Showing posts with label SC Johnson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SC Johnson. Show all posts

Monday, July 4, 2011

SC Johnson Introduces Windex® Mini and Invites Consumers to Make Greener Choices




SC Johnson Introduces Windex® Mini, Hopes to Revolutionize Use of Cleaning Concentrates

Company Invites Consumers to Make Greener Choices, Help Lead the Change

RACINE, Wis., July 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — With today’s launch of Windex® Mini, a concentrated refill pouch that uses 90 percent less plastic packaging than a traditional 26 fluid ounce trigger bottle, global environmental leader SC Johnson is taking another bold step to help consumers make greener choices.



Concentrates use less packaging, decrease shipping impacts and reduce waste that ends up in our nation’s landfills. Yet sales data shows U.S. consumers prefer not to refill their household cleaning bottles. This means stores won't stock concentrates and companies hesitate to create them. With this test, SC Johnson wants to understand how to motivate consumers and retailers to consider trading up from traditional cleaning methods to a greener choice.

“By conservative estimates, a flexible pouch saves six times as much plastic waste that goes into a landfill compared to a traditional bottle,” said Fisk Johnson, Chairman and CEO of SC Johnson. “Refilling with a concentrate is an example of a very small behavior change that could make a real difference in minimizing waste. But many people don't want the inconvenience. We want to crack the code and figure out what it would take to make concentrated refills an accepted – even demanded – choice.”
Leading the Change, Learning Along the Way.





The Windex® Mini concentrated refill pouch launch comes on the heels of Johnson’s speech at the 2011 Fortune Brainstorm Green conference in April. He spoke about the challenge of getting U.S. consumers to adopt concentrates, and his remarks received an enthusiastic response. Thus began a go-to-market plan to get Windex® Mini concentrated refill pouches into the hands of U.S. consumers in less than 15 weeks.

“The environment isn’t top of mind in most consumer purchases right now, but it needs to be if we’re going to address some of the challenges that future generations could face,” Johnson said. “What we try to do at SC Johnson is get product choices out there that work well and also have a better environmental profile than the ones that came before them.”

Windex® Mini concentrated refill pouch delivers the streak-free results consumers expect from the 75-year heritage of the Windex® brand. In just three easy steps – cut, pour, add water – consumers can refill a clean, single 26 fluid ounce Windex® bottle with cleaner. To get the revolution rolling, the product is being sold directly by SC Johnson at www.scjgreenerchoices.com in three-packs of “snip ‘n’ pour” pouches.
It's About Dialogue

With Windex® Mini concentrated refill pouch, SC Johnson hopes to gain valuable insight into how Americans use concentrated cleaning products.

“We want to create an open dialogue and get feedback from consumers once they give Windex® Mini concentrated refill pouch a try,” said Kelly M. Semrau, Senior Vice President of Global Corporate Affairs, Communication & Sustainability. “We know this initial test won’t be perfect, but to create real change we need to hear what consumers want and need, and learn as we go.”

The company invites Windex® Mini concentrated refill pouch purchasers to visit www.scjgreenerchoices.com to post comments and critiques about their experience with the product.
Small Change, Big Difference

The trigger bottle for Windex® Original glass cleaner is already produced with 50 percent post consumer recycled content. Choosing to refill with one Windex® Mini concentrated refill pouch has an immediate positive impact:

* Requires 90 percent less plastic packaging than a 26 fluid ounce trigger bottle - enough to make 6.5 ballpoint pens
* Avoids transporting 22.4 fluid ounces of water - nearly 1.5 pounds by weight

If SC Johnson can prove that concentrates will sell, and convince retailers to stock them, it could make an even bigger impact. People buy approximately 21 million bottles of Windex® Original glass cleaner each year. If just 20 percent of those were refilled, each year it could:

* Save 350,000 pounds of plastic - that's 26 million ballpoint pens
* Avoid using 175,000 pounds of virgin plastic - that's 3 million soda bottles
* Avoid transporting 735,000 gallons of water - that's more than 6 million pounds by weight

Online Forum for Change

To support the launch of Windex® Mini concentrated refill pouches, the company is expanding its corporate website, www.scjohnson.com, to include a “Greener Choices” section. This forum, available directly at www.scjgreenerchoices.com, covers four main topic areas: Conserving Energy, More with Less, Reduce & Recycle and Everyday Alternatives.

Greener Choices includes tips on small, easy choices families can make, as well as an area where people can post their own environmental tips and recommendations. In addition, the site offers perspective from well-known environmental blogger Scarlet Paolicchi of Family Focus Blog, and FAQs from SC Johnson about its own green practices.

Also part of Greener Choices is a new carbon calculator that SC Johnson is launching in partnership with Conservation International (CI). The easy-to-use tool, designed by CI, offers a detailed analysis of a family's carbon impact based on home energy use, vehicles, diet and more. It also offers suggestions to lower your impact and a chance to offset it.

This isn’t the first time the 125-year-old privately held company has led the charge to green the consumer products industry – learn more about the SC Johnson’s sustainability initiatives in the 2010 Public Report.
About SC Johnson

SC Johnson is a family-owned and managed business dedicated to innovative, high-quality products, excellence in the workplace and a long-term commitment to the environment and the communities in which it operates. Based in the USA, the company is one of the world's leading manufacturers of household cleaning products and products for home storage, air care, and pest control. It markets such well-known brands as GLADE®, OFF!®, PLEDGE®, RAID®, SCRUBBING BUBBLES®, SHOUT®, WINDEX® and ZIPLOC® in the U.S. and beyond, with brands marketed outside the U.S. including AUTAN®, BAYGON®, BRISE®, KABIKILLER®, KLEAR®, and MR. MUSCLE®. The 125-year-old company, with more than $8 billion in sales, employs approximately 12,000 people globally and sells products in virtually every country around the world.

