Description:
Riley Life is a for-profit business that provides order fulfillment, warehousing, product distribution and kitting services. We are a small yet quickly-growing business located in Durham N.C. that prides itself on being sustainable and local focused.

Executive Summary:

Founded in 2007 on the principles of people, performance and planet, Riley Life Industries (RLI) aims to make a positive impact on the environment, serve the RTP area and all of North Carolina through community service activities while inspiring other partner companies to seek the same goals.

RLI began with a monthly service project that all employees participate in. We have invited other business leaders and their employees to join us on these monthly service projects in the hope that this mission and energy will grow. RLI is working to create a corporate model with a broader focus than just profits that can be replicated by other companies who desire similar positive impact. Focusing on our people and the planet also allows us to achieve greater sustainability, and helps promote economic growth.

Our objectives over the past year were two-fold: 1) Concentrate on business opportunities by focusing on local and regional customers and vendors and 2) use Green Plus as a roadmap for growing Riley Life's sustainability efforts. We sought to add customers who are local and who we could visit easily, allowing us to build strong personal and professional ties due to our individualized focus. In addition, we sought local vendors to build similar trust with our vendors. Our goal was to add 10 new contract customers and 8 new projects from local companies. We also strove to convert all vendors to local/regional companies to the extent possible.

Our second objective was to use The Institute for Sustainable Development and their Green Plus program as resources for growing RLI's sustainability efforts. Green Plus is a business certification and education program that gives employers affordable, practical support in succeeding financially while being good to their environment, employees and community. RLI began pursuing certification in 2009 as the result of a seminar sponsored by the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, and the drive and initiative of Alex Gibson, RLI’s Chief Sustainability Officer. We were awarded this certification on July 9, 2009.

RLI is the first company in Durham, and just the fourth company nationally to receive the Green Plus Certification. In an effort to use our business as a mechanism for positive change in our world and in our local community, RLI pursued this certification to more fully achieve our core value of sustainability. This core value states - We seek to understand the future implications of our actions by focusing on the economic, social, and environmental impacts of our business. The need for these efforts are directly tied to RLI's mission and core values as a company - Integrity, Sustainability, Passion, and Innovation. Our mission is to deliver superior outsourced service support to companies who aim to be sustainable and progressive. Through our initiatives and under the leadership of the Riley Life Industries management team, we expect to double our revenues and profits during the coming year, which will also allow us to dedicate more time to community service.

What specific results have been achieved?

Our focus local initiative has generated the following results:

1. Added 12 new contract customers, including projects for local companies like Quintiles, Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC, Our State Magazine, Red Hat, SAS, Lenovo, Brand Fuel and more

2. Increased purchases from local suppliers with regard to printing, packaging, and package delivery - 98% increase over previous year in printing, 47% in packaging, and 7% in package delivery

3. Results of the sustainable focus during recent months include but are not limited to: A) Reduction of corporate carbon footprint to a zero or carbon neutral position B) Company employees have served over 340 meals to citizens of our community C) RLI has donated over $300 in food to local homeless missions D) RLI has reduced packaging costs by 61%, travel expenditures have fallen 37% and electricity costs are down 11%

4. During 2009, RLI worked with a Fellow from the Institute for Sustainable Development to improve the areas of our company that were necessary to go from a company pursuing certification to one that not only received the certification but is now one of the flagship companies co-presenting with Green Plus at various functions in the area. Riley Life is looking for further possibilities for reducing costs, increasing profits, reducing our and our partner's (customer and vendor) environmental impact, and serving the citizens of our community and around the world.

In what ways are the efforts of this organization/individual unique and innovative?

We want everyone who does business with us to understand and live the sustainable, green lifestyle with us. In order to include and educate our vendors/clients about our sustainable way of life, we implemented a program to make everyone we work with or come into contact with our customer’s products aware our practices. We start by reimbursing gas money for employees who carpool to work. Every month we participate in a community service project in the Raleigh/Durham area. At each event we invite employees from our vendors to join us in giving back to the community. As the first company in Durham to be Green Plus Certified, we will be promoting Green Plus' efforts with networking, speaking, and offering tours and advice to others in the Durham business community who would be interested in pursuing similar efforts. Riley Life's impact on Durham will continue to increase as we grow and persist in operating with the focus that we have. While our achievement of Green Plus Certification made Durham one of the first 3 cities in the US represented, more importantly, our emphasis behind this certification is to improve the local community through service and environmental efforts as well as providing meaningful employment to the residents of our community.

How has the broader community been impacted?

From Green Plus, to the Durham Chamber of Commerce Sustainability Award, to the Triangle Business Journal Green Award for Entrepreneurial Innovation, we have created a vehicle to spread our message and are constantly striving to improve, and to remain a leader in our field, and in North Carolina. We are convinced the greatest impact of RLI in the local community is yet to come, and look forward to the challenge.

I'll use the words of others to describe what we are doing to impact our community: "Green and for-profit are normally not seen together in the business world. RLI, however, seems to have accomplished both. Riley Life Industries main motivation behind creating a sustainable company is the daughter of CEO, Chris Bingham. Naming the company Riley in her honor Riley’s picture adorns the wall at their office in Durham and she is a staple in any conversation you might have. Riley Life Industries is only a for-profit because he wants to be able to provide for his daughter, but Chris is able to successfully incorporate sustainable practices into every aspect of RLI. He once told me it was a for-profit business run with the values of a non-profit. That fact is evident in everything they do from their hybrid vehicle they like to show off to their monthly community service projects. Humble in nature, they are the very kind of company that deserves to be rewarded for their actions.” -Mark Bryant, Wentworth Printing