“One of Kaffee’s Garden Spa’s most
successful green initiatives involves the
recycling of its Aloe Hydrating Fluid with
Lavender bottle.”
drive,” Koronczay says. “It is absolutely
incredible, I don’t know of any other
company like that.”
In November 2012, Éminence furthered its commitment to the
environment by kicking off an initiative to
fight climate change by planting a tree for
every product sold (see page 32).
“We were kind of ahead of the curve,
now everything is green,” Koronczay says.
“That was the root of our company, we
didn’t do it because it was a trend.”
Products with Purpose
Like Éminence, Dermalogica, a skin-care
system developed by The International
Dermal Institute, has used sustainable
ingredients in its products since it’s
founding in 1986. Its products are also
packaged in recyclable materials and all
the company’s printed material are on
FSC-certified or sustainable harvested
paper with vegetable oil-based inks.
“As new technologies in packaging
become available that allow us to further
reduce our impact, we evaluate and
adopt them,” says Mathew Divaris,
Dermalogica’s vice president of global
marketing.
Dermalogica is also incorporating
green efforts into its training centers, of
which it has more than 30 worldwide.
The flagship store and undergraduate
academy in New York City are LEED-certified and its corporate offices in Los
Angeles are designed to capture daylight
to reduce costs. The company’s newest
education center in Scottsdale, Arizona
is also in the process of transitioning to
LED lighting which will reduce its carbon
footprint by more than 2,000 pounds of
CO2 a year.
Beyond the Bottom Line
Sustainability initiatives create costs
savings, as noted by G20’s 40 percent
reduction in energy bills. Public sentiment toward “green” is also positive,
which helps attract consumers who are
concerned about environmental impact.
But many spa operations say the reason
for adopted or growing sustainability
efforts goes beyond the bottom line.
“At Dermalogica, we don’t consider
our sustainability efforts as only a business investment, but also as a reflection
of our corporate responsibility to be
good stewards of the earth’s resources,”
Divaris says. “As a health and wellness
company, our responsibility is to act in a
manner consistent with preserving the
health of the environment.”
Koronczay says Éminence’s commitment to sustainability has never been
about profits, but business has picked
up in the last few years since the “green
movement” began. And, while not the
reason for its launch, the new tree-planting program is creating a sales advantage
for Éminence’s end consumer: the spa.
“If you put our product [which
comes with a promise of a tree planted
with every purchase] next to other products, more people are likely to purchase
[ours] versus another item,” he says.
“This gives my spa customers the edge.”
Regardless of the reasons behind sustainability practices, spas need to take
into account the challenges that come
with becoming “green”—mainly the
financial investment. It is challenging to
operate a luxury day spa while implementing sustainability plans, Hampers
says, particularly since many earthfriendly products aren’t focused on
luxury.
“Recently, we had to research toilet
paper after we received several complaints about the ‘green’ product we had
been using,” Hampers says. “We eventually found another ‘green’ product and
are currently testing it out.”
For spas and companies looking to
incorporate eco-efforts into their operations, Koronczay advises starting small.
“It’s a lot of energy and effort in the
beginning, but my message to others is,
you don’t have to start big overall,” he
says. “You could just change the light
bulbs.” n
March/April 2013
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PULSE 33