Environmental Awareness

Harry & David is committed to business practices that are environmentally responsible and sustainable.

Our environmental agenda covers a broad range of initiatives including the purchase of paper, printing, and logistics. Our purchasing agreement details specific environmental protective criteria that all vendors in our advertising production supply chain are required to meet.

Additionally, our award-winning conservation and operational efforts in water and waste management, recycling and pest management in our orchards further define our commitment to sustainability in all aspects of our business.

In keeping with our commitment to reduce resource consumption, we actively encourage shopping via our websites, effectively eliminating millions of paper-based catalogs. Roughly half of the company’s orders arrive via this environmentally friendly channel. Visit our website at: www.harryanddavid.com.



Paper, Printing and Logistics

Every vendor in our advertising production supply chain is required to meet specific environmental protective criteria, as detailed in our Purchasing Agreement. The following are the terms our Paper Suppliers, Printers and Logistic Service Providers must agree to.

Paper Suppliers

All paper supplied to Harry & David will meet the following requirements:

  • No paper will contain wood fiber from endangered old growth or endangered forest ecosystems.
  • All wood fiber must come from forests managed responsibly and for sustainability. In addition, all suppliers must have a strategic plan, complete with measurable targets to increase the quantity of fiber from third party certified forests. Acceptable third party certifications include: Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Canada’s National Standard for Sustainable Forest Management (CAN/CSAZ809), Sustainable Forest Initiative (SFI), and credible point of harvest certifications systems such as Master Logger.  Suppliers will report progress on a bi-annual basis.
  • A certified “Chain of Custody” procurement system must exist no later than 2007. The certified system will ensure accurate reporting of the origin of all wood fiber used in the manufacturing process. Acceptable certifications include: Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Sustainable Forest Initiative (SFI).
  • Bleaching processes will contain no elemental chlorine.
  • Wastewater effluent in paper making facilities must meet or exceed EPA standards for dioxins.
  • Paper suppliers must re-forest every acre of land harvested as expressed in the certification for sustainability systems mentioned above.  
  • Paper suppliers will limit the use of chemicals and herbicides and use compounds with low ecological impact.
  • Paper suppliers will participate in the EPA’s Climate Leader Program or have comparable targets to reduce emission of greenhouse gases; measurement of progress and annual reporting is required.    
  • Paper suppliers will have and publish a Code of Ethics, as well as anti-bribery and corruption policies to avoid conflict with environmental goals.
  • Paper suppliers will report all relevant legal challenges concerning the environment to Harry & David.
  • Catalog paper supplied to Harry & David will contain at least 10% post consumer waste, when the net effect of adding post consumer waste to the fiber mix has a positive impact on the environment (including, but not limited to, resource conservation, energy use and emission levels).
  • All paper supplier facilities will encourage employees to recycle their personal printed material and provide receptacles on-site for collection.

Printing

  • All print facilities must have recycling operations for scrap metals, cardboard, pallets, shrink-wrap, printing plates and ink.
  • Hazardous materials such as solvents and inks must be reclaimed for recycling or reuse.
  • All paper waste generated must be recycled.
  • Low volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and alcohol free fountain solutions must be used.
  • Computer to plate technology (filmless plating) must be the standard plating process.
  • All facilities will encourage employees to recycle their personal printed materials and provide receptacles on site for collection.
  • Print suppliers will report all relevant legal challenges concerning their impact on the environment to Harry & David.

Logistics Services

  • To ensure maximum fuel efficiency, load factors (fullness of trucks) for distributing unprinted paper rolls and bound catalogs on behalf of Harry & David must average 90% or better.

By signing this agreement your company is committing to Harry & David that all of the above criteria are being met. Notifying Harry & David of any changes to your environmental policy is required.

Supplier company name__________________________

Signature, company representative ________________________     Date___________

Title_________________________________



Sustainability, Recycling and Resource Stewardship

Harry & David demonstrates its commitment to environmental goals through award-winning efforts in the areas of Recycling Waste, Water Conservation, Pest Control and Composting.

Recycling Waste

  • The Harry & David recycling program employs 13 full-time workers to sort more than 10 categories of waste materials, including paper, corrugate, wood, metal, glass, freon, antifreeze, lubricants, fluorescent lamps and polyethylene foam packaging.
  • Since 1990, Harry & David’s Medford facility has recycled over 18,000 tons of paper.
  • During 2005, over 99% of all corrugated materials and 70% of office paper were recycled. 

Water Conservation

  • To reduce the amount of water the company draws from the Rogue River and its tributaries, Harry & David has upgraded the irrigation systems on most of its orchard properties. Through a network of meters, radio controllers, linked computers and pressurized low-volume sprinklers, these systems use less water and eliminate leaching and surface run-off, preventing fertilizer and topsoil from being carried into streams. 
  • Over the past several years, these upgrades have reduced the company’s water consumption by over 30%.
  • At some orchards, water consumption has been reduced to only half of the company’s allotments from local streams. 

Pest Control

  • In an ongoing effort to minimize their use of chemical pesticides, Harry & David has reduced the use of organophosphates by 92% over the past five years.
  • Broad-spectrum pesticides are being replaced with reduced-risk materials that target specific pests, with mating disruption as the company’s preferred pest-control method. The acreage managed by this method has increased by 102% in the last five years.
  • The company has been farming 50 acres organically since 2002, and will receive full organic certification of 34 acres in 2006.

Composting

  • In an effort to reduce synthetic fertilizer use and improve fruit tree health, Harry & David began its own composting program in 1999. Using waste materials from local farming and fruit processing operations, the company produces finished compost for use in regenerating orchard soils.
  • In addition to agricultural waste, the composting program reuses other organic wastes such as shredded paper, newspaper, and boxes collected from the company’s offices and other business operations (see “Recycling Waste” above).
  • The program has proved highly successful. In 2005, the company composted 10,000 tons of culled fruit and processed fruit waste, as well as 38,000 cubic yards of spoiled hay and waste obtained from local stables. This volume of material was diverted from local landfills – an added benefit of the program.
  • In 2005, 18,000 cubic yards of finished compost was applied to 180 acres of fruit trees.  

Environmental Leadership

  • Harry & David is a recognized industry leader in creating innovative approaches to sustainable agricultural development.
  • Harry & David is winner of the 1999 Oregon Governor’s Occupational Health and Safety award and the 2000 US Conference of Mayors’ award for Environmental Responsibility.
  • The company served as a beta tester for the State of Oregon’s Pesticide Usage Reporting system, offering design and user interface input based on years of voluntary data collection and recording.
  • Bear Creek Orchards participates with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality workgroups to identify best management practices and to encourage composting as a means for solid waste management.
  • The Oregon Department of Agriculture has recognized the role that Harry & David plays in improving local water quality by reducing the accumulation of stable waste that impacts valley waterways.
  • Harry & David worked with landowners, state and federal agencies, and environmental advocates on a Rogue River stream channel restoration project to develop high-value salmon-rearing reaches.
  • Working with the Greenway Project, Harry & David helped develop solutions to complete the last segment of a recreational pathway across areas of high environmental impact and expense.
  • Harry & David continues to expand its network of vegetative buffers along public roads and neighboring properties.
  • According to local Department of Fish & Wildlife officials, fish (and community anglers) have benefited from the company’s impressive water conservation efforts.