If you’ve been reading along on the Mountain Rose Herbs blog, you know we’re always looking for ways that we can make smart business choices that address climate change and invest in the health and wellbeing of our community and our planet. Committing to our alternative-fuel and electric fleet of company vehicles is one key piece to this commitment. In 2007, we realized our company had grown to a point that we could no longer function efficiently without a company delivery van. This created a real conundrum for us because we also want to mitigate the problems that are feeding climate change, and big delivery vans are notoriously fuel-inefficient. Indiscriminately spewing particulate matter into the environment of our hometown in order to deliver organic herbs was a hard-no for us. So, we started looking at alternative-fuel options.
SeQuential: Fueling Our Biodiesel Delivery Fleet
Our first company vehicle was a biodiesel-fueled Sprinter van that still remains part of our fleet today. We have the good fortune to live in the Willamette Valley, which is also home to SeQuential, a large-scale biodiesel producer and one of the leading used-cooking-oil collectors in the nation. They collect used cooking oil from business partners throughout our region and take it to their facility in Salem—just an hour up the interstate from our facilities here in Eugene—to transform it into biodiesel. Biodiesel made in this manner is nontoxic, renewable, and is a significantly cleaner fuel source than petroleum diesel. It gives us a 50% reduction in hydrocarbon emissions and other harmful particulate matter and reduces the overall carbon footprint of our delivery fleet by more than 80% compared to petroleum-based diesel.
Because of our proximity to SeQuential, biodiesel-fueled vehicles make a lot of sense for us. Although they are not entirely particulate-free, they are significantly cleaner. Supporting SeQuential also checks another box on the Mountain Rose Herbs must-do list: we are supporting a local industry that is making significant changes in how we use and re-use resources and they continually reinvest in doing that better so that this business model remains sustainable into the future.
In the fifteen years since our first company vehicle purchase, we’ve had to expand our fleet multiple times. We are pleased to say that our options are getting more diverse. Now our entire fleet runs on alternative fuels, is plug-in electric, or a hybrid vehicle.
Most recently, we added two Arcimoto electric vehicles to our fleet, including an Arcimoto Deliverator. This little delivery “van” is built for small parcel cargo delivery in high density cities and, because it features an enclosed cargo area, it also has the added advantage of offering a perfect place to feature company logos, etc. that are highly visible as we travel. It’s not large enough for big deliveries and certainly can’t replace our beloved Sprinter van, but this cutie fills an important niche in our fleet needs.
For us, the decision to commit to an alternative-fuel and electric fleet is all about reducing greenhouse gas emissions and combatting climate change. It is the same reason we invest in our Alternative Commute Program, because we want to encourage everyone to reduce their carbon emissions, and we want to lead by example.
Along the way, we’ve discovered that there are benefits we hadn’t anticipated. When we send our team members out into the community in one of our electric vehicles, they inevitably end up in conversations about our company’s commitment to do everything we can for the planet. Our fleet helps us spread the word that companies can do good for the environment and still be successful. We call that a win-win.
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