Plus3 Cyprus’ itinerary included a lot of company site visits. Each and every site visit allowed me to learn so much about global industries with a focus in supply chain management. We learned about the behind the scenes of many shipping or supply chain companies. However, besides just the infrastructure, technology, and resources needed to get the right things, to the right place, at the right time, there was also a big focus on sustainability. Most companies we talked to had a lot to say regarding their sustainability initiatives. One company that stood out to me in particular was actually the first one we visited, Vassos Eliades Ltd. Vassos Eliades is a firm believer in corporate social responsibility. Some of their specific accomplishments towards a greener world and sustainability include bioclimactic architecture, beach clean ups, solar tubes, photovoltaics, recycling, tree planting, and the Nespresso capsule recycling program. 

For that last one regarding Nespresso, Nespresso operates exclusively through Vassos Eliades. A whole section of their briefing was about Nespresso and how they work to make that product more sustainable. The capsule pods can be shipped back to the company in order to be recycled or dropped off at a location. The Nespresso storefronts’ necessary furniture is composed of the recycled materials which I thought was new and fascinating. You would have never guessed looking at pictures that some of the furniture was made using coffee grounds and recycled aluminum. 30-40% of their pods are recycled which is surprising given they offer no incentive. I believe that is the difference with Pittsburgh and America as a whole. We need an incentive sometimes to go out of our way to do good for our planet. I remember my mom started collecting our Nespresso pods to ship back instead of throwing them away, and I asked her what we get for doing that. I truly expected there to be some sort of reward. Giving our future generations a beautiful world to grow up in should be reward enough. This really changed my outlook on the world a lot. When I judge companies now I will include their sustainability initiatives into my judgement because we only have one planet, and we cannot screw it up.