Staff turnover, a risk to your corporate image
You may have seen people wearing a uniform—a t-shirt, jacket, or garment with their company logo—on your way to work, on a weekend outing, or simply going about your daily activities. The use of uniforms is a positive thing since employees are one of the main assets a company has to differentiate its identity and brand, being a factor that helps the company stand out from the competition and build trust with the customer. Now, imagine seeing someone on the news or on social media one day who was arrested for committing a crime while wearing your company's uniform or a t-shirt with your logo in the trash, polluting the environment and taking more than 50 years to be absorbed by the environment. Before you know it, it's trending, memes and criticisms appear about the poor management and control that the brand and/or company has over this very important element. An event like this can severely damage the reputation and image of any company, regardless of its size or industry. But what can be done as an organization? Employee turnover is one of the biggest problems for the Human Resources departments of any company, and keeping track of the uniforms of each employee becomes an extremely complicated mission. In Mexico, employee turnover reaches a rate of 16.75%, the highest among Latin American countries. For example, in our country, the restaurant industry alone has a value of close to 250,000 billion pesos. According to data from the National Chamber of the Restaurant and Seasoned Food Industry (Canirac), the food sector generates around 700,000 million direct jobs and nearly three million indirect jobs in Mexico, but it is also one of the sectors with the highest staff turnover. Where do all those uniforms that are being left behind end up? What happens to those thousands of garments? Doesn't it make you nervous? Currently, despite these high turnover rates, there are still organizations that do not ensure the proper disposal of their uniforms after their useful life, potentially becoming victims of misuse of their corporate image or being involved in an inconvenient and regrettable incident due to not having taken the necessary measures with a uniform that was incorrectly discarded. That is why at GDI Uniforms, committed to the environment as a Socially Responsible Company and taking care of our clients' corporate image as their best business partners, we offer our clients the Controlled Destruction and Disposal of Uniforms Service, where our business partners protect their brand and have the assurance that their uniforms will only be used to create recycled products and in favor of the environment. Our service ranges from the collection by GDI or shipment by the client of obsolete uniforms, the destruction of garments ensuring that the misuse of obsolete uniforms is avoided, photographic evidence and document certifying the destruction of all garments and the recycling. The resulting material is reprocessed to generate new by-products: carpet fabrics, upholstery yarns, new garments, and so on. Get in touch with us and together we'll develop a program that protects your corporate image and the environment! Vanessa Orendain García – Account Executive at GDI
Circular Economy, a challenge for the textile sector
We live in a world of constant change, in every sense; people, companies, climate, processes, trends, concepts, etc… Evolving is necessary and beneficial if we approach it in the right way. And for those of us who dedicate ourselves to creating/producing, it is no exception. Currently, production in a company is based on a cycle where raw materials are transformed into products, marketed, and then discarded. At GDI, we have adopted the concept of Sustainability as part of our core values. We seek to go beyond recycling and reusing materials, implementing actions in recent years to achieve a Circular Economy. In other words, produce, use, and throw away? No! Our approach is Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. “The circular economy advocates using as many biodegradable materials as possible in the manufacture of consumer goods that can return to nature without causing environmental damage when they reach the end of their useful life. In cases where it is not possible to use eco-friendly materials, the objective will be to facilitate a simple decoupling to give them a new life by reincorporating them into the production cycle and composing a new piece. When that is not possible, it will be recycled in an environmentally friendly way.” Some of the principles of the circular economy that we already implement in our operation are: Reuse: reusing certain waste or parts of it, which can still be used to make new products. Repair: giving broken products a second life. Recycling: using materials found in waste. But you might ask: how do you apply it? Which products have it? Well, a few years ago we started with the dream of contributing more and we began with research, tests, many tests with