Bennett Awards Leads the Charge in Eco-Friendly Recognition: An Interview with Bob Bennett

Bob Bennett, co-founder and owner of Bennett Awards, recently sat down to speak about the company’s sustainability goals. These include becoming more sustainable in the production operations and expanding product offerings to include more eco-friendly award options for customers. 

What is the motivation for goals around sustainability at Bennett Awards, and moving towards offering more sustainable or eco-friendly awards? 

Bob Bennett: We're committed to sustainability for two reasons… First, because it's the right thing to do. Personally I believe in scientific research and I see what's happening to our planet. And I think we as citizens, and we as companies and organizations, have an obligation to try to do the right thing for our planet. So probably the most important level of the commitment is based on that, but from a business standpoint, I think it's also good for our business to have more sustainable award options. I think that younger generations of consumers, which are increasingly becoming a bigger part of our client base, are more sensitive and more tuned in to the ethics behind products, and that is becoming a purchase criteria for them. They're looking for solutions that align with their consciousness and they really support brands that they feel in tune with. It’s a bigger criteria when they make purchasing decisions: “Are these companies aligned with my values?” So from a business standpoint, how eco-friendly our awards are is going to be an important attribute for emerging consumers, which will be an increasingly larger percentage of our customer base. So moving towards a sustainable offering, as quickly as possible, makes sense from that standpoint. But really, the more altruistic aspect to this is it’s the right thing to do. 

What are the challenges of creating sustainable products, like eco-friendly awards, or shifting a business to become “greener”?

Bob: Well, we work with a network of manufacturers. And we are dependent in part on other vendors, sourcing their own materials and using their own production methodologies. We aren't fully vertically integrated on most of our award offerings. Part of what makes us unique, and I think special, is that we have developed a broad network of manufacturers so we can find solutions that are ideally suited to our customers needs, especially with custom award projects. We're not pigeon-holed into a singular offering based on just what we alone can produce. We can design things that tap into a variety of materials and production methodologies so that we can give our customers the ideal solution for their needs. But that also makes us dependent on what those manufacturers can offer. So we work closely with them, and encourage them to move as quickly as possible towards sustainability, whether that be in materials they use or in production methods. For example, one of our newer vendors has been a champion of sustainable production and materials, using recycled plastic from the ocean. We push our vendors with wood products to use sustainably-sourced wood that's local. And I think if their customers are asking for it, like us, that provides incentive for them to migrate to the solutions quicker than they might have imagined.

Is the limited number of sustainable manufacturing options also limiting for Bennett Awards as they try to create eco-friendly awards? Are there less sustainable manufacturing options available than you would like? 

Bob: Yes absolutely, we wish there were many more. And we'll eventually get there, even though we're doing the best we can. And we'll continue to try to stay at the forefront of that.

How do you make sure the manufacturers you work with are being accountable for the sustainability claims of their products?

Bob: That's another challenge. The vendors that we work with we have typically worked with for a long time, and they've been very candid with us. They tell us when, and to what extent, a sustainable route is and isn't possible. So those relationships create transparency and I don't feel like they're trying to pull the wool over our eyes. There are some certifications like FSC certified wood that are available, and to the extent that our vendors are participating in programs like that, we can trust an independent source or audit to hold them accountable. We don't have the resources or the bandwidth to do a comprehensive audit ourselves, but there are organizations that do and we rely on this whenever possible.

What do you see as being the next exciting steps when it comes to sustainability as a business for Bennett Awards and offering customers truly eco-friendly awards?

Bob: I can envision a future in which all of our offerings are fully sustainable. For example, some of the awards we have are recycleable but I would prefer them to be made from recycled materials. I think ultimately, in the not too distant future, I would like to say our entire product model and everything that we do create is based on sustainable materials. We do a lot of metal fabrication, casting different kinds of metals, and a lot of those can be recycled metals. We do a lot of woodwork, which can be sustainably sourced. We have started to make a lot of our more affordable custom awards with acrylic and plastic and we're getting to the point where all of that could be made of recycled material, although we’re not there yet. Additionally, glass is an inherently eco conscious material. I like our glass awards, I would like to do more of those.

How does cost factor into those goals, when there might be a reluctance for customers to pay more for awards?

Because of the ways our supply chains are set up in America, based on unsustainable systems of resource extraction, in general, you do pay a premium for recycled materials instead. So progressively customers are going to have to realize that for now there is a higher price you pay generally for sustainable products, but I think over time, as they become more prevalent, that price gap will diminish.

What are the goals around sustainable packaging for the awards?

Again, that’s an area that we are trying to push forward, as soon as possible. An example is we used to use regular bubble wrap. We now use bubble wrap that’s recyclable. You know, cardboard packaging is recycleable but could be recycled in itself. So yes, again, that's an area where we're trying to make things happen, and we will continue trying to explore other areas in our packaging that can be even more eco-friendly. But our ultimate goal is to gain B-corp certification. Unfortunately the requirements present some challenging hurdles for a small company to jump through. Luckily many other people in our company are committed to it as well.

What do you see as being the biggest hurdle in making the awards business fully zero waste?

Well part of it is education, and that’s also where so much of this starts. Like many other businesses and individuals in our inherently unsustainable society, we struggle to understand with clarity the sustainable options we do have and the routes to implement them. Especially with deceptive “greenwashing”, not to mention a lack of information from those higher up in our governments and institutions, it’s hard to always know what the right approach is. I think ignorance in general is a huge challenge for businesses and consumers, and people in general have misconceptions about what sustainable products and sustainable economies really are. But there's ways that we can get smarter about that in the long term.