CPG industry, including Loblaws, Unilever, Walmart, Coca-Cola, Canadian Tire, Maple Leaf Foods, among others, to share best practices and collaborate on collective initiatives. The conference provides an opportunity for Kruger Products, and all attendees, to further evolve their sustainability goals/initiatives through collaboration and knowledge sharing.
Companies that are working towards a more sustainable future are embracing collaboration in a way that is typically unfamiliar to the business world. However, businesses are now realizing that the environmental and social challenges they face cannot be conquered alone and collaboration will yield better results. This was the catalyst for Leaders in Sustainable Thinking.
By bringing together Canada's top retailers and CPG companies, Kruger Products was optimistic that the influence of the companies involved would deliver impact. Last year's conference theme was "Collaboration in a Time of Uncertainty" and the attendees shared challenges prevalent in their industry. The companies then identified common threads and the 2017 conference will focus on how to promote collective action and drive change.
Kruger Products is also committed to making sustainability more accessible to more companies. To support this, the company launched the Sustainability website resource on canadiangrocer.com. The page includes insight from leaders in the industry and shares trending topics with the objective of encouraging companies to see opportunities that sustainability initiatives can bring.
Each year since its launch in 2012, Leaders in Sustainable Thinking has tailored the conference theme to focus on relevant issues and opportunities including, Green/Sustainable Consumer Purchasing in Canada (2012), Responsible Sourcing (2013), Sustainable Transportation and Logistics (2014), Sustainable Approach to Mitigating Risk (2015), Collaborating (2016).
The breadth of topics have provided attendees with the insight and information to look critically at their supply chain and operations. By doing this, businesses are able to mitigate risk and prepare for the future of their business. Additionally, key experts in their field attend each year to ensure that the companies are provided with pertinent research and, where relevant, global context.
Following each event, Kruger Products captures content and shares with a large Canadian audience audiences to further drive impact. The idea is to continue growing and supporting businesses delivering on their own sustainability initiatives.
