translated from Spanish: A decade working for sustainability

Ten years ago, Paris defined sustainability as a pillar of its business strategy. We wanted to broaden our gaze to our entire value chain, design formulas that would allow us to reduce the impact of our operation and connect with a trend that then began to grow in Chile: production and responsible consumption.
Beyond making a mere statement, we wanted to occupy a space that was not quoted at the time by the retail industry at the local level. Through “Celeste Consciousness”, we bet on being an engine of change capable of mobilizing different stakeholders in the achievement of agile solutions but not for that being cosmetic, but deep and definitive.
Starting in 2013, we started recycling clothes and became the largest clothing recycler in South America. For years we had to send tons of clothes to Germany, since at the local level there was no capacity to treat the immense volume of fibers that we managed to collect. This year we will be able to continue to expand this program thanks to the alliance with Retex, an actor that will allow us to start the treatment of clothes for the first time in Chile.
We cite this example not by self-reference, but to show that big changes are slowly beginning to unturn. Someone has to start for others to join in and finally, a social ecosystem capable of continuing to dream of more change is consolidated. We were the first retailer in Chile to remove plastic bags. We removed 30 million units from circulation that came from our stores annually. We implement the digital ballot and consequently reduce our consumption of millions of meters of paper.
We implement a white line product recall system for further recycling. We carry over 124 tons of recycled waste and this year we are going for more.
We are convinced that today is the time to hurry up and reinforce our commitment. In this line, everyone add up. We’re looking for more allies to take this challenge everywhere. 10 years on the way, we have set ourselves six ambitious goals by 2025, such as 100% of the costumes of our own brands being made with sustainable materials and traceable; that none of the waste generated by our Distribution Center goes to landfills and that 1 in 4 customers adopts responsible consumption habits.
There are many apprenticeships after 10 years. Internally, we can ensure that without the commitment of senior management it is not possible to drive challenges of this scale. Externally, without opening our gaze or tuning our ear to our clients’ proposals, it is also not possible to move forward. The willingness to improve and adapt our processes is not enough. They through their preference and loyalty drive these kinds of changes.

The content poured into this opinion column is the sole responsibility of its author, and does not necessarily reflect the editorial line or position of El Mostrador.

Original source in Spanish