The recent Wall Street meltdown is leaving us with two words: transparency and accountability. What that means for business-in-general is that business-as-usual is over. It's time to come clean about our practices and be transparent in our processes, but how do we start? Here's how RainTube did it.
Four years ago, Steve Spratt and Bill Savage developed their RainTube product to solve one of the irritations of home maintenance - cleaning the leaves out of the eave troughs. RainTube gave new meaning to "cap and trade;" once a gutter was capped with a Raintube, the trade off was less leaf removal, less fire igniting pine needles backing up on the roof, and more clean rain water to use on landscaping. Not a bad trade.
Steve told me the goal was to provide a useful product that solved a real problem first and then to make the product and the company as green as possible. Because RainTube is a small company co-created along with the original product line, they were able to build sustainability into the core of the brand rather than strap it on later.
From their company profile inside of Green Building Pages we learn:
[RainTube] Provides employee seminars, workshops to educate and involve in company's environmental policies and goals. Sponsors educational newsletters, education seminars for the general public regarding environmental issues. Published policies in Production & Manufacture, Product Disposal, Installation Use and Maintenance, Company Social Profile. Published goals in Production & Manufacture, Product Disposal, Installation Use and Maintenance. Facility recycling waste program in place.
They also list that women make up 20% of their management. That is a big deal if you're trying to impress consumers of which women are in the marjority. It's also a big deal for the USGBC this year, as "fostering social equity" has become part of their guidelines. I'm a member of a green Mommy Blogger group and these women care deeply about the above. As a consumer and business person, it's nice that I can just do a quick search and find the above information and so much more.
That's exactly why Steve chose to register with Green Building Pages two years ago. He told me that it wasn't enough that they were doing the right things, he wanted the world to know and to have some credibility in the market. Putting it in writing on the Green Building Pages was the first step. Steve admits that filling out Green Building Pages comprehensive Company and Product profile was a task, but that it provided a framework for later improvements and going after higher certifications.
RainTubes are sold directly to contractors who then educate homeowners and office owners on its benefits. With the shortage of water in so many places, however, the gray-water saving benefit is getting more attention than keeping the maintenance low. People want to know how to "harvest" water for later use on outdoor plants.
RainTube is an example of the next generation in products that are functional, pragmatic and sustainable. See them for yourself at Greenbuild next week in booth # 1767.
