Savers Inc. – Serkan Erdem – 2017

Goals 

Savers, a for-profit thrift store chain in the U.S., Canada and Australia, enlisted EDF Climate Corps fellow Serkan Erdem to help structure a sustainability framework, investigate areas of cost reduction from energy management and communicate CSR and sustainability efforts. Already a leader in the reuse and textile recycling sector–with a unique circular economy approach at the core of its business model–Savers wanted Erdem to dig even deeper and explore strategic sustainable business practices.

Solutions

After conducting literature reviews, interviewing team members and analyzing energy data of store locations across Savers’ portfolio, Erdem set out to make the business case for sustainability by demonstrating the untapped potential at the company. His go-to file for energy analysis enabled him to determine the energy hogs in the portfolio and emissions calculations showed the trend of operations in the last decade. From this, Erdem created a sustainability framework as well as set realistic goals for Savers to follow as it considers retrofits for existing stores and maintains new store designs. 

Potential Impact

In the next decade, Erdem’s projects could save Savers millions while also driving the business forward. Through lighting retrofits, communicating these efforts both internally and externally, and establishing a sustainability framework, Savers will add to its inherently sustainable nature and gain a better brand representation. Moving forward, the company has discussed plans for further activities.