Hello,
Welcome to our Weebly page about the project Ecological Companies, on this Weebly page you can take a look at our Introduction Video, Our Group and Research Evaluation.
Introduction Video
Research Evaluation
For our research we took a look at 2 ecological companies. We also interviewed the owners of the ecological companies and 2 customers (unfortunately the people that we interviewed didn't want to be in a picture for our report).
What is an ecological company ?
An ecological company is a company which is busy with humans