“SustainabiliTea” Drives Earth Day Commitment at Bigelow

As Earth Day turns 45 tomorrow, Bigelow Tea said it continues to grow its efforts to be a “green” company and environmentally responsible maker of specialty teas.

A supporting member of the Ethical Tea Partnership, which works with tea growers to establish best-practice methods for the responsible conservation of the world’s tea fields, Bigelow Tea is also a zero-waste-to-landfill company, diverting 94 percent of its solid waste companywide, exceeding the official guideline of 90 percent.

“Eighty-five percent of our packaging is compostable, biodegradable or recyclable,” said Cindi Bigelow, the third-generation president and CEO of the family-owned company her grandmother started more than 70 years ago. Bigelow produces 1.7 billion tea bags annually. “Packaging innovations over the past years have allowed us to cut the weight of our outer boxes, saving 430,000 pounds of material per year, and shaving the thickness of our foil by 12 percent has saved 86,000 pounds per year. In addition, we have eliminated corrugated packaging completely on our shipments, and done away with pallet shrink-wrapping in favor of reusable rubber bands.”

Bigelow Tea also conserves resources, with rooftop solar generating up to 15 percent of the energy used by its Fairfield, Conn., plant. Around its facilities, Bigelow has also installed motion detectors, LED lights and waterless urinals. Bigelow Tea is currently installing a daylight harvesting system that will continually adjust office lighting within the building based on outdoor light.

Meanwhile, Bigelow’s Fairfield cafeteria uses 100 percent recyclable utensils, plates, napkins and cups, which has diverted 1,200 tons of compostable material away from landfills and to a local Connecticut farm since 2007.