At our Nutrilite farms we take our soil health very seriously. It’s a crucial component of organic farming. One way we do this is through composting. We test our compost for nutrient analysis and apply it at specific times during the season to get maximum benefit. At our Trout Lake Farm, that happens twice a year.

When we drop compost on the fields, it must be worked into the soil within a couple hours, otherwise the nutrients will evaporate and the compost will lose its strength.  We use a synchronized process with two GPS-controlled tractors – one dropping the compost, the other following behind tilling it in.

Organic has been a way of life for us long before the term existed, including using compost in our soil.

We were composting in the fifties, as you can see in the top photo taken from our archives. We are composting today: The second photo was taken recently at Trout Lake.

And, we will continue our organic farming and composting practices long into the future – it’s part of our legacy.

Feeding the soil natural materials to yield the healthiest plants is just one way that Nutrilite maintains control of the process — from seed to supplement.

“Amway was founded on the belief that, by helping people improve their lives, they could make the world a better place.”

So begins the message from our Chairman Steve Van Andel and our President Doug DeVos in the Amway 2012 Global Corporate Social Responsibility Report released today.

The annual report highlights the many ways our company, its more than 21,000 employees and more than 3 million distributors make a difference in the lives of others.

That includes building homes in Latin America, providing water filters in Haiti, building libraries in China and adopting schools right here in the hometown of our World Headquarters.

Corporate Social Responsibility is built into everything we do: our people, our products and our performance.

 Steve and Doug credit their fathers for recognizing the potential in this business for making a difference.

“They made it their mission to be more, do more, give more. And more than a half-century later, we’re still emulating their powerful example. … We’re awed by how far we’ve come and inspired to keep becoming more, together.”

Read the full report here.

Nutrilite’s new All Plant Protein Powder is unique because it uses a tri-blend of soy, wheat and pea protein to help keep you healthy and energetic without animal products or dairy. But it’s not just what’s inside the package that makes this product special. The canister itself has unique characteristics.

Packaging engineers and designers created multiple prototypes using wide variety of feedback to produce an All Plant Protein canister that really stands out. You’ll notice the uniqueness when you pick it up and hold it in your hand.

It has a visual connection with the NUTRILITE™ supplement bottle shape. The handle grip makes the container easier to hold. And the translucent green cap matches the color and transparency of a DOUBLE  X™ supplement tray. It’s also made of plastic, which has a smaller carbon footprint than our previous package and is more easily recycled into common recycling streams available around the globe.

So, when you open your All Plant Protein Powder, enjoy what’s inside, but take some time to appreciate the package it came in, too!

While many of the ingredients for our supplements are grown on our own organic farms, some are not so easily attainable. For our new Cal Mag D Plus supplement, we traveled all the way to the glacial fjords off the coast of Iceland to harvest the naturally calcified seaweed found in our product.

The seaweed starts out as a purple plant called coralline red algae. As it grows in the Icelandic fjords, it forms reefs and naturally calcifies. The motion of the sea breaks off bits of the calcified portions. They are carried by ocean currents and deposited in Maerl beds deep under the sea where our crew harvests them. This calcified seaweed is one of nature’s most concentrated botanical sources of calcium and magnesium.

Even in the waters off Iceland we certify our supplier to meet Nutrilite’s high NutriCert standards, which ensure that sustainable environmental and agricultural practices are followed in the production of ingredients used in our supplements. The harvesting crews use advanced GPS technology to gather the seaweed while protecting other delicate sea life.

Check out the photo album at our Nutrilite Facebook page that track’s Nutrilite scientist Kevin Gellenbeck’s trip to Bildudalur, Iceland to certify the harvesting operation.

Every year our Lakeview farm in California welcomes some nibbling visitors.

Usually it’s a flock of sheep brought in to spend a few weeks in the fields feeding on the dormant alfalfa and weeds that pop up this time of the year.

This year we were treated to a herd of goats. Farm Supervisor Pete Debus said about a thousand goats are spending three weeks in the fields, keeping the vegetation under control until the growing season starts. (An added benefit, they leave behind some natural fertilizer!)

We use the same process in Brazil, where the sheep are moved around through the acerola trees.

“It’s not a dormant period, because that doesn’t happen there, but they are good at keeping the grass down around the trees,” Debus said.

We’ll have to check back to see which animal does a better job. Sheep or goats?

Steve Van Dyke was stalking a deer at Amway World Headquarters last year with his Canon 60D, tracking it through the woods until he was about 30 feet away.

“I turned around, and he looked right at me and gave me a look,” said Steve, who works in the Amway IT department. “It was the deer-in-the-headlights look.”

Turn to May in the Amway 2013 company calendar and you can see that deer-in-the-headlights look yourself. The calendar features four other photos by Steve and several by other Amway employees.

Amway Sustainability Program Manager Rick VanDellen has produced wildlife calendars for the company before, but only in small batches.

This is the first year it was published as the main company calendar and included employee photos of nature scenes captured on the property. It also highlights several activities Amway has focused on the wildlife habitat, including bird boxes, bird banding, nature nights for families and wildlife photography workshops. They all help us maintain our certification with the Wildlife Habitat Council.

Rick said many of the photos chosen from the 40 or so submitted were taken by people who had attended the photo workshops. But Danny Favreau captured his Snowy Owl photos for January while on the job at the Amway corporate hangar at Gerald R. Ford International Airport.

