Customer profile: Greenii Inc.

Economic Impact

  • Employment Expansion: Increased staffing from 2 to 4 full-time equivalents (FTE).
  • Employment of Newcomer Women: Greenii has expanded to employ 5 newcomer women with language barriers, working as independent contractors.
  • Product Sales: Sales to date of 100,000+ newsprint bags, saving over 6,000 lbs of waste paper.
  • Product Line Expansion: Products now include crinkle shreds and custom logo printing.

Social/Environmental Impact

  • CO2 Emission Reduction: Greenii products save CO2 emissions, water, bleach, and oil.
  • Paper Saving: To date, Greenii has saved nearly 3,500 pounds of paper, equivalent to 26 trees.
  • Carbon Absorption: The saved trees would collectively absorb nearly 250 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air each year.
  • Reduced Carbon Emissions: Burning the saved paper would have created 1,500 pounds of carbon dioxide.
  • Inclusive Employment: Employs staff with developmental exceptionalities, women, and youth.
  • Nomination: CAMSC SOCIAL Goods awards nominee.

Greenii founder Purush Cannane, an engineer by training, designed a process to upcycle magazines, brochures, flyers and other printed materials into gift bags suitable for individual gift giving and retail use. The idea came to him at his wife’s baby shower where he saw the gift bags that were exchanged were in some cases many years old thanks to careful recycling. That day he had an “aha” moment, when he realized leftover packaging, destined for landfill can be upcycled into gift bags for future events.

With the support, mentorship, and loan from Harvest Impact through the COIL STEP program, Greenii has streamlined its bag production process. Specifically, Harvest Impact provided grant funding, place-based cost support, and loan financing as part of the COIL STEP program.

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