Bemis’ company’s purpose has been to “Improve People’s Lives” and the company remains committed to their 2025 Social and Environmental Responsibility Targets they established back in 2018. Most recently, Bemis joined the ‘1% For The Planet’ programme in June 2021. With a bold commitment of giving 1 per cent of their total Seam Tape sales to environmental causes, they started with the launch of their Outdoor Fund. This Fund was to serve as their vehicle for giving.

Setting A Bold Course

They built a process to assess potential partnerships, including reviewing key criteria such as alignment with their strategic pillars “Grow the People” and “Grow the Business”, in addition to overall environmental impact. They initiated conversations with customers to learn how their customers give back to the environment and from that, determined which they would partner with based upon similar environmental goals. They also engaged with amazing non-profit organisations doing critical global environmental work.

At the close of their first Outdoor Fund grant cycle in December, Bemis had donated more than $300K across more than 20 organisations that focused on impactful environmental work. This first cycle of Outdoor Fund giving was a big early milestone helping to set Bemis’ course to achieve their long-term philanthropy goal of “$10 million in grants in 10 years”.

Access for All

Protecting the outdoors and providing equitable access to nature is a fundamental environmental area Bemis supports. One of the country’s most beloved hiking trails, the Appalachian Mountain Club’s (AMC) mission around protecting, enjoying, and understanding the outdoors has made them a natural fit for partnership. As a result, Bemis participated in an AMC trail day event, providing trail maintenance on a heavily trafficked route for a popular mountain in the northeastern part of the US.  

Bemis partnered with The North Country Land Trust, whose focus is on conserving the farms, forests and landscapes of North Central Massachusetts. This gave employees and family members of Bemis an opportunity to participate in local volunteer work including a trail run, install a community garden and enjoy protected lands in the greater New England region. As a leading sponsor, Bemis had more than 50 participants in the race including team members from the US, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Understanding that policy and legislation can be one of the most effective means to addressing the global climate crisis at the scale required, Bemis focused their efforts on building deeper relationships with their existing partners who push for progressive advancements in environmental legislation and policy change. 

A major highlight of 2021 was the cross-country customer engagement road trips that the company’s CEO Steve Howard participated in. In total, Howard met with around 40 different customers, engaging in a variety of business topics but also discussing how customers were taking action to support the environment. These engagements served as great opportunities to learn and explore the many ways businesses can take action to save the planet, while helping to build deep and meaningful relationships with customers.

Bemis has a long history of supporting hunger relief organisations, and in 2021 launched a partnership with Growing Places, a non-profit with a mission of creating equitable access to healthy food and environmental sustainability through education, collaboration, and advocacy. The project will provide employees, family members, and community members a community garden – a space to learn about and put into action sustainable food growing practices. All community garden growers will not only have the option to grow their own food to take home but also the option to donate the food they grow to a local food pantry that Bemis has supported for many years.

The Community Harvest Project, a non-profit that engages and educates volunteers to grow fresh fruits and vegetables for hunger relief, is another organisation Bemis is proud to support.

Bemis’ concern about the global climate crisis has never been greater, and their commitments to do everything in the company’s power to address it have never been bolder. Philanthropy is just one part of their global sustainability strategy.