which we achieved extremely valuable processes that we are proud of: Garments made with recyclable material. This consists of the development of garments with fabrics made from PET bottles; it is one of the most convenient ways to recycle plastic bottles and prevent their accumulation. At GDI we produce an average of 230,000 garments annually with 50% PET, which represents the recycling of more than 688,000 PET bottles. Regeneration: Development of new garments with fabrics obtained from the recycling of clothing that has gone through a circular system. At GDI we produce an average of 68,000 regenerated trousers annually using fabrics from recycled garments. Also within this process, through our garment destruction program designed to protect our clients' brands, as part of our care for the environment, the material resulting from said destruction is reprocessed to generate new by-products: Fabrics for carpets, yarns for upholstery, among other things. At GDI, we strive to minimize our environmental impact with eco-friendly products and processes, reducing energy consumption and improving the environmental quality of our processes through sound resource management. Today, given the times we are living in, it is more important to reflect on the fact that we do not live in isolation. We share the same air, the same planet, and therefore, everything you or I do has a ripple effect. This is our small contribution as a responsible company, as the GDI family, for you, for me. Get in touch with us and together we'll develop a program that protects your corporate image and makes you part of this cycle for the environment! Liliana Jiménez Figueroa – Senior Account Executive by GDI
5 companies in Mexico with sustainable practices
Restoring our Earth must be a priority for everyone to stop and reverse the degradation it has suffered. The interest in sustainability is not a fad; it is our opportunity to rebuild the environment and is a movement that is moving towards a long-term investment strategy and that in 10 or 15 years will be completely commonplace in global markets. Being a company with Sustainable Development strategies has several benefits. Incorporating these strategies benefits our companies, as it demonstrates transparency, creates financial value, improves our organization's reputation, promotes continuous improvement, helps manage regulatory compliance, strengthens risk management and stewardship, improves the management system and decision-making, attracts and retains key talent, attracts long-term capital with more favorable financial conditions, and improves our competitive position in the market. Below, we show you different sustainable actions that some of the most important companies in our country are implementing. At GDI Uniforms we are your suppliers and strategic partners to work together to reduce our environmental impact. The company has PetStar in Mexico, the world's largest recycling plant, and IMER, the first recycling plant built in Latin America. Together they can process more than 85,000 tons of this material per year, which is equivalent to filling the Azteca Stadium three times. This investment includes initiatives for recycling plant infrastructure, collection and recycling in a three-year plan and strengthens its commitment as the main recycler of food-grade PET in the country, IMCC (The Mexican Coca-Cola Industry) detailed in a statement. They have a joint work plan with their Private Label suppliers to achieve several milestones. Among these, the following stand out: 100% recyclable packaging, certification of the use of palm oil and its derivatives, as well as certification for the use of paper, cellulose and wood in the manufacture of its packaging, as well as the objective that all products containing soy or those derived from the meat marketing chain are produced without risks of deforestation. With a focus on tackling environmental problems, they also announced their commitment to drastically reduce and eliminate greenhouse gas emissions in their operations by 2040. The Sustainable Barley Innovation Program (PICES) offers support to farmers to provide them with the best technologies available in the sector and thus seek to achieve the best yields, income and obtain a higher quality barley grain for Heineken beers. This initiative for the countryside seeks to sustainably impact the agricultural sector in Mexico. It has a Sustainable Uniforms program, through which uniforms for its employees were acquired that are made of 50 percent cotton and 50 percent recycled PET fibers. These uniforms, when they reach the end of their useful life, are transformed into rags and other products; in 2020, 16,657 pieces were collected, equivalent to 5,552 kilograms of fabric. We have sustainable programs such as regenerated garments, sustainable garments and uniform destruction, each of them aligned with our strategic pillars of: At GDI Uniforms as your strategic partner, we take care of your brand and we take care of the environment.