“Normally you see one; on occasion we see two. But on one occasion, there’s a great big pine tree next to our hangar, and there were three of them there at one time in close proximity,” he said. “I couldn’t get to my camera fast enough.”

Sri Soekarman also took her photo of a blue dasher dragonfly while on the job. She was photographing the first annual Lake Amway Charity Fishing Tournament for the public relations department.

Other photos were taken by Jim Parker in IT, John Harrison, a senior software developer, and Bob Garner, a system engineer. David Aupperlee, a contractor and former Amway employee who regularly photographs the wildlife habitat, also has several photos featured.

Rick said he’s getting very good feedback and he may have to print more than the 5,000 in the first run.

“I’m running out quickly,” he said.

See a photo album of all the calendar pictures at our Amway Facebook page.

The numbers don’t lie: The prevalence of high-calorie, low-nutritient food coupled with sedentary lifestyles is leading the world down a dangerous path. Worldwide obesity nearly doubled between 1980 and 2008, according to the World Health Organization. As a result, more than half a billion adults worldwide are obese.

To help address this issue, Nutrilite Health Institute President Dr. Sam Rehnborg recently participated in a special conference at the Rockefeller Foundation in Bellagio, Italy. The Healthy Agriculture, Healthy Nutrition, Healthy People conference was a select gathering of thought leaders from across the globe. Experts in public policy, economics, nutrition, medicine and law, along with food and agricultural industry representatives, spent three days wrestling with the issue of global obesity and nutrition. They were striving to understand the obstacles governments face when attempting to implement policies that could lead to optimal diets for their populations.

The conference was organized by Nutrilite Scientific Advisory Board member and pre-eminent Omega-3s expert Artemis Simopoulos and her Center for Genetics, Nutrition and Health in partnership with The Rockefeller Foundation. Also in attendance was Scientific Advisory Board member Richard Johnson, an expert on the role of fructose in the obesity epidemic, metabolic syndrome, diabetes and hypertension.

Conference members recognized that one way to address global obesity and improve nutriltion worldwide is through sustainable agriculture, an area of expertise for Nutrilite. They also discussed shaping diets based on scientific evidence, economic considerations, regional factors influencing policy change and local initiatives to educate industry.

Perhaps the conference could be more easily characterized as a “think tank,” a gathering of leaders seeking pragmatic solutions that can translate into actual results. The participants will soon publish a white paper presenting their outcomes and policy suggestions. The goal is to help governments address global obesity and the chronic diseases that result from it.

With at least 2.8 million people dying each year as a result of being overweight or obese, it is a goal worth pursuing.

Our friends in Vietnam started the year with a celebration and they’re ending it with a wonderful recognition.

Amway Vietnam’s manufacturing plant in Dong Nai became the first direct selling company in Vietnam to earn the ISO certification and OHSAS certification from the British Standards Institution for environmental protection, health and labor safety. 

The ISO 14001:2004 certification is for the company’s environment management system and the OHSAS 18001:2007 is for its occupational health and safety management system.

“We are very honored to receive these famous certificates. They are evidence that Amway Vietnam is a responsible corporate citizen caring for environment protection, as well as staff’s occupational health and safety,” said How Kam Chiong, general director of Amway Vietnam.

“This marks another major milestone in our sustainable development and a remarkable affirmation for our long-term commitment in this potential market.”

It’s a great way to wrap up 2012 for Amway Vietnam, which started the year with a grand opening celebration for its new office in training center in the Cau Giay district of Hanoi. Vietnam is our newest market and next year will celebrate its five year anniversary. They’ve accomplished quite a bit in those five years!

 It has become pretty important at Amway. LCA, is an internationally recognized way to determine the environmental impact of a product throughout its life cycle. An LCA analyzes the entire production process from raw materials to manufacturing to distribution to “end of life management.” (Can it be recycled or will it go to a landfill?)

 Amway Research Scientist David Byrne recently attended the LCA XII Conference in Tacoma, Washington, and shared the evolution of Amway’s use of LCA and our goal to be recognized as a sustainability leader in the direct sales industry. Here is the gist of his message:

 Amway’s first product, L.O.C., was a phosphate-free, all-purpose cleaner that was one of the first bio-degradable products on the market. It was the first of many products we designed with environmental considerations. The company’s founders did this because it was the right thing to do.

 However, our Independent Business Owners, customers and partners now want to know about our sustainability efforts. That’s why in 2009 Amway started using LCA. As a test case, an LCA helped shape the design of the new eSpring system launched in Japan that year. The result? It used 46% less energy than its predecessor.

Now sustainability requirements are integrated into corporate objectives for all new products and sustainability claims are tested along with performance claims. At Amway, LCA has been used successfully, and it’s gaining recognition inside and outside the company.

When it comes to energy consumption, sometimes you have to do more to use less.

At Amway, we’ve spent a lot of time coming up with ways to reduce our carbon footprint.

And it’s paid off, as we’ve reduced electricity use at Amway World Headquarters in Ada, Michigan, US, by 16 percent in the last five years.

We’ve done this by making changes both big and small throughout the complex, including:

• Setting up a building management system for our heating and cooling.
• Installing occupancy sensors to turn lights off when rooms and hallways aren’t in use.
• Using wind power as a green alternative to traditional power.   About 10 percent of the electricity we use at headquarters comes from a 2,300 acre wind farm in Michigan.  

We’ve also set some pretty ambitious goals for the future, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent.

How are you doing more to use less?