EcoInsomniac

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Today, I got the chance to do an interview with Justin Brown the Executive Vice President and Director Global Sales for First Global Xpress a global shipping company located in New York city. Justin also runs www.ShipGreener.com a blog dedicated to revealing how much damage the shipping industry does to the environment and how his company is changing the way they do business in order to lower its impact on the environment.

What was the tipping point that made you move towards making the company green?
A couple of things actually. In my personal life I found myself moving towards a more sustainable existence. This change in my personal life obviously started to move into my profession life as well. One of the questions that I was asking myself was “what can I change in my life that would have the largest beneficial impact on the environment” the answer for me was, my international shipping business. From that point forward my outlook changed.

It seems in the corporate world "change" is almost a bad word. Was it hard to convince the company that green was the way to go?
You have caught us in the very beginnings of this journey so this is a very interesting question. In the coming months First Global Xpress is going to change a lot and I of the most important thing in a service business is to create an environment that everyone feels like they can personally buy into. Thus far I have gotten great feedback from our employees as well as our partners. I’m interested to see what effect working for a company that’s moving towards a more sustainable existence will have on their lives. (let’s see in a few months)

What environmental impact did First Global Xpress have before your efforts to go green?
Our mode of transportation is the polar opposite of our competition. They (FedEx, UPS, DHL ) use a hub routed system of transport, FGX uses all direct flights into the major cities of the world. The emissions efficiencies found through this direct shipping to London from New York City for example is between 37% and 50% (we are still working on quantifying the energy used at the actual sort facilities of our competition). The reduction of co2 is 37% right off the top. Unfortunately when it comes to our operation we we’re like any other “polluting” company and to most extents are still. One of the interesting things about our Blog www.shipgreener.com is that we aren’t waiting until FGX is “greened up” to start it. We want you to watch us change it. We want our readers to see what we are doing to change our footprint in real time. We hope it will give a better perspective on how rewarding and possible a change like this can be.

For the readers who have not had the chance to check out your blog; What are some of the steps you have planned for taking FGX into a greener future?

• Swap out packaging materials for greener alternatives. Xpress envelopes, Xpress pouches, windows that get stuck on the package, boxes, bubble wrap, peanuts, and air pillows, among others. I’ll be contacting alternative suppliers and have them provide me with samples. I’ll compare these products on video so you can see what we’ve come up with. Be forewarned that there will be no sacred cows during this evaluation, not even bubble wrap!
• Source examples of biodegradable courier bags. These are the bags used to hold shipments that get loaded directly into the bellies of commercial aircraft. This one could prove to be more difficult, as the bags have to be waterproof and strong. I’m up for the challenge!

• Analyze the energy usage of all machines and appliances in our business. We are going to look at everything that draws electricity from our physical location and target them for change. Energy Star, large commercial air-conditioning, lighting, printers, copiers, and even the coffee machine. (Remember, no sacred cows!)
• Purchase wind power to provide the electricity in our office. I am going to document what I’m paying now and what the cost with wind power will be. By targeting energy expenses, I hope to show that you can produce a net savings.
• Start a leasing program to put all of our drivers (i.e., couriers) in New York City behind the wheels of hybrids. I’m really going to dig into this one. This topic is just fun, and I really hope I can make it work fiscally. (I’m confident I can!)
• Rewrite our software to print just one sticky label to affix to the shipment. If a copy is needed it will be sourced from a PDF to minimize printing on paper. This will also allow us to eliminate the plastic pouch that is used to hold paper air waybills.
• Create a reporting system to quantify pollution reductions for each of our clients’ shipping programs. This will be pulled from a client’s monthly shipping report and will be provided with each monthly invoice. We really think it’s important to quantify for our clients the positive changes for the environment that occur by their choice to use First Global Xpress .
• Provide our clients with the ability to offset the remaining CO2 production associated with their shipping. I am already having talks with a great company on this. Look for future announcements about this relationship.

How long do you expect it to take to be able to put these changes in place?
We are planning on realizing the above bullet points over the next 8-12 months.

Shipping has been a historically dirty and transportation heavy industry. What specifically has your company done to make its delivery methods greener?
Again, we are going to systematically get away from as many plastics and petrol produced goods as possible. As for our Mode of transport. There is (from our findings) no less environmentally obtrusive way to ship internationally when delivery is needed in 1-3 days internationally, than with a direct air courier. I am “piggy backing” an already existing infrastructure (commercial airlines) to accomplish this. We are currently working with over 90 airlines out of the NYC metro area.

You are giving the public more of a behind the scenes view of your industry. Do you see this as a key responsibility of being a green company?
It is absolutely essential that our readers understand that FGX is not claiming to be a green company, that is why we chose to name our blog space Shipgreen “ER”. Nothing about shipping a beta tape to Paris overnight is green. The amount of nasty-ness kicked into our upper atmosphere from a flight from NYC to Paris is huge. The effects of said pollutants from that flight are doubly as potent as they are directly injected into our upper atmosphere. What we are going to be conveying and are already trying to do is that we can decrease those pollutants by a large % by shipping directly to the final destination. Couple that with a greener operation (hybrid truck fleet, biodegradable packaging, co2 offsetting) and we’re heading in the right direction. The important thing to us is to start to educated businesses and consumers about shipping, specifically international shipping and let them decide for themselves what they are going to do to reduce the carbon footprint of their shipping.

Have there been any roadblocks in your companies quest to go green? If so, can you tell us about a few of them?
Everything has been clear sailing. I am foreseeing that I’m going to have a hard time getting our courier fleet into hybrids in a cost effective manner. I am fully committed to making this happen though.

Did going green had a positive or negative affect on the companies bottom line?
It is to early to answer this question check back in 8 months.

Has going green had any positive unplanned results on the business?
The feedback that we are getting already from our current clients as well as prospects is VERY positive. Again, check back in 8 months (or less)

What have you personally done to lower your impact on the environment?
I’ve purchased wind power for my apartment, I‘m vegetarian, I support local farming, I don’t accept plastic bags (for the most part), I am in the process of zip striping my apartment so that I can unplug my unused electronics, I ride my bicycle A LOT, recycle. And do my best to not waste water. I’m always looking to do better.

Thank you Justin for the interview and letting us all watch as you take your company greener.

I think it’s amazing to get a such an honest and open view at a company that is trying to do right by the environment. Make sure to visit www.ShipGreener.com and follow their quest to be greener.

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2. Some of my EcoInsomniac plans and ideas for this year.
3. Dell cleans up its energy.
4. OpenEco helps corporations lower their carbon footprint.
5. What keeps me up at night. #1

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