Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Greenhouse gas emissions are inevitable for any supply chain, but this is what we are doing at Stretch and Staple to reduce as much greenhouse gas as possible throughout our entire supply chain and distribution network.

In order to start from the beginning I will examine the procurement of the raw materials that go into making and packaging a canvas print. We first try to procure as much of the material we need from our local market, when that is not possible we try to find materials in a port city so that our cargo can be shipped via container ship. Shipping by container ship is 6 times more efficient than by rail car 16 times more efficient than by truck, and 187 times more efficient than by air.

By procuring our supplies directly from manufacturers in port cities we have effectively mitigated any greenhouse gas emissions involved in transporting our cargo to container ships. Seattle is also the closest port city to the Asian markets in the contiguous 48 states, which reduces the distance traveled and further lowers our carbon emissions. So our geography plays a key role in helping us reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

That leaves distribution, unlike most ecommerce retailers we do have an in-store pickup option that can completely eliminate greenhouse gas emissions depending on the method used to pick up the print.

We don't expect you to do this, but a lot of our customers use public transportation or just stop by when they are in the neighborhood to pick up their print.

Like most US manufacturers we only have a few shipping companies to choose from. However it is in shipping companies’ best interest to lower their greenhouse gas emissions, because that means they are spending less money on fossil fuels. We have selected FedEx to be our premier partner because we believe their commitment to theout wieghs that of their competitors. In 2014 FedEx achieved LEED certification for its North Seattle facility, coincidentally that is where every package picked up from Stretch and Staple start its journey. FedEx is also working to become more fuel efficient by creating more aerodynamic vehicles with automatic transmission specifically designed to save fuel. They're also heavily invested in creating alternative fuels that further reduce co2 emissions.

However the best thing that we can do when it comes to shipping your product is to keep it on the ground as you noticed in the above infographic air transport is by far the worst method of transportation for the environment that has ever existed. You may think, but wait you offer expedited service doesn’t that go air? Nope, instead when you order expedited shipping from Stretch and Staple we move your order to the front of our que and get it produced in as little time as possible so that we are still able to ship it via ground transportation.

Lastly I would like to talk about our packaging philosophy and the materials that we use. Packaging materials are big so we use Pacific Container Corp in Tacoma to manufacture our boxes, cutting down on their transport distance. We also work with them to custom design our boxes to fit around your canvas print as tightly as possible to reduce our boxes footprint on the trucks and rail cars that carry them. Additionally our boxes are recyclable and biodegradable as is the protective bubble wrap and inside.

Final tidbit and hope for a greener future. In my research I found out that there is one partially wind-powered cargo ship picture below. I thought I would share this with you in hopes that one day there will be a fleet of these further reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of cargo ships and allowing for an even cleaner supply chain.