DC green

These days, it seems that everyone is talking about going green. Our fragile environment is on the verge of crisis, and everyone is trying to do their part to pitch in. Our industry though is behind the times - many gift and home furnishing companies still pack their merchandise in non-recyclable Styrofoam and plastic. However, some companies such as Giuseppe Armani figurines and Swarovski crystal, have gone to new types of materials that can be reused as carton packaging or can be compressed to almost 10% of its original size and thrown away. While this packaging is just as safe as regular Styrofoam, it is certainly more expensive. These companies are caught between a rock and a hard place as they try to go green, and that is what we believe is the reason our industry is dragging behind others in terms of environmental responsibility.

At Designers Center, we face the same challenges our suppliers do, and are taking measures to make sure we are becoming a bigger part of the solution, and less a part of the problem. We reuse the cardboard boxes and packing peanuts that get shipped to us to repack new merchandise. We save excess gift wrap to use for wrapping smaller gifts, or as scratch paper. We are in the process of switching all of our light bulbs to energy efficient models, and ensure that no lights are left on when the store is closed. We recycle all of the plastic containers and cans that are consumed at our events. While we are only one store, we are trying to do what we can.

To further this process we are asking customers to return brown cardboard boxes, packing peanuts, and bubble wrap to us for reuse (or recycle them on your own). Just give us a call 650-871-4462, and we can have one of our employees meet you out in the mall parking lot to pick up the materials. Further, we are encouraging customers to use eco bags when they shop with us to reduce the use of plastic bags (we are working on a Designers Center eco bag to roll out in 2009). All the easy little changes that we make can contribute a lot more than we think to reducing overall emissions worldwide. Lets all do our part.