Earth Day 2024: Consumers and corporations can align on sustainability. This is how

We are seeing a dramatic movement in America of manufacturers embracing sustainability, driven by the desire to help the planet and meet the needs of an ever-better-informed consumer who is increasingly making buying decisions that are based on environmental stewardship.

Being good stewards of the planet, over the long haul, starts with a careful look at the full lifecycle of a product — from product development through manufacturing and on to final disposal. Many American manufacturers are taking our impact on the environment seriously and have made these efforts part of our employee education and the concepts are becoming more and more ingrained in our companies’ cultures.

Like most companies, King Koil’s journey in environmental, social and governance, or ESG, was a process that involved all elements of our business, from our people to suppliers and vendors, to customers — both the retailers who sell our products and the consumers who buy them.

As a luxury mattress manufacturer, our sustainability initiative currently encompasses 15 key performance indicators, or KPIs, with five focusing directly on sustainability and limiting the company’s environmental footprint. The five include an overall reduction in the use of plastic and cardboard (30% to date), the use of reusable resin pallets instead of wood which are typically damaged and destroyed in their first use (30 wood pallet reduction per month), recycling foam materials from the production process (10% current reduction), implementing more efficient electrical use in its facilities, and establishing a supplier sustainability checklist that encourages our partners to join OUR commitment to sustainability.

With these important sustainability KPIs already showing positive results, since being implemented in 2022, we are expanding that list in 2024 and looking for new and innovative approaches to product development, production and operations to further improve the company’s environmental stewardship.

Ultimately, we are looking to set the pace in sustainability practices and work closely with retail partners to design efforts that work for everyone across the production and sales continuum. We first embraced sustainability when it looked to replace synthetic components with sustainable raw materials like 100% natural latex, cotton and wool, as well as recycled fabrics and bio-based foams. Our partners in Europe have been inspired to do more and push further as the industry there is significantly ahead of the United States in their sustainable approaches.

Our sustainability goals and initiatives would not have been possible without the key support of our stakeholders, both internally and externally. Our board of directors set us on this course, while our CEO and senior leadership team all embraced environmental stewardship enabling the promulgation of these priorities throughout our company. Our employees at every level have gotten behind our efforts. That says a lot about their wonderful personal values and their commitment to the company and our customers more broadly.

Our retailers, and perhaps most importantly — their customers are the key elements of the positive response we have gotten to our initiatives. The consumers we serve are already well-versed in the importance of sustainability and environmental stewardship, so we saw an immediate response as they embraced the new and innovative materials we put into our products. Environmental sustainability is a priority for them, and we have responded accordingly. They want to support companies taking environmental concerns seriously, and it benefits our retailers that they are carrying more environmentally friendly products and are meeting the needs of their customers while doing the right thing for the environment.

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Overwhelmingly, we saw that the consumer wants sustainable product, is willing to pay a premium for something that will not damage the environment, and most importantly — they will embrace brands who are good stewards of our shared ecosystem.

By having a solid plan in place and also realizing that this is a journey for most companies — not a sprint, we can all get to the finish line of helping us build a healthier world.

Don Pflug is the senior vice president of operation for King Koil, a global leader in the manufacture of quality mattress products.