Latin American companies are committed to sustainability
In a survey of 450 CEOs, 60% said they have a strong affinity for issues such as gender equality, circular economy, climate change, and the workforce of the future. Sustainability and the circular economy, which a few years ago were almost ignored practices, quickly climbed among the priorities of the most prominent companies in Latin America and the world, and came to be among the aspects that receive the most attention today. Furthermore, 45% of business leaders in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico said they already have a sustainability strategy in their organizations; and 22% said they are working on one, placing this issue as a priority agenda among corporations in the region. The CEOs' responses suggest that sustainability is not seen as a "standalone program" but as a cross-cutting or multidisciplinary issue, a way of approaching business. Today it is difficult not to associate a company's profitability and economic development with its sustainability policy. Not only because a sustainable business is one that will be able to sustain itself in the long term, but for several other reasons: customer preference in choosing products and brands, talent attraction, and regulatory compliance. In all these areas, a sustainable company will have advantages over one that is not. In the case of the textile industry, which is the second most polluting industry in the world after the oil industry, achieving a balance between nature and textile production is paramount. The current trend is to develop textiles and materials that come from organic waste. In addition, textile companies are adopting new practices such as considering the life cycle, avoiding animal testing, and aligning their daily operations towards a sustainable lifestyle and collaborating against climate change. In Mexico, textiles are recycled at a rate of only 0.5% per year; on average, each person throws away 3 kg of clothing, of which only 15 grams would be recovered. This is why it is important to innovate with organic fabrics that reduce the pollution rate. At GDI we have sustainable projects that seek to reduce the environmental impact of our company and that of our business partners. Recycled Garments Program: They are made with fabrics manufactured from PET bottles, which is one of the most convenient ways to recycle plastic bottles. Furthermore, at practical levels there is no difference between traditional and recycled polyester. During the recycling process, the fiber is reconstituted at a molecular level, and therefore recycled polyester is just as strong, durable, and has the same properties as virgin polyester. The two polyesters differ in their environmental impact; PET has a much lower environmental impact than traditional polyester. Regenerated Garments Program: They are made with fabrics made from recycled textiles; That is, they are made from regenerated waste from post-consumer cotton garments. Natural fibers such as wool and cotton can be mechanically recycled, but the process decreases the length and quality of the fibers, which is why it is necessary to add virgin fibers. These latter serve as a supplement, since it is not currently possible to include 100% recycled materials in garments. Controlled Garment Destruction Program: With this service, we prevent post-consumer uniforms from having a negative impact on the planet and on our client's corporate image. The intention is to prevent our clients' uniforms from being discarded, polluting the environment, or from falling into the hands of someone outside the company, damaging its corporate image. The program begins with GDI collecting the uniforms or the Client sending them. Afterwards, a process of destroying garments begins, ensuring that the misuse of obsolete uniforms is avoided. Customers are given photographic evidence and a document certifying the destruction of all the garments. The resulting material is reprocessed to generate new by-products, which are used as carpet fabrics, upholstery yarns, among other things.
A correct way to consume goods and services
Sustainable consumption is a way of consuming goods and services to meet our basic needs, contributing to a better quality of life, while reducing the consumption of natural resources and toxic materials, and decreasing waste and pollutant emissions throughout the product or service's life cycle. All of this is aimed at not compromising the future of the next generations. Every day, at every moment, we make some kind of purchase, whether large or small. Sometimes it's in response to a basic, fundamental need, and on many other occasions, to a desire or whim. We are always immersed in constant commercial exchanges, yet we almost never stop to think about the implications of this daily action. And the fact is, buying has environmental and social consequences. By acquiring a certain good or service, we can be promoting an important environmental action or participating in a social inclusion initiative that benefits vulnerable sectors of the population. This is precisely what sustainable consumption is about: acquiring products or services that take the following into account. In other words, sustainable consumption encompasses the three pillars of sustainable development. The COVID-19 pandemic has offered countries the opportunity to develop recovery plans that reverse current trends and shift our consumption and production patterns toward a more sustainable future. Sustainable consumption and production mean doing more and better with less. It also involves decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation, increasing resource efficiency, and promoting sustainable lifestyles. It can also contribute substantially to poverty alleviation and the transition to green, low-carbon economies. At GDI, we strive for responsible and sustainable consumption, considering our planet and the future. We aim to produce minimal waste; for example, in the production of our products, we use a cutter that makes more precise cuts, thus generating less fabric waste. We strive to make our products environmentally friendly, so that when our customers use them, they know they're helping to improve the planet. That's why we include sustainable clothing items (vests, pants, and face masks) in our product line. Consume responsibly and think about the future.