Purchasing policies for most small retailers are not generally 42 pages in length, but for Friends of Jasper National Park (FJNP), recipient of a 2009 Environmental Stewardship Award for green design, making sure that product quality overlaps with environmental integrity is par for the course. 

“I think it’s nice to have that kind of recognition because this is something we’ve been working on for the past few years,” said general manager Sue Cesco, of the award. “We also know that we’re not perfect, we haven’t gotten to exactly where we want to be, but we’ve done a lot of work in the last few years, made a lot of changes and it’s good to be recognized and also that you can make some changes and it doesn’t really affect your business in a negative way,” said Cesco. 

According to the municipality, “by including environmental considerations in purchasing decisions, Friends of Jasper National Park promote practises that improve worker health, conserve natural resources and reward environmentally conscious manufacturer, while remaining fiscally responsible.” 

The move towards purchasing more sustainable products at FJNP has not only been driven by internal decisions, but by customers who want more eco-friendly trinkets to take home with them, said Cesco.  

“A number of years ago I went to our vendors and told them, ‘this is what we’re doing, we’re switching to organic cotton. If you can change your product lines we’d be happy to stay with you and if you can’t, I’m going to be looking for another vendor’,” said Cesco. About 30 per cent of the clothing is made from organic cotton and Cesco is looking to improve that number in the current year. Cesco and her colleagues have also asked vendors to reduce product packing and not use products such as styrofoam. 

On the operational side of things, FJNP has a recycling program for all of the product packaging and provides biodegradable plastic bags, but staff always ask customers if they want a bag, Cesco emphasized. This year, FJNP will also be introducing a reusable grocery bag for purchase, she said. Even when purchasing a new office computer, they look for the most sustainable products, which are Macintoshs, said Cesco, because they are smaller, use more earth-friendly materials and shipping costs are less. 

Asked what has been hard about going in the green direction, Cesco said, “we had one vendor, their products sold like crazy for us... they were a big account... but they were also coming from China and we recognized the amount of shipping that was taking place for a product that was not made in Canada and it was something we could replace with a Canadian product, so we actually ended up not doing business with them any more,” said Cesco, adding that it was also difficult because they were such great people. 

As far as what’s been easy, Cesco said, “it’s just easy to show people that these are some good things for the environment when you’re doing environmental causes. It seems like a good fit.” 

“I think that the customer should always tell the people where they’re shopping what they’re looking for if they don’t see what they wanted to buy,” said Cesco, “that’s what started it for us.”