Tad Talks Sustainability

Sustainable Solutions Corporation (SSC) collaborated with the International Sleep Products Association (ISPA) to release a special podcast episode for ISPA members. Sustainability experts Tad Radzinski and Nicole Meyer from SSC sit down with Kate Caddy on the Tad Talks Sustainability podcast to answer ISPA member's questions about sustainability.

In this concise yet powerful 36-minute episode, Tad, Nicole, and Kate tackle the following questions:

• What is corporate sustainability and why is it important?

• How does sustainability relate to a person's company or job, even when it's not their main function?

• What are Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions?

• What the differences are between Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions?

• Why is it important to measure, understand, and reduce your emissions?

• How does energy efficiency and waste reduction relate to sustainability?

• What are some best practices to increase employee engagement in sustainability?

In this episode, Tad and Julianna sit down with Tanya Nesbitt, Partner at Thompson Hine, to discuss the evolving landscape of climate regulations and litigation; specifically California Senate Bills 253 and 261, Assembly Bill 1305, and the SEC Climate Disclosure Rules. Tanya explains the rise in climate-related lawsuits, the growing scrutiny around voluntary carbon offset disclosures, and the complexities of corporate sustainability reporting. Tune in to learn how these emerging legal challenges could impact your organization's sustainability initiatives and reporting practices.

*This episode was recorded on 9/13/24 and one major update has occurred since then: California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Climate Disclosure Bill into law with the 2026 start date intact. Click here to read more about it.

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION: https://www.tadradzinski.com/tad-talks-sustainability-podcast/episode42-regulations-sb253-sb261-ab1305-sec-climate-disclosure-rules

When developing your company's Scope 3 program, it is critical to train and educate your sourcing and procurement teams. In this episode, Tad and Julianna discuss the key role your sourcing and procurement teams play in your Scope 3 program, how to bring these teams up to speed on sustainability and Scope 3, how to empower your sourcing and procurement teams to optimize your supplier engagement program with the goal of gathering primary data, and more.

Interested in submitting a question for Tad to answer on an upcoming episode? Click the link below and scroll to the bottom of the page!

SHOW NOTES: www.tadradzinski.com/tad-talks-sustainability-podcast/episode41-sourcing-and-procurement-teams

Difficult-to-manage waste streams are a hurdle for corporations to overcome in their pursuit of reducing waste. In this episode, Tad and Julianna sit down with Hannah Julian, Environmental Project Coordinator at g2 revolution, to discuss g2's work with managing materials that are traditionally difficult to recycle, managing pre-consumer and post-consumer waste, working with retailers and manufacturers to establish recycling programs for their materials, giving materials a second life through their Second Life® Solutions, working with small businesses in the beauty sector through their brand GLO™, the drivers behind pursuing and achieving GreenCircle certification, and more.

Interested in submitting a question for Tad to answer on an upcoming episode? Click the link below and scroll to the bottom of the page!

SHOW NOTES: https://www.tadradzinski.com/tad-talks-sustainability-podcast/episode40-difficult-to-manage-waste

New regulations as well as commitments and requirements from large companies are pushing suppliers to set science-based targets. In this episode, Tad and Julianna discuss an overview of science-based targets, the new regulations and what they mean for companies, the growing number of companies that are beginning to require their suppliers to set science-based targets by 2025, how suppliers can start taking inventory of their GHG emissions, the importance of training your sourcing and procurement teams, the benefits of measuring and reducing your Scope 3 emissions, the number of team members you will need internally to gather the data necessary for setting science-based targets, and how to know when to outsource and ask for help.

Interested in submitting a question for Tad to answer on an upcoming episode? Click the link below and scroll to the bottom of the page!

SHOW NOTES: https://www.tadradzinski.com/tad-talks-sustainability-podcast/episode39-science-based-targets

Many companies have started to think about measuring and reducing their Scope 3 emissions. The truth is most companies often feel overwhelmed by the scale of this effort and don't know where to start. In this episode, Tad and Julianna discuss what Scope 3 emissions are, the top Scope 3 category for most companies, how to help your suppliers reduce their carbon emissions, and how to start estimating your company's Scope 3 emissions from your suppliers.

Interested in submitting a question for Tad to answer on an upcoming episode? Click the link below and scroll to the bottom of the page!

SHOW NOTES: https://www.tadradzinski.com/tad-talks-sustainability-podcast/episode38-scope-3-emissions

Textile waste is the fastest growing waste stream in the United States. In this episode, Tad and Julianna sit down with Raymond Randall, Sr. Manager of Textile Recycling at WM, to discuss what WM is doing to drive circularity with textile waste, why textile waste is such a big problem for both the environment and for business, how fast fashion plays a role in textile waste, the textile recycling program at WM, and more.

Interested in submitting a question for Tad to answer on an upcoming episode? Click the link below and scroll to the bottom of the page!

SHOW NOTES: https://www.tadradzinski.com/tad-talks-sustainability-podcast/episode37-textile-waste

Life Cycle Assessments (LCA), Environmental Product Declarations (EPD), and Product Carbon Footprints (PCF) are essential to reducing your company's carbon footprint, but many companies have unanswered questions about the process for completing them. In this episode, Tad and Julianna sit down with LCA experts Nicole Meyer and Marquis Miller from Sustainable Solutions Corporation to answer some of the most frequently asked questions they receive about LCA, EPD, and PCF. They discuss the data collection process, timelines, what to include in your LCA, relevant standards and frameworks, Product Category Rules, functional units, how LCA, EPD, and PCF relate to carbon footprint, and more.

Interested in submitting a question for Tad to answer on an upcoming episode? Click the link below and scroll to the bottom of the page!

SHOW NOTES: https://www.tadradzinski.com/tad-talks-sustainability-podcast/episode36-lca-epd-pcf

A good marketing plan should include communication about your company's sustainability efforts. In this episode, Tad and Julianna sit down with Suzanne Shelton, CEO of Shelton Group, an ERM Group Company, to discuss the consumer research studies Shelton Group has been conducting for the past 17 years, the results of their recently published report The Buzz on Buzzwords: Seven Years Later, the biggest challenges companies have in marketing their sustainability efforts, best practices for communicating sustainability goals and achievements such as third-party certified products and facilities, how companies should handle not hitting a goal. and more.

Interested in submitting a question for Tad to answer on an upcoming episode? Click the link below and scroll to the bottom of the page!

SHOW NOTES: https://www.tadradzinski.com/tad-talks-sustainability-podcast/episode35-consumer-perception-sustainability

Decarbonizing your products is necessary for large-scale carbon emissions reduction. In this episode, Tad and Julianna sit down with Michelle Bonanno, Vice President of Operations and Certification Officer at GreenCircle Certified, to discuss the different steps a company could take to reduce the carbon footprint of their products in the raw material and manufacturing stages, how to use Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to demonstrate the carbon footprint reductions from the original product to the new version, the types of renewable energy and carbon-free electricity that contribute to carbon footprint reduction in products, how a company can better understand if their product qualifies for a carbon footprint reduction of greater than 1%, what initiatives do not count toward product-level carbon footprint reductions, which third-party certifications highlight carbon footprint reductions in products, how carbon footprint reduction is represented on GreenCircle Certified Environmental Facts (CEF) Multi-Attribute labels, and more.

Interested in submitting a question for Tad to answer on an upcoming episode? Click the link below and scroll to the bottom of the page!

SHOW NOTES: https://www.tadradzinski.com/tad-talks-sustainability-podcast/episode34-decarbonizing-your-products