SCJ products: Why you can feel good about them

'Companies must take the lead.' -- Fisk Johnson

“When you reach for any SC Johnson product, you can feel good about it.”

SCJ Chairman Fisk Johnson says that in a TV commercial, and his words are supported by data reported today in the company's 2008 Public Report, its 17 year of reporting progress on its sustainable development objectives.

Some of the highlights:

--SCJ gets nearly 40% of its global electricity from renewable energy
--It removes more than 61 million pounds of volatile organic chemicals from the environmental footprint of the company's products since 2001
--It is reducing, reusing and recycling a record 95 percent of the solid waste at Waxdale
--The company launched nearly 175 new products in 2007
--It has donated $168 million to the communities it serves in the past 10 years.

Some of the "smaller" sustainability factoids are stunning:

--Lighter pallets reduce diesel fuel consumption by 80,000 gallons a year
--Lighter-weight bottles eliminate 1 million pounds of plastic annually
--SC Johnson reuses nearly 20% of the plastic recycled from its Ziploc bag manufacturing plant
--A new wind turbine in the Netherlands will produce 6.1 million kilowatt hours of green electricity every year
--SCJ's efforts in South Africa have brought malaria-prevention information to 1.12 million people.

In keeping with the company's conservation goals, SCJ limits distribution of the printed edition of the report -- preferring the internet -- and makes a contribution to Conservation International to help offset the carbon emissions of printing and distribution. This year's contribution supports the restoration of degraded lands in southwest China, producing timber and fuel wood for local communities, fostering employment and providing a habitat for the red panda and the Bengal tiger.

Download the full 56-page report HERE.

"As a business leader, a scientist, a citizen and a father, I believe that companies must take the lead," Johnson wrote in the report's cover letter. "We can’t leave it to watchdog groups or federal regulators. The government can’t test everything or monitor everyone. And we should not want it to — companies should understand the science and have the sincerity to do what is right. We all must be responsible...

"For us, responsibility is both a holistic and continuous process that extends beyond the products we make. We’ve been reducing our use of fossil fuels for almost a decade. We’re helping protect families from diseases like malaria and dengue. We invest annually in the communities where we operate, to help make them better because we are there.

"That, above all, is what SC Johnson is all about. We are 12,000 people in more than 70 countries around the world, working each and every day to set the pace. To live up to very high standards. To take the lead and do what’s right."