In 1993 Tom Kemper founded Dolphin Blue, a company that sells recycled office supplies online. Today, Dolphin Blue is a successful and growing example of true environmental stewardship. Here’s how Kemper did it. Courtesy of SustainableWays.com
SustainableWays.com: What inspired you to start and operate a sustainable business?
Tom Kemper: I conducted the first public recycling event in 1992. At the Shakespeare Festival of Dallas, I collected, sorted, and bagged 350 50-gallon bags of recyclable commodities in the three weeks of the festival, but couldn't find anyone to accept the materials for reprocessing. It was then that I began to realize the true economics of recycling and the law of supply and demand: The only way recycling will ever work is if we all choose to purchase products made from the materials we attempt to recycle. If not, they just end up in landfills or waste-to-energy incinerators.
In the 1970’s, during and immediately following the Vietnam War, the valley in which I was raised was discovered to have been covered with dioxin-contaminated waste oil. The rural roads were being sprayed by county contractors to reduce dust in the dry summer months. A beautiful, spring-fed trout stream, amidst a 300-acre ranch, became suddenly devoid of life. The town is Fenton, Mo., near infamous Times Beach. This also played an important role in development of my environmental awareness and activism.
SW: What are the environmental standards for Dolphin Blue products? Can you offer an example?
TK: We offer only products that meet our minimum standard for environmental or ecological value. That minimum standard is 30% post-consumer recycled material. Many of our products are as high as 100% post consumer recycled, as in some of our letterhead papers and envelopes.
One example is a special envelope manufactured for the U.S. Postal Service that is 80% post-consumer recycled and processed chlorine free. We had to jump through numerous hoops, and educate a couple manufacturers in making the envelopes that set us apart from any other provider of envelopes. If every business, and every consumer met just that minimum standard, we could begin to make some huge strides in some of our environmental challenges.
Mind you, Dolphin Blue was not contracted by the U.S. Postal Service. I made a call on a local facility that happened to have another 220 postal facilities performing the same function. It was my desire to offer them a product that not only met their needs but also, since they had in place a program that supported and encouraged the purchase of recycled material products, exceeded their goals for recycled-content. It set us apart from all competitors.
I have seen data from the federal government stating they buy as little as 5% of all their goods consumed in doing their business, that 5% being commodities having some level of recycled material in their manufacture. That is quite disappointing. The amount of product consumed by our federal agencies is tremendous, and what a difference it would make if all federal agencies bought just 10% of their products as having 30% post-consumer recycled content.
As a supplier to federal agencies, we are changing that. Day by day we grow because of our effectiveness in educating these agencies and businesses. Like all corporate entities, they are made up of people, and people are becoming more and more aware of the effect we are having on our planet. When given an ecological and sustainable alternative, most people will make a decision that says they choose sustainability.
SW: How do the products you offer compare in prices to competing products that don't reflect environmental costs? What do you tell your customers?
TK: First, we are not out to attain the business of ALL the consumers of office supplies. There are some we will never convert. I know that and don’t struggle with it. We are committed to attaining the business of those 10%-25% of consumers that will buy our type of products once educated sufficiently. As I said, we’re out to change consumption behavior through education. We will do that over time and will grow through doing the good we do.
Without a doubt, the biggest challenges we face as a business are the mindset of most people who make the decision to buy office supplies. I can’t tell you how many times I hear the comment, “but your products are so expensive.” To which I reply, “yes, the invoice does reflect a higher price than what you may see when you buy non-recycled, or non-environmentally responsible office supplies.”
But then I continue …“Please also consider the cost of the loss of resources like habitat; native forests being replaced by mono-cultural species of trees; loss of air quality because we use more energy and create more tons of emissions to make virgin-material products; loss of clean water because of unnecessary and excessive bleaching of paper; excessive reliance on oil because every time we don’t recycle and remanufacture a toner cartridge we use another pint of oil; and then, the associated costs to all of us through increased disease caused by pollution, and the transference of cost to each of us through healthcare premiums and medical care. The list goes on. Unfortunately, our balance sheets don’t account for these costs.”
“So, if we now measure all these costs, which are only a portion of the true costs of "business as usual," then what are the costs of that cheap paper, or that non-recycled and non-remanufactured toner cartridge? And, with global population increasing by approximately 90 million people each year, accompanied by eco-systems and resources in severe decline, in what state are we leaving the planet for our children and their children?”
We are all so inundated by the consumer culture marketing and advertising industry, we are numb to the effect we are having on our only home and on our children’s future. We are blind to it. A big challenge we face as a small business is getting enough people to know about us so that we can have a conversation with them and hopefully cause them to reevaluate how they look at their consumption.
I recognize that the megastore office suppliers will sell whatever it takes to put dollars to their bottom line, and they will always have the customer that is looking for the bargain. We, on the other hand, are seeking that individual that can make the decision to buy products that make for a more sustainable world, and can leverage their choice into competitive advantage or personal satisfaction and fulfillment.
SW: What was Dolphin Blue's role with the manufacturers? How did you "educate" them on the need for recycled-content products?
TK: We sourced the manufacturer to convert the paper we’d bring in from a Canadian mill. The manufacturer provided us a cost (per thousand envelopes) to convert, print and apply the gum adhesive. In essence, we developed the product by teaming with a manufacturer willing to perform value-added service to product we specified for a particular application.
Initially, we had to work with the first couple manufacturers to convince them there would be on-going orders, and that the 80% post consumer recycled paper would not create throughput issues on their equipment. The paper we chose to utilize in manufacturing the envelopes was not a conventional paper used to manufacture envelopes. I heard many times from the manufacturer that they would experience difficulties in converting the paper to envelopes. That turned out to not be the case.
