Increased automation in recent years has allowed PCNA to reduce its production staff. The company has reinvested the savings into salary increases for the remaining personnel. Must Read | Suppliers sells over 600 through the ProudPath channel, in the meantime reducing its overall product offering to eliminate items it considers likely to be thrown away. PCNA is, unsurprisingly, proud of the results: over 35 million plastic bottles upcycled, more than 2 million pounds of cotton recycled, 6 million+ trees planted, and more results on the way. The company is striving to boost its EcoVadis rating from Silver to Gold in 2024 and aims for zero waste at the New Kensington, Pennsylvania, facility by 2025. Some of the best-selling retail brands in the lineup are attached to give-back causes, like Lauren Bush Lauren’s FEED bags. Printed inside each bag as a reminder of its impact is the number of meals donated to schoolchildren thanks to the purchase. Often, these donated meals are their only food for the day. Products from the ProudPath catalog make up 26% of PCNA’s overall sales so far in 2024, and the number is growing. In marketing materials, PCNA calls this “maintaining the balance between purpose and profit.” It’s owed in large part to the collaboration between the company’s two most senior women, Brown and Haesler, and their teams. Haesler was Ringel’s first hire after taking the job. The two had worked together at Staples in the early 2010s, and he knew she was up to the task of curating PCNA’s offerings. Haesler set about not only reducing the product count with a new focus on sustainability, but also bringing more retail brands to the line. She gives her team credit for the improvements, calling them “zealots” of eco progress. The company has learned the importance of storytelling about its ProudPath products. An end user receiving a bag or piece of drinkware may not know that the product is fully recycled unless a tag or label tells them. PCNA has learned to celebrate those features on the 40 • JUNE 2024 • PPAI
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