Green Mission Statement
We are committed to living in harmony with our environment both as a company and as individuals. It has been trendy to jump on the band wagon and market your company as "Green." We applaud the awareness that this trend brings, but the proof is in the doing.
We are members of the Brandywine River Conservancy which plays a vital role in protecting our local watershed. We have also compiled this list to show how we are committed to improving the environment. We always love to hear from you! Please let us know your ideas, and if there is something you feel we could be doing.
How White Light Productions started being Green.
Originally, we started our business making several different lines of jewelry - Copper Jewelry, Riverstone Jewelry (now revisited in our Soulstone line), as well as Seaglass. The original Seaglass was a gift from a friend who collected it in the Bahamas. At that time we were living over a liquor store. People would discard broken bottles in the alley behind the store. It was gross! As we cleaned up the alley for safety reasons we realized we could recycle the glass and make Seaglass in our studio out of the pollution. We have expanded and now use scrap glass, antique glass and art glass for added colors.
Boy it's hard to be green when you use metal! Mining is one of the harshest things we do to the planet. Knowing this, we must work hard in other areas to compensate for what we call our "Eco Footprint." White Light uses Harmony metal, which is recycled, not mined metal. That's less wear and tear on our earth. Back To Top
We still make several pieces using recycled glass and we recycle our scrap. We also donate our seconds to worthy causes. Glass that is cracked gets used in aquariums. We donate glass to the local Girl Scout Troop to make mosaics. A local school has used our larger scraps to make decorative tiles that line the walkway at our elementary school. We are always donating to Rowan's art teacher who comes up with amazing art projects for the kids. Back To Top
True green products have minimal packaging – how do we compare? I remember opening dolls for my daughter - they were sewn in and took hours to untangle with huge amounts of packaging. I had to use scissors to cut the dolls from the plastic. It made for many tense times. We just use a simple card. Recycled plastic is used in it's stiffener. Back To Top
In our case, it helps protect the glass. If the glass earrings broke it would be more wasteful, not to mention expensive, to replace the product. Our poly bags protect the product from scratches, dirt and tarnish. Again, this provides safety for the product. That's it - we don't use any more packaging. Companies that use elaborate packaging with colorful inserts are doing it for advertising and shelf appeal. Hopefully, as awareness spreads, companies will scale back on packaging because in most cases ends up in land fills. Back To Top
Both our boxes and packing paper are made from recycled paper. Back To Top
Clearly we recycle our silver scrap for monetary reasons, but we don't stop there - All of the bulk Sterling we buy is Harmony Metal. What is Harmony metal? All of the Silver that was ever mined is still in existence. Some companies choose to mine for new metal to cast into useful forms. This causes continuing devastation to the planet. Other companies re-refine existing silver into new forms, this is called Harmony Metals. We have already paid the price to extract this metal once, lets keep it in circulation. Back To Top
Recycle ink and toner cartridges.
It is incredibly wasteful and damaging to the environment to throw away used ink and toner cartridges. Simply bring them to the store where you purchased them and turn them in. We do. Back To Top
We do not use any toxic chemicals. For our first 18 years the business was in our home and the health and safety of our family was our prime concern. We had well water then and well water at our new location and we wanted nothing to contaminate our drinking water. We also have 2 streams and a pond which we swim in. We have never used chemicals on our lawns or weed killers. Instead, we purchased lady bugs to be natural predators in our yard. We use soapy water to protect our plants from insects and we just live with the dandelions in our lawn. Back To Top
We have been proud members of the Brandywine River Conservancy for years. As our ponds and streams are 1000 feet from the main river, we feel it is important to protect this beautiful natural resource. Several years we ago, the Conservancy joined with other environmental groups to halt the building of an unnecessary water plant that would have drained millions of gallons from the river. Our current office was once a campground bordering the Brandywine River. You open the back door onto beautiful, scenic views. Back To Top
This is mostly Carol's doing - she has been rescuing injured birds since she was a little girl. Credit goes to her mother, who is very afraid of birds but always encouraged Carol in her efforts. This past year we saved a swan who was abused. Our landlord got a new mate for it (they mate for life!). The pair looks beautiful swimming on the river. We hope they will have babies this year. We also have a large blue heron population at our pond and on the river at work. Back To Top
We have always produced our own catalog. Over the years we have transitioned from large format film to all digital. It has made an amazing reduction on the paper waste we generate. We have moved towards paperless statements for vendors and customers and encourage you to do so as well. Hopefully, someday, junk mail will be a thing of the past. Back To Top
I remember the early 70's and the gas crisis then. With oil hitting $80.00 a barrel, it seems like a crisis to me again now. One of the steps that the country took was to turn off lighting in office buildings at night. Somehow that fell by the wayside. Now, when I drive through the countryside, islands of bright light glow from office parks. There is no need for that. Think of the energy we could save! We always turn off building lights and at home both our lights and furnace are on timers to ensure that they are turned off.
Another huge savings is turning off computers and electronics. Most go into a sleep mode or standby mode, but they still consume power. Back To Top
Having spent years commuting to New York and Philadelphia during rush hour. We learned to hate the waste in time and energy. We run our business on off peak hours to limit congestion and waste. We allow our sales staff to work from home when possible to eliminate that commute. Back To Top
Tell others that Green is important!
Spread the word that Green is important, both to people and companies that you work with. Make being Green part of your social networking. Vote with your wallet by rewarding companies that are trying and send a message to those who are not.
When we complied this list, we talked to all of our suppliers and let them know that this was an important issue for us both as a company and individuals. The response was amazing. In many cases it prompted companies to start examining their own practices. Others had a wealth of information on what they were doing already. A nice surprise! Back To Top