By Emma Brownell for Intent.com
Jeff Mendelsohn started New Leaf Paper, a distributor of environmentally friendly printing and office papers, in 1998, directly out of college. His mission was to change what was then an incredibly polluting industry. As more and more paper companies follow New Leaf Paper’s lead — offering post consumer recycled products — it looks like his plan to "green" an industry is playing out.
How did Jeff create a company out of nothing? What are the hurdles in creating a sustainable business? What are Jeff’s hopes and expectations for the years ahead? Read on.
Emma Brownell: How did you get into the paper business?
Jeff Mendelsohn: Through my undergraduate studies, in particular my research on international capital flows and the debt crisis in developing countries, I became acutely aware of how business has become more powerful than governments in shaping civilization and driving our environmental impact on the planet. Why not start a business with a clear social and environmental mission and demonstrate the synergy between successful business and great values?
Brownell: How did you set up shop with neither prior industry experience nor industry connections?
Mendelsohn: I was fortunate to start right out of college with a strong sense of “anything is possible” and not much to lose. I also knew that I was good at selling my ideas and believed in my ability to find my way. For the first year, I ran the business from my parent’s NYC apartment, with my only business expense being my phone bill.
Within a year, I had established relationships with some of the best manufacturers of environmentally responsible paper and had picked up my first major customers such as Environmental Defense Fund and Hewlett Packard, both of whom remain customers seventeen years later.
Brownell: What are your suggestions for a newbie to a field on overcoming industry hurdles and consumers’ habits (like buying pre-consumer recycled paper, rather than post-consumer recycled paper)?
Mendelsohn: Speaking from experience, I can say that our commitment to being the leader served us well in developing committed customers and suppliers, and inspiring changes in consumer habits and buying patterns.
We focused on companies that were leaders in their own right. We developed business where we were able help our customers see the value in aligning their brand with environmental responsibility. Our value proposition was in a class of its own within the highly commodified paper industry.
Brownell: You mention in an interview with Sustainable Northwest that the downturn in the industry in the late 90s benefited you. That sounds counterintuitive. How did you channel the downturn to benefit your company?
Mendelsohn: I have found that times of upheaval, change, and uncertainty are great opportunities for visionary leadership, and New Leaf Paper has always had visionary leadership in our approach to the paper industry. The weak paper market also forced paper mills to look outside their comfort zone for business. We would never had had the success we had in pioneering the first 100% post-consumer waste recycled papers in a variety of categories if the mills were running at capacity. We took advantage of the downturn to sell our concepts up the supply chain and we continue to work with many of our original mill partners to this day.
Brownell: Building on this, what’s the opportunity in the current recession for people who may want to change careers or evolve their line of business?
Mendelsohn: I see tremendous opportunity for innovative businesses to capitalize on the current recession. Minimizing environmental impact and economic efficiency are often highly aligned, and we are a very inefficient society. There are many business opportunities to bridge this divide in ways that do not compromise quality of life – and, in fact, may enhance it!
Brownell: How did your initiative to create a green paper company affect the way the rest of the industry did business?
Mendelsohn: By all accounts, New Leaf Paper has had a dramatic impact on the paper industry, including feedback from paper mills, distributors, printers, and end users. Ten years ago, the mainstream paper companies thought we were crazy, five years ago they started to take us seriously, and three years ago virtually every major paper company dove into the market for environmentally responsible paper. Clearly Al Gore, hurricane Katrina, and a general elevation of environmental awareness contribute to the shift, but New Leaf played an essential role – we proved the market.
Brownell: “Recycled” – in the context of paper – can be ambiguous. How did you spread awareness about the importance of “post-consumer” recycled products?
Mendelsohn: New Leaf Paper sees education as part of our core mission and our strategic advantage in the marketplace. We educate our customers on our vision of a sustainable paper industry which we call “Pulp Non-Fiction.” We help people understand the importance of using post-consumer recycled products in this context, so that they understand rather than simply memorize it. We spread our message through speaking engagements at conferences and presentations at large printers, design/marketing agencies, and businesses in general.
Brownell: Are your products more expensive than the virgin versions? How do you keep costs down on a potentially more expensive product?
Mendelsohn: Our cost structure is the most competitive in the market for the types of papers we make – if someone wants to use a truly environmentally responsible paper, New Leaf Paper has the best pricing. When compared to virgin paper, our prices are often slightly higher. This has everything to do with design of the paper industry – most of the infrastructure was built to support virgin paper manufacturing. New Leaf has some papers that are totally price competitive because we have partnered with the most sustainable mills in the world. This is evidence of the fact that making paper from waste paper is not inherently more expensive.
Brownell: How do you see your company, your field and environmentalism evolving over the next 5-10 years?
Mendelsohn: Over the years, I have had the pleasure of collaborating with academics and nonprofits and government officials, and I see a great convergence around getting to the heart of the matter, the cause of pollution and environmental degradation rather than focusing on cleaning up the messes. This means business, and it is exciting to see the business world evermore embracing true commitment to sustainability and environmental responsibility as a core value and integral to overall business success. Ultimately, this means that environmentalism will become less of an -ism and more deeply integrated in business and civil society. Nothing would make me happier than to see every paper company commit to the same standards of environmental stewardship that we live by at New Leaf Paper.
Read more blog posts in the Intent.com Sustainable Leadership Series here
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