Sustainability Profile: Riva's The Eco Store

1. What is your company's brand promise, vision or statement of values, and how does it relate to sustainability?
Riva's Eco Store specializes in providing a wide range of high quality, nontoxic home products for consumers who are concerned not only about their own health, and that of their families, but also care about the health of the planet.
2. How are your products or services environmentally and socially sustainable?
We evaluate all of the products we sell in our store against environmental and social best practices. Our criteria includes: use of sustainable fibers, organic/biodynamic, pesticide-free production, and fair trade/ethical labour practices.
3. How does your company give preference to suppliers who create positive social and environmental benefits either through their products and services or through their community partnerships?
We work with suppliers committed to producing a superior product that supports personal as well as environmental health and well-being, using the highest standard of sustainable production methods, and maintaining a commitment to fair trade and ethical labour practices.
• What products are made of - use of sustainable fibers, organic/biodynamic, pesticide-free production
• How they are produced - fair trade/ethical labour practices/no sweatshops
• Where they are produced - local when possible, ethically produced when imported
• How they are transported - preference is given to companies to reduce their transportation footprint
• How they will be disposed of – we carry products like Small Planet Cleaning Supplies and Claudia's Choices that offer refill or take-back programs whenever possible
4. How does your business minimize the environmental impact of its operations?
• Waste reduction - we are working on a program with one of the city's private recycling companies such as P.E.L. Recycling, and currently recycle all plastics, glass, cardboard, tin, glass, etc. We also make regular trips to the bottle depot.
• Recycling - all boxes are recycled, we encourage customers to return packaging if they do not have the facilities to recycle.
• Energy efficiency - store faces south and gets lots of natural night in summertime, we also use CFBs and halogen for fixtures around the store.
• Paper products and administrative supplies - all office paper is post-consumer recycled as well as using recycled paper bathroom products such as Cascades brand and Seventh Generation. Business cards use FSC certified paper as well.
• Building supplies - store was created using recycled materials as well as using non-toxic wheatboard covered with paper mache for shelving as well as FSC certified wood for paneling and non-toxic American Clay for display walls and zero-VOC Yolo Paint for other re-painted walls with-in the store.
• Hazardous materials and cleaning products - use of natural cleaning supplies only, such as locally made Small Planet Cleaners.
• Transportation and staff commuting - staff are encouraged to use public transit, or ride a bike to work. We are looking into a bike rack for the front of the store too.
5. How does your business demonstrate ethical business conduct?
We have third party accounting procedures in place, but as a new local business we are still setting up other business practices. Please call us for more details in six months.
6. What strategic community partnerships does your company have in place?
• Internships & student programs - We are open working with school work experience programs, but at this time we do not have anything in place.
• Memberships - We are a member of Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses and REAP Business Association in Calgary. We are looking into membership in Co-op America as well as One Percent for the Planet.
7. What policy or guidelines exist to support charitable contributions?
As mentioned above we are looking into memberships in Co-op America and One Percent for the Planet, and as we grow we will be looking at building other relationships. Since we opened, we have done over seven sponsorships/donations in the local community.
8. How many people do you employ locally?
5
9. In what ways does your business demonstrate its commitment to employee health and safety?
We are a health-conscious business and therefore hope to inspire our employees to live a health conscious lifestyle as well. We abide by WCB policies for workplace safety and can provide MSDS sheets for all our building products.
• Training programs - We do in-store demos and presentations to educate both our local community, but also our staff as well.
• Internal communications - We want all our staff to be happy at all times, we communicate openly and try to remedy situations right away before that become bigger problems later.
10. In what ways does your business demonstrate its commitment to employee development and job satisfaction?
We pay a living wage that is competitive within the natural products industry and offer benefits to full-time employees. As our company continues to grow, there are opportunities to grow from the positions we currently have.
11. How does your business support employees to lead balanced lives and be active participants in their communities?
We are a community-minded and health conscious business that looks forward to formalizing programs for our employees as we grow.