Media Contacts:
Jam Stewart
262-260-2440
jmstewar@scj.com

Ashley Papanikolas
312-297-6906
ashley.papanikolas@edelman.com


Sunday, April 4, 2010

SC Johnson Grows Sustainability Around the World

2 Apr 2010 16:52 Africa/Lagos


SC Johnson Grows Sustainability Around the World

New Ad Stems from a Flower

RACINE, Wis., April 2 /PRNewswire/ -- SC Johnson believes a flower can change a community. The company's latest ad, titled "Flower," highlights the company's work with partners in Rwanda. For more than 40 years, SC Johnson, A Family Company, has purchased pyrethrum (py), a botanical insecticide that is extracted from chrysanthemums, from East Africa for use in some of its pest control products sold around the world under the Raid® and Baygon® brands.

At one time, the East African region produced over 70 percent of all py traded in the world* and was a major source of cash for many of the farmers. In 2000, 90 percent of the Rwandan workforce earned their living from agriculture and exported crops accounted for approximately 40 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).** Pyrethrum farming has met a lull due to inconsistent harvests and lack of stable business processes.

"We're working together to develop sustainable agriculture and business practices that will strengthen these communities," said Chairman and CEO Fisk Johnson, the fifth generation leader of SC Johnson. "As a family company we're motivated to do our part to make the world better."

SC Johnson is one of the world's largest purchasers of pyrethrum. Through the company's partnership with py farmers, SC Johnson hopes to improve the consistency of the py crops which will lead to significant returns for the farmers, their families and their communities. Pyrethrum is also a sustainable resource. In keeping with SC Johnson's commitment to sustainability and the Earth's resources, the company prefers to use botanical pyrethrum if an adequate supply can be reliably sourced.

Production of the dried flowers was approximately 300 tons in 2008; the company hopes to increase the yield to 1,200 tons this year in Rwanda, so that it can introduce more Raid® and Baygon® products formulated with py.

Approximately 300,000 jobs in the East African regions are attributable to the growth and stabilization of the natural pyrethrum industry, with an increasing number of women in management. Working with the local schools, SC Johnson offers the farmers and their families education in business planning, organization and sustainability. And with the income derived from consistent, reliable py farming and more effective business processes, SC Johnson helps hundreds of children to attend school each year.*

Johnson and citizens of Rwanda are featured in "Flower." The story of recent trips to the py fields is captured in the dialogue. "Behind this flower," Johnson says in the ad, "is a powerful story." The story is one of helping families around the world, that reinforces the company's commitment to developing sustainable solutions for the future.

For more than 120 years, one of SC Johnson's founding principles has been to work to make the world a better place for our families. The company's py work is part of the company's overall sustainability efforts. Among the other ways the company is making a difference:

-- Malaria education support for families and communities from Brazil to
South Africa, including three South African provinces with endemic
malaria
-- Member of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Malaria (GBC), and sharing business expertise, infrastructure and
reach to help improve public health
-- Dengue exposure prevention and awareness programs in Thailand,
Indonesia, the Philippines and India
-- Partnerships with Base of the Pyramid (BOP) communities in Kenya on a
shared-toilet cleaning program to provide families with more sanitary
bathrooms
-- Founding member of Conservation International's Team Earth movement
and focusing on climate change and reducing the company's carbon
footprint
-- Sets aside 5 percent of pre-tax profits globally for corporate giving
- nearly four times the corporate average - and works with partners,
such as Conservation International, Clinton Global Initiative and the
United Way
-- Subsidiary companies around the world contribute an average of 2
percent of pre-tax profits and partner with local foundations



"Flower" will run on several cable networks, including Animal Planet, ABC Family, NBC, CBS, Discovery Health, The Weather Channel, Hallmark, HGTV, National Geographic and various print publications beginning April 3.

To view the new ad and to learn more about SC Johnson's environmental history, visit www.scjohnson.com

About SC Johnson

SC Johnson is a family-owned and managed business dedicated to innovative, high-quality products, excellence in the workplace and a long-term commitment to the environment and the communities in which it operates. Based in the USA, the company is one of the world's leading manufacturers of household cleaning products and products for home storage, air care, and insect control. It markets such well-known brands as GLADE®, OFF!®, PLEDGE®, RAID®, SCRUBBING BUBBLES®, SHOUT®, WINDEX® and ZIPLOC® in the U.S. and beyond, with brands marketed outside the U.S. including AUTAN®, BAYGON®, BRISE®, ECHO®, KABIKILLER®, KLEAR®, and MR. MUSCLE®. The 124-year old company, with more than $8 billion in sales, employs approximately 12,000 people globally and sells products in virtually every country around the world. www.scjohnson.com

* World Business Council for Sustainable Development "Dedicated to Making A Difference" Case Study, 2004

** U.S. Department of State Background note on Rwanda, December 2009, http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2861.htm

Source: SC Johnson

CONTACT: Jenny Taylor, Director - Global Public Affairs of SC Johnson,
+1-262-260-2440

Web Site: SC Johnson