GOING GREEN
Tepperman’s wins award
Windsor-based Tepperman’s Furniture’s efforts to be good community citizens and friends of the environment has been recognized with the 2018 Impact Innovation Award.
The award is handed out by Furniture Today, the North American furniture industry ’s leading publication, and was collected by company president Andrew Tepperman last month in Austin, Texas. “This award is more meaningful because it’s about what we’re doing in the community and for our environmentalism and it’s one we didn’t apply for,” Tepperman said. “These awards resonate with our staff more than any business-ofthe-year award.”
The company ’s reputation came to the attention of Furniture Today for its longstanding policies supporting community causes and adopting innovative environmental solutions to industry problems. One such example of that innovation was the purchase of machines that compress and melt the Styrofoam packing that protects furniture during shipping. These machines press the material into pucks that can be recycled. “We used to fill at least three big bins with waste that would end up in the landfill,” Tepperman said. “Now it’s one bin every three weeks and we’re saving a ton of money in not paying for garbage pick up.” The company also turns wood packing into mulch and gives customers a sapling with every furniture delivery. Old furniture that’s taken away is recycled.
The reduction of waste is a major tenet in the company’s 10-year vision plan that aims to eliminate all waste by 2025. Three years into the plan and Tepperman’s has reduced waste by 87 per cent.
“We look every week to see if we’re moving that needle,” said Tepperman, who added the company is also partnering with schools on environmental programs such as garden building. Tepperman added the company’s policies have also proven just good business, even when that wasn’t the intent.
“We’ve done things because it fit our vision, but we’ve had unintended consequences that have resulted in a return on those investments,” said Tepperman, who added the company plans to use solar panels to become energy selfsufficient by 2025.
“We’ve put some free electriccar chargers at some of our locations for anyone to use, not just for customers,” Tepperman said. “We’ve gotten several letters or emails, particularly from our Kitchener store, where people have gone into the store to wait for their car to charge and have ended up making a purchase.” Tepperman added that they’re increasingly finding customers will make purchases from companies that align with their personal values if you’re price competitive. In addition to its greening of the business, the company was recognized for its extensive community engagement.
In each of its five markets ( Windsor, London, Chatham, Kitchener, Sarnia), the company offers community support at the corporate, individual store and employee levels.
The corporate commitment can be supporting the town’s United Way campaign, but the other two levels are dictated by each store. “Those stores have a lot of autonomy,” Tepperman said. “The people there know what’s important to their communities to support. “We also encourage individual employees to apply online for funding for projects they may be involved in on their own.” Perhaps the most well known of the company’s philanthropic programs is the scholarship one. Anyone entering a Tepperman’s outlet can register a child between one and 10 years of age for the draw to get a post-secondary scholarship. Since its founding in 1998, Tepperman’s has given out $640,000 in scholarship money. “We’re carrying on a vision that started with my grandfather Nate (Tepperman’s founder) and was carried on by my parents, Bill and Rochelle,” said Tepperman, who runs the day-to-day activities of the firm along with his brother Noah (secretary treasurer). “Nate believed that Windsor had been good to him, so we should be good to Windsor.”
Nate believed that Windsor had been good to him, so we should be good to Windsor.