Sustainability

What we believe

At American Greetings we believe that sustainability is not simply an initiative, but a core principle guiding how we do business. Because of this, we promote sustainability today and in our long term planning through our communities, our associates, our retailers, our operations and our final product.

What we do

American Greetings thrives by fostering relationships with our associates, retailers, consumers, communities and world through sustainable environmental practices.

We continually take steps to find innovative ways to:

• Reduce waste
• Create environmentally friendly products
• Explore options to make our operations more energy efficient

Our Communities

Supporting our communities is a top priority. To achieve this, we work with several organizations to ensure that we are able to make a true impact.

American Greetings is a proud supporter of the United Way of Greater Cleveland and the amazing work that its agencies do across the community. As part of this partnership, we hold an annual United Way campaign drive where we encourage associates, through a variety of fun activities, to donate to the programs that assist those in our community.

We also work with a variety of local organizations to support the work that they do through donation drives, volunteering, and select sponsorships.

Our Associates

In June 2008, we dedicated American Greetings Park – 20 acres of property north of our world headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio. Formerly occupied by a concrete drive-in movie theater, the park is now a haven for wildlife with indigenous plants and wildflowers. It also allows our associates to experience nature first hand on the one-mile walking path.

We’re also helping our associates reduce waste and energy consumption through a paperless communications system, corporate sponsored events, and our assistance in helping associates to make environmentally-friendly choices.

Our Retailers

We value sustainability as a crucial element of our long-term relationships with our customers, and we continue to examine ways to work together to better our world. We have several initiatives around this goal including the introduction of a new car fleet for our sales force, which will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other harmful products released into the environment. We also have enhanced our recycling efforts and continue to partner with our retailers to support their efforts.

Our Operations

By implementing an extensive recycling program, enhancing our energy usage at retail and in our facilities, integrating a vendor social compliance policy, reducing waste in our shipping practices and offering our key retailers opportunities to make more efficient use of their customized materials, we are ensuring a sustainability program that runs throughout our business chain.

Our Products

Through our initiatives around waste management, use of post consumer materials, environmentally responsible sourcing and utilization of renewable resources, we work to ensure a more sustainable final product, and we continue to investigate new methods to enhance our efforts.