What is your role as Chief Purpose Officer at Traditional Medicinals?
Sure, let me start by providing some context on Traditional Medicinals. We are celebrating our 50th anniversary this year. The company was founded by a fourth-generation herbalist and a community activist. From the beginning, we had two main purposes. One was to educate consumers about the benefits of plants and how they can contribute to our health through oxygen, nutrition, and medicinal properties. Recent studies even highlight the calming effects of nature on the nervous system and mental health. The other purpose was to support the people who grow and collect those plants, recognizing our obligation to help these economies and ecosystems thrive.
Early on, we began visiting source communities and noticed significant inequities among those at the forefront of our supply chain. This realization, coming from our founders' backgrounds in community organizing, drove us to commit to fair and equitable business practices for 50 years. My role as Chief Purpose Officer was created by our board about three years ago, aiming to preserve and expand these commitments as long-tenured employees started retiring.
My responsibilities include overseeing our climate transition plan, which encompasses biodiversity, water, and carbon management, not just carbon emissions. I also manage human resources and internal communications, ensuring every job aligns with our climate goals and fostering a unified direction among all employees. Finally, I oversee our mission, vision, and values, integrating them into resource allocation and decision-making processes. Recently, we rewrote our seven-year strategic plan to focus on five pillars of purpose rather than solely on growth metrics, believing that the right actions and investments will naturally lead to sustainable growth.
What is the importance of the FairWild certification and its impact on the ecosystem and communities?
Plants and humans have co-evolved for millennia, with medicinal uses documented for up to 3,000 years depending on the region. In Europe, about 90% of medicinal plants are still collected from the wild. This is crucial because many of these plants depend on intact ecosystems that can't be replicated through cultivation. With rising demand for natural health products, there's a risk of over-exploitation, which could collapse these plant populations and harm entire ecosystems.
The FairWild standard, developed around 20 years ago with our involvement, addresses this issue. It ensures that plants are harvested sustainably, considering natural regeneration and the presence of endangered species. This standard supports biodiversity and land conservation efforts, aligning with international conservation targets.
Moreover, FairWild certification ensures that the communities harvesting these plants receive fair compensation and support. Historically, these communities faced the choice of selling land for development or unsustainable extraction of natural resources. FairWild promotes living incomes, community investments, and human rights training, allowing people to stay on their ancestral lands and preserve traditional ecological knowledge. This approach not only supports environmental sustainability but also promotes equity by recognizing the rights and needs of local communities.
How is Traditional Medicinals addressing packaging sustainability and transitioning to biodegradable products?
Our focus on sustainable packaging has been evolving for decades.
We use post-consumer recycled cardboard for our case boxes, cartons, and tea tags, and organic cotton for our tea strings. Our tea bags are made from abaca, a plant in the banana family, which is our largest agricultural input. Abaca is a natural product, with 85% sourced from the Philippines, where we are involved in various community support projects.
In terms of packaging innovations, we removed a part of our carton to reduce weight during shipping, initially to lower our carbon footprint. However, with the rise of e-commerce and direct-to-consumer shipping, this led to the need for double boxing, which added weight back to the system. This highlights the complexity of sustainable packaging decisions, which are data-driven and require constant reassessment.
About two years ago, we transitioned to a compostable overwrap for our tea products, which was the last non-sustainable element in our packaging. This overwrap is industrially compostable and meets our barrier requirements to preserve the medicinal properties of our teas. However, it does have challenges, such as limited industrial composting facilities and a thin aluminized layer that adds some weight. Despite these issues, we believe in signaling demand for sustainable packaging solutions and are working with suppliers to develop better options.
Can you elaborate on your community impact efforts, particularly in relation to agricultural and rural communities?
From our early years, we recognized the importance of supporting the communities that grow our products. The herbal industry is niche, with plants growing in specific geo-authentic regions. When sourcing organic, Fair certified, and medicinal-grade herbs, we often work with just a few farms globally. Our success is tied to the success of these communities.
One significant initiative is our work in the Philippines, where 85% of the world's abaca is grown. We partnered with Stanford Health Care and the Philippine Department of Health to deliver telemedicine services to remote communities, ensuring that day laborers, who can't afford to lose income by traveling for healthcare, receive necessary medical attention. This project includes distributing "clinics in a box" with diagnostic equipment to rural health workers.
In Rajasthan, India, we've invested in supporting women and girls for over a decade. Despite women doing 80% of the farming work, their educational attainment is low, and early marriage is common. We focus on providing economic opportunities and community resilience, ensuring these women and girls have better futures.
We also have a Traditional Medicinals Foundation in the US, focusing on herbal educationaccess for BIPOC communities, and fostering nature connection and conservation. This includes building a stewardship mindset and love for the land, reinforcing our commitment to equitable business practices and community support globally.
How is Traditional Medicinals managing its carbon strategy and Scope 3 emissions?
We've been measuring and reporting our Scope 3 emissions since 2013, continually improving the breadth and accuracy of our data. Our latest inventory includes over 15,000 data points, currently undergoing external verification. We focus on clear boundaries for each category, data management processes, emissions calculation methodologies, and continuous improvement opportunities.
Our largest footprint comes from sourcing, particularly in areas like drying technology and irrigation, which are significant energy consumers. We co-invest with communities to implement more energy-efficient solutions, such as solar dryers and advanced irrigation technologies. Additionally, we're optimizing our supply network to reduce transportation emissions, including considering a new facility on the East Coast to shorten shipping routes.
We listen to our farmer partners, who often face data management burdens from multiple customers. We're piloting a collaboration with other botanical companies to standardize data requests, reducing the administrative load on farmers. This initiative aims to align the industry on key data points, streamlining the process and allowing farmers to focus on sustainable practices.
