The Vosges Haut–Chocolat Green Mission

At Vosges Haut-Chocolat we continually strive towards a greener product, workplace and production facility. With each small step, we reach towards a future of less impact on the environment. The steps we have taken:

MANUFACTURING GREEN

• — We are powered by wind! Vosges Haut-Chocolat is proud to announce that our chocolate is produced using 100% renewable energy. Our boutiques in Chicago, New York and Las Vegas also run on 100% renewable energy. Learn more at www.renewablechoice.com.
• — Our facility and production processes have been certified as an organic manufacturing facility. Organic facilities do not release synthetic pesticides into the environment, some of which have the potential to harm local wildlife. Organic farms are better than conventional farms at sustaining diverse ecosystems, i.e., populations of plants and insects, as well as animals. When calculated either per unit area or per conventional methods. While organic foods currently account for only 1–2% of total food sales worldwide, the organic food market is growing rapidly, far ahead of the rest of the food industry, and we are very excited to be part of this movement.
• — Whenever possible, we buy organic ingredients for our products. We hope to be at least 90% organic by 2009. This year we have started using organic sugar, butter, cream and nuts in our chocolate confections. Our new organic chocolate is also Rainforest Alliance certified. Rainforest Alliance encourages cocoa farming practices that are sustainable over the long term by maintaining a healthy environment, decent working conditions and fare wages. The Alliance works to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behavior.

PACKAGING GREEN

• — At Vosges we are continuously sourcing sustainable and biodegradable options for our packaging.
• — All of our candy bar boxes and folding cartons are made from 100% recycled paperboard and are recyclable.
• — We use PLA (a plastic made from cornstarch that is compostable) for any plastic boxes and lids.
• — We use paper that is at least 10% post consumer/recycled for all printed materials, including press folders, insert cards and wraps. Whenever possible, we use vegetable and soy based inks for printing.
• — Our purple boxes are made from 100% recycled material.
• — We love to find second or third uses for our packaging to cut down on waste. Although our purple boxes are already made from 100% recycled board, reusing them again keeps them out of the landfill. Some of our regular customers have created innovative alternate uses for our signature purple packaging, including: storage for office supplies, sorting items in their dresser drawers, reusing purple satin ribbon on gifts or in hair, or even jewelry storage.

The green purchasing oath of Vosges Haut-Chocolat:

We purchase ingredients having luxurious taste and sustainable merit like our Rainforest Alliance and organic certified chocolate. We purchase packaging made of post consumer recycled paper, renewable resources, or bio-degradable materials. We buy our cleaning products and office supplies from organic and recycled vendors. We power our manufacturing facility and boutiques with renewable energy. We bring peace to the world through chocolate one purchase at a time.

One Love, One Chocolate.
The Vosges purchasing team

You should do it too! With increased demand the price for these material will decrease.

SHIPPING GREEN

• — Our shipping boxes are made from recycled cardboard and embellished with our logo—printed with water based purple ink.
• — Our shipping department has switched from Styrofoam peanuts to air–filled bags that create much less waste in each package. Very soon, these bags will be biodegradable.
• — When temperatures rise, we ship our chocolate using 100% recyclable white coolers that can be shipped back to our facility for reuse at no additional charge to our customers.

LIVING GREEN

• — we recycle our printer cartridges with Cartridge World in Chicago, a company that shares our green mission.
• Our IT department drops off old/non–functioning computers and hardware at Best Buy to be recycled and safely disposed of.
• — Every piece of paper in our office is either reused in our printers or recycled. At meetings, you will find our team taking notes on homemade recycled paper pads.
• — We have recycling programs for our corporate office, manufacturing facility and retail stores.
• — We have recently partnered with a Chicago based non profit organization called Created Pitch. Creative Pitch coordinates the donations of materials from participating companies, which would otherwise be thrown away, to art educators in the city of Chicago. These educators use the materials for art projects for extremely under funded arts programs. Vosges donates old display truffle boxes, every piece of parchment paper, truffle trays, tubes, every scrap of ribbon from both the assembly line and our Chicago boutiques, and much, much more. Click www.creativepitch.org. for more information, and to see how you can get involved.