Ksenia Konnova
Alina Shevchenko
Elena Ilina
Daria Pashkova
Milena Kisel
Aida Abdullaeva
The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)
Natalia Yankovskaya
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Grass is a leading Russian manufacturer of professional car care products and equipment, detergents for cleaning, and household chemicals and cosmetics. The Grass brand products have established a reputation throughout Russia and the near abroad, and are exported to 30 countries worldwide. Nowadays, the Grass Company is the monopolist which holds 50 % of the Russian market of the auto chemistry. There are partners in all regions of Russia who sell the products of the brand. The development of the UN's sustainable development goals plays an important role in the company. Every year Grass strives to create something new and to bring more value to the global community.
Through innovation, Grass develops several sustainability goals at once:
№ 12 - responsible consumption and production;
№ 14 - life below water;
№ 15 - life on land;
№ 13 - climate action.
In its activities, Grass focuses on the global agenda in the field of sustainable development and adheres to the principles of the United Nations, creating and implementing various projects.
We interviewed Andrey Skrypnik, Head of the Sustainable Development Department, who told us about the company's innovations, its ambitions, and the impressive results already achieved. Andrey's team adheres to the philosophy: "We took resources from the planet, but what have we returned to it? For us, the Sustainable Development Goals are vectors along which we can move, they’re rails, and we just used them as a ready–made formula for activity," says Andrey.
Since the company is engaged in the production of auto chemicals and cleaning products, it is obvious that there is a significant consumption of plastic. Therefore, the Grass team decided to monitor consumption and production, that is, to follow one of the main goals of the UN - No. 12. The company has implemented separate waste collection at production and in the office. All useful fractions are sent for processing. In addition, they buy a secondary pellet from waste (recyclables) and add it to their bottle. The team managed to ensure that each new HDPE bottle from Grass contains up to 15% recycled plastic.
Another innovation is based on the desire to fight climate change (No. 13). The company believes that love for the environment and careful care of it should be instilled from an early age, and not only when it becomes a trend. As Andrey said, "The global mission is to do something more than just a cool product." Therefore, in 2022, Grass became a partner of the Association of Green Universities of Russia and now provides urns for separate collection to higher education institutions that have chosen a priority for themselves on the environmental agenda. Thus, students not only develop awareness and understanding of the importance of sorting garbage, but among them the level of awareness about the company's activities increases. In addition, students who are interested in Grass projects can become potential buyers and even employees of the company in the future.
Andrey Skrypnik strives to draw people's attention to the fact that innovations in the field of sustainable development are very important, but not as PR. "It's no secret now that 'eco-friendly' is synonymous with 'trendy'. The market is overcrowded now that there are a lot of household chemicals, but I would like a person seeing the Grass company to remember about our environmental initiatives, because this is something we are very proud of," Andrey concluded.
For the founder of the company, Mikhail Grachev, environmental issues have always been crucial because all his life he was passionate about nature; and as a child he dreamed of becoming a forester. In 2003, he founded a company focused on the production of household chemicals, in which he embodied all his love for nature. So far, the founder of the company personally participates in environmental projects, despite his busy schedule, setting an example to other employees and drawing public attention to environmental problems. Consequently, it was decided to choose the most significant sustainable development goals for the company and necessary for the environment, which the company has been implementing for several years.
The company's slogan is "Sustainable development is a contribution to the future." It is quite difficult to remain successful in business, being responsible for environmental friendliness and caring for future generations, since any sponsor and partner is looking, first of all, for profit. Grass successfully combines these two things.
Their concern for the environment is not limited to eco-friendly production, such as the use of recycled plastic, although this is also important and carried out by the company. Grass organizes a large number of projects in various fields: social (assistance to the Red Cross), tree planting, assistance to rare species of animals, restoration of river resources, and thrifty use of the planet's resources. These initiatives of the company are aimed primarily at assistance and development; the issue of economic benefits remains secondary.
Of course, sustainable development means long-term changes. If we take trees, then only in 85 years they will be used for responsible forest management. Yes, they will grow and simultaneously absorb carbon, but it will take 85 years to cut them down and use them for cardboard. But in the topic of production and innovation, projects are being implemented that give faster results. The company monitors innovations in the field of sustainable development and creative initiative can belong to every employee who has a new idea. There are so many initiatives that the company wants to establish an award specifically for this area.
In the future, Grass plans to increase the number of projects by collaborating with other organizations for this or creating something completely new.
Among Grass' profitable projects is their recently launched eco-line: 13 home products that have been awarded the "Leaf of Life" certificate (Russian eco-certification according to the international standard ISO 14024). It required some financial outlay, but thanks to this project, the company has helped rare animal species. It is too early to talk about its financial side, as the product was only launched on the market last year.
However, within the framework of an innovative idea, they were able to create a truly successful project. As you know, Grass products are placed on many marketplaces where a lot of packaging material is used. The team calculated that they could remove one layer of packaging, which would ultimately rid the environment of around 5 Tonnes of plastic. This means the company has reduced the cost of buying plastic (because statistics show that the price of raw plastics is 25% higher than the price of recycled plastics). Besides, due to new innovative equipment, the company was able to reduce the weight of a bottle of one of its products by 2 grams (from 42 to 40). As a result, the bottle was slightly cheaper by 5%, which attracted customers with its eco-friendliness and price. Such change has brought the company a double benefit from the product.
The company sets an example for thousands of start-ups in terms of their attitude to saving nature. Millions of people use their products on a daily basis in different corners of the planet and Grass is aware of their ability to influence the environmental situation. Grass has several anchor projects, which are the main engines of sustainable development in Grass. These environmental projests are:
GRASSFOREST Project
GRASSFOREST Project is a large-scale project of the company to restore forest areas all over the country. The goal of the project is to plant 300 000 trees all over the country by 2025. Grass has already planted 119 179 trees and such number really makes a difference as 14 300 760 kg of oxygen will be produced annually by the planted trees.
Help for rare species of animals
Grass has launched a series of eco-friendly household chemicals in partnership with the largest natural reserves in Russia. Amur tigers, saigas, snow leopards, bison, brown bears and reindeers - these animals are on the verge of extinction but Grass has done a lot to save them and in the future this list will be replenished.
The Volga River Resource recovery
Grass takes part on a regular basis in the restoration of the Volga river. This river is one of the largest on Earth and the largest in terms of water content, basin area and length in Europe, as well as the world’s largest river flowing into a drainless reservoir. Grass helps to restore the fish population in the Volga and in 2021 Grass released 5 000 sturgeon fry, 10 000 sterlet fry, and 50 000 white cupid fry.
These anchor projects are beneficial both for society and the environment. These initiatives by Grass stimulate scientific research and technological innovation, teach a responsible attitude to nature, attract public attention to the problems of sustainable development, and raise awareness about consumption habits.
As for the benefits for the company, they have a competitive advantage in the market due to their eco-strategy because each year more people seek reduced waste generation and want their companies to promote the reuse and recycling of waste products. Also, thanks to their projects, more and more major partners, such as the largest chain of retail stores in Russia, "Magnit", are seeking cooperation with Grass. In addition, people's awareness of this brand and its activities increases, which stimulates sales growth.
In conclusion, we can outline that Grass demonstrates how a business can be profitable and successful while also spending so much effort on achieving the sustainability goals.
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Andrey Skrypnik, Head of the Sustainable Development Department
Grass is a leading Russian manufacturer of professional car chemicals and cosmetics, cleaning detergents, and household chemicals. The company was founded in 2003 in the city of Volzhsky. The products are presented in every region of Russia and in more than 35 countries around the world.