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Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU)
Aixa Ritz
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Cascades, Canada is working to provide environment-friendly products for packaging, hygiene and recycling products by using less virgin pulp and more recycled products. Its solution is to develop innovative products such as container boxes and isolated boxes, with materials like moulded paper pulp, extruded recycled plastic and other innovative technology to satisfy the highest food and pharmaceutical sanitary standards. With their solution, Cascades helps solve many of the UN SDGs since all their actions go back to their goal of creating more sustainable cities and communities.
Cascades innovation is to be able to use its own waste to create recycled products. When I interviewed Mrs. Nadia Guérin, Cascades’ director of credit, she stated that the research and development teams as well as the strategic marketing teams paired with the sales representatives on the field, were the most involved in the process of developing innovative products for their packaging sector. To do so, they had to collect and meet the customers’ needs and take the pulse of the different markets to develop innovative and competitive products that would be profitable and sustainable, and differentiate Cascades from the competition. She believed it was a team effort since almost all the departments had to work together to develop the best and most efficient ideas. Mrs. Guérin stated that the innovation emerged from the company’s desire to be environmentally conscious in the packaging industry. She also mentioned that one of their future goals would be to completely replace Styrofoam because it is harmful for the environment.
Cascades is always looking at ways to improve the well-being of communities by providing sustainable and innovative solutions that create value. As stated on their website, managing residual materials more efficiently and creating a cleaner world is one of the many aspects supported by the company. Additionally, the company is one of the most sustainable and dedicated. They have been recognized in 2023 for the fourth year in a row in the prestigious Global 100. According to Corporate Knights, they are at the 20th rank on the world’s most responsible company (economy, environment, social implication, and governance)”.
The Lemaire Family, where it all started
According to Mrs. Guérin and Cascades' website, Cascades was founded by the Lemaire family in 1964, but even before that, the family had a vision of green living. They shared a deeply held belief in reusing, recovering and recycling for the good of society. In 1971, they built their first plant for moulded pulp which was made of 100% recycled fibers. The Lemaire brothers have been working together for over 50 years to be able to offer environment-friendly products to markets across North America. Their website shows that the Lemaire family’s purpose was to create a better life for future generations by offering them sustainable solutions. Its motivation came from its mission of improving the well-being of people. Mrs. Guérin added that from the beginning, Cascades also had a vision of becoming a key contributor to its customers’ success by leading the sustainable packaging, hygiene and recovery industries. As she mentioned, sustainability is in their DNA.
Overall, Cascades is impacting the communities significantly by providing them with eco-friendly products and solutions and reducing their waste. The company is devoted to being more sustainable in order to offer a better future and become a worldwide leader. According to its website, Cascades has aligned its plan for sustainability with 9 of the 17 United Nation’s sustainable development goals such as climate action, affordable and clean energy, sustainable cities and communities, and clean water and sanitation, life on land, partnerships for the goals, responsible consumption and production, gender equality and good health and well-being.
In the long term, the website and Mrs. Guérin’s explanation showed how Cascades’ innovation positively impacts the global environment. It is reducing its ecological footprint, its use of chemical products and the urgent problem of deforestation. Cascades is contributing to a sustainable future. During the interview, Mrs.Guérin said that in the short term, Cascades’ innovation helped businesses during the covid-19 pandemic by creating some reactive solutions to current issues. For example, she mentioned it has contributed to the online grocery market expansion by providing its northbox, a sustainable insulated container with 100% recycled paperboard to companies like HelloFresh.
Because Cascades worked in providing eco-friendly packaging solutions, Mrs. Guérin stated that they have been able to come up with many different products such as its insulated box: the northbox, for companies like HelloFresh. During the pandemic, Cascades had to adapt to new markets for hygiene solutions and they were able to grow in certain parts of their business to compensate for their loss in other sectors. Mrs. Guérin mentioned this innovation allowed the business to have an advantage over its competitors. They were able to benefit from their solutions with environmentally recycled raw materials and were able to innovate to come up with even more eco-friendly solutions.
In addition, Cascades was able to generate more revenue and become more profitable since it started using its own waste as its raw materials. In other words, by owning major sorting centers in North America, Cascades is able to optimize costs in raw materials. As seen on its website, the company is a local initiative that used to only be visible in Quebec, Canada. Since its start in 1971, the company has grown considerably, and it went from being a small local company to now being visible and active in the global market. Mrs. Nadia Guérin also mentioned that one piece of evidence to their success in becoming a multinational company is their appearance in the stock market.
Mrs. Guérin stated that the impact it has on society and the environment is huge since Cascades uses recycled materials from its own waste to come up with products of the highest standard in the industry. The company is devoted to being more sustainable and is constantly looking at ways to create new products that are better for the environment and the communities.
As Mrs.Guérin mentioned, the company is always working to create a better world for future generations and it does so by offering solutions that are made of recycled materials and are therefore better for the environment. As stated on the company's website, its commitment to its sustainability action plan is respectful of the planet, solutions-driven, community-minded and people-focused.
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Nadia Guérin, Director of Credit and Collection
Cascades, Canada is working to provide environment-friendly products for packaging, hygiene and recycling products. They are constantly developing innovative products with container boxes, moulded paper pulp, extruded recycled plastic, isolated boxes and other innovative products satisfying the highest food and pharmaceutical sanitary standards.