Drinkware supplier ETS Express (asi/51197) has launched a new sustainability initiative.

The independent subsidiary of Top 40 supplier PCNA (asi/78897) partnered with veritree, a restorative technology platform that partners with leading planting organizations around the world to provide evidence-based verification on their projects.

ETS Express has partnered with veritree to support verified restorative tree planting.

Once restoration efforts are verified, the impact data is published to a public blockchain to enforce traceability and transparency and to ensure that the data and evidence remain unaltered. As part of the new partnership, ETS Express has committed to supporting verified restorative tree (or kelp, in some cases) planting for every order placed.

“We’ve been a reusable drinkware company since day one, so sustainability is part of our DNA,” Adam Stone, vice president of sales at ETS Express, told ASI Media. “With that said, we need to do more.”

Partnering with veritree gives ETS Express the ability to work with reputable partners participating in restorative projects around the world; plus, the company provides verified data based on participation, according to Stone.

“I think it’s important for us and the industry to provide more transparency as it relates to giveback programs, and veritree gives us this ability,” Stone added.

Veritree was launched by the founders of Canadian sustainable apparel brand tentree, which has planted 10 trees for every one of its products purchased. Veritree CEO Derrick Emsley said in a Forbes interview last year that the company started as part of tentree’s efforts to verify and track its own sustainable impact. Emsley noted that tentree discovered projects where planting organizations didn’t fulfill their obligations – or years after a project, they’d go back and see there had been little long-term impact from their projects. “Poor planting practices, multiple organizations claiming the same trees, poor communication and more are all challenges we’ve wrestled with for the last decade,” Emsley added. “Veritree was created to help us solve these issues.”

Veritree, along with its brand partners, has set a goal to plant over 1 billion verified trees by 2030, and so far, it’s had more than 21 million verified trees planted, according to its website. ETS Express isn’t the only promotional products company to partner with veritree. In January, Social Imprints (asi/164607) announced a pledge to plant 40,000 mangrove trees in Mombasa, Kenya in 2023, through a partnership with veritree.

ETS Express has set a goal to plant 250,000 trees over the next few years. The supplier will be planting trees in the Forest Gardens of Tanzania and Rainy Bay in British Columbia. Thus far, according to its public veritree online dashboard, ETS Express has planted 7,000 total trees, which compares to planting 202 studio apartments full of trees; they’ve sequestered 305 tons of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of removing 66 cars from the road for one year; and they’ve reforested 1.1 hectare of land, providing 140 workdays to local tree planters.

The partnership with veritree is part of a broader focus on sustainability as a company, according to ETS Express. The supplier shares details of its sustainability initiatives here.

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