The education mostly occurred in getting the first manufacturers we used for this envelope to accept that they could build a new source of business on a product that was primarily manufactured to meet high ecological value through a product having exceedingly strong environmental attributes.
SW: What -- and whose -- hoops did Dolphin Blue have to jump through?
TK: Attaining the paper to open this market channel wasn’t an easy endeavor. I knew what paper I wanted in order to manufacture the envelopes I envisioned introducing into this channel. In the paper business, there are numerous “hoops” to jump through to be able to provide a particular paper. Those hoops are obstacles that just continue adding cost to a product, to the point where it gets cost prohibitive. A small business can’t just call a paper mill and order 12,000 lbs. of paper. It’s not like buying a car or any other commodity. The mills have made it difficult for just any company or customer to buy their product. Many layers of handlers create many layers of cost added to a product.
Add to that, the cost of shipping paper. Paper is very heavy, and therefore, expensive to ship. After much dialog and selling my idea to every conceivable source of the paper I wanted, I finally got the product at a price where we could be competitive to virgin-material alternatives.
Now that we had the source of paper, in my estimation, it should have been quite easily understood by any envelope manufacturer that paper is paper, whether that paper be recycled or virgin. I mistakenly thought everyone just accepted that all paper ran the same on envelope presses.
That was not the case. The first couple manufacturers we used had many questions about run-ability of the paper, as well as using paper that we ordered from the mill and they then ran on their equipment. Many manufacturers want to control all aspects of the manufacturing process, and just getting them to consider turning over paper ordering made for some interesting initial discussions.
Consider also, at that time, we were only in business about three years, and were under $.5 million in size in annual revenue. That looked risky to most manufacturers to whom I talked about making this envelope.
SW: What are some of the costs of environmental stewardship?
TK: I don’t believe the costs of environmental stewardship are “new.” There have always been costs attached to being a good steward of our natural world. Since we began manufacturing any product of any kind, good stewards have been cognizant of the costs of that process of manufacture or production. Cost means replacing what you use. It requires paying attention to resource depletion. For example, if a logger in the 1800’s depleted his forest resource, he’d have to establish a new mill in a new location, or, transport his product (logs/timber) further. The investment may have been in compensation to someone on the payroll, an investment in time, or even the cost of a new mill. A good steward would have managed that resource, and therefore, managed his costs.
The costs associated with resource depletion are much more visible today, primarily because we have six billion people competing for those resources, and depletion occurs much more rapidly. Recovery takes much longer, and sometimes appears to be improbable or impossible for some resources.
Many companies choose to focus on “return on investment.” Ok, so if we are invested in this earth, and we have invested a child’s life in this earth, then what about that investment? I think CEOs of our most respected companies need to consider there is more to being human and occupying space on this planet for a very short period of time, than producing massive wealth for themselves and their directors. We all have a responsibility as corporate citizens, and should do everything we can to meet the needs of our communities (local and global) and our natural world and all its occupants. Not just for current value, but for future value to the next generation.
SW: How has Dolphin Blue's dedication to environmental responsibility affected the morale and lives of your employees?
TK: I’d love to hear my employees answer this. I think it is consistent with their thinking that Dolphin Blue offers not only a product which they can be proud to provide to the marketplace, they continually receive positive feedback from our customers telling us we are doing a very wonderful thing. In economic times when the industry in which we compete has become “flat,” we have grown by almost double in the past year. That speaks volumes about long-term stability and growth potential. It gives Dolphin Blue’s employees a sense of security.
We also assist employees in continuing their education. Thus far, we have paid our employees’ tuition for business-related, college-level courses, as well as the cost of the books. We also offer time off for attending classes. Dolphin Blue’s employees have a clear understanding of what they need to do to perform their job well. As long as they contribute to our growth by doing their job well, I allow them the ability to work a flexible schedule.
As an owner, I would probably be chastised by the “mainstream” business community for being so liberal in allowing employees time off. I look at the opportunity to create an employee that feels appreciated and valued in their position, and will do what I can to create value in their life. A respected and appreciated employee perceives value they probably will not find elsewhere. This creates loyalty and dedication.
SW: What advice would you give to people who want to work at a company like yours? Would you recommend any particular education background or experience?
TK: Be open and willing to learn a whole new way of looking at life. Be willing to place value on things you may not now consider of value. Be aware of the world in which you occupy a space and how you affect that world.
Openness and attitude are far more important to me than education level. Experience provides advantage, but enthusiasm gets one to success much faster. Love and respect everyone and every living thing. Know you are capable of far greater accomplishments than you may realize.
SW: What advice would you give to those interested in starting a business like yours, with environmental concerns in mind?
TK: Have a vision of what you see possible, and, no matter how tough things get, reach out and share your struggles with those around you. People love to believe in those who blaze new trails and have passion. Swim upstream, and never violate your self-respect.
SW: What do you envision for your business in the future?
TK: I have a burning passion to positively influence the sustainability of the world in which I play a part. To me that means the environment comes first. That presents a huge challenge. In order to balance the payoff with the added expenditure of being responsible environmentally, I have to constantly look for ways to get our message out and remind our customers and prospective customers on the reasons Dolphin Blue does what it does. The true value created for our planet by products like ours is not easily seen nor realized without open and honest dialog.
I would love to some day have to close our doors, knowing that I am doing so because we are no longer needed in this world. That will happen when we have become cyclical entities: Waste becomes food. If we can get it right, and I believe we can, then, I relish the day I walk away saying “we learned, we got there.”
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Courtesy of SustainableWays.com, "The Sensible Guide to Everything Sustainable"
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