better because of us

better because of us

After a great experience last year, The Joinery is again participating in the NW Earth Institute’s EcoChallenge.  With over 80% of our employees taking part, our Sustainability Team divided participants into four separate teams for an added layer of fun and friendly competition. The team came up with a new set of challenges:

  • Challenge #1: Don’t eat anything that once had a heartbeat. Whatever your take on the ethics of eating animals, a diet featuring meat and poultry has a dramatically bigger environmental footprint than a vegetarian diet. There is ample evidence that reducing meat intake also improves your health. Our goal as a company is to reach 600 meatless meals.
  • Challenge #2: Avoid to-go containers. A trash audit conducted earlier in the year (yes, our team shown below did some dumpster diving to determine what exactly we are throwing into the landfill) showed that about 10% of the trash from our Woodstock location was made up of to-go containers for food and coffee. Our goal is to eliminate the use of to-go containers in general and disposable coffee cups in particular, and to help we are providing insulated coffee containers to all participating employees.
  • Challenge #3: Daily Exercise for at least 30 minutes has a beneficial impact on mental as well as physical health. And it can also be a lot of fun.

2016 EcoChallenge

We are kicking the Eco Challenge off with a Vegetarian Luncheon this Thursday, when our four teams will begin battling it out for bragging rights.

The Joinery is an iconic Portland, Oregon furniture company, and one of the many businesses that has engaged employees and made positive changes using NWEI programs. 

We are so proud! The Joinery has been named one of the 2016 100 Best Green Workplaces in Oregon by Oregon Business magazine. The eighth annual green survey was part of the 100 Best Companies and 100 Best Nonprofits surveys conducted last fall and spring. This ranking shows that our workplace has implemented a variety of green policies, and that our employees place a high value on sustainable practices and believe our commitment to them is exceptional.

Shoppers typically make purchasing decisions based on the quality of a brand’s product and its price. But a third factor – a brand’s “purpose” – has emerged as equally influential. Roughly 84 percent of consumers say they try to consider a company’s social and environmental pledges before they buy or shop, according to a 2015 Cone Communications Study.

                                                

The Joinery is proud to announce a partnership with Zena Forest Products to source local Oregon White Oak. We strive to utilize lumber from local sources and that which is certified by the Forestry Stewardship Council. Through our partnership with Zena, we accomplish both.

The Joinery: wood chips and sawdust are converted into briquettes, then given away for free to customers.

As momentum grows at the state level to introduce far-reaching environmental regulations, such as carbon pricing and the Clean Fuels Program, Oregon employers continue to go the extra mile to create green workplaces for their employees.

 

Since our founding in 1982, The Joinery has worked to be environmentally responsible and community minded. The impact of those efforts has been good enough to be recently named to the Oregon Business “100 Best Green Companies to Work for in Oregon.” Exactly where The Joinery falls among the 33 companies ranked in the Small Company category won’t be unveiled until May 27, but we are proud to have made the list.  In a state as environmentally progressive as Oregon, this award is particularly welcome.

In April The Joinery was named to the “B Corp Best for the Environment” list in recognition of our outstanding environmental practices.  Our inclusion resulted from an environmental impact score in the top 10% of all Certified B Corporations on the B Impact Assessment, a rigorous and comprehensive assessment of a company's impact on its workers, community, and the environment. This is the second consecutive year that The Joinery earned this distinction. See our score and learn more about the other honorees here.

 

BCorp Best for the Environment

 

Our 4th annual Scrap Contest is now underway. We challenged our entire team – including design, sales and craftspeople – to develop innovative new products utilizing only scrap wood. After much lumber hoarding and lots of time building and sanding, the pieces are nearly complete. Voting opens on May 13th and can be conducted online or through an in-store survey.  At the conclusion of the contest we will draw the name of one voter, whose prize will be their choice among any of the Scrap Contest entries.

Below are photos of a few of the pieces being entered this year.

Scrap Contest 2014

Today, The Joinery was named “Best for the Environment” for creating the most overall environmental impact. 63 companies across 30 industries and 11 countries were recognized by the nonprofit B Lab, with the release of the ‘B Corp Best for the Environment List’, a second installment in its ‘B Corp Best for the World’ series.

B Corp Best for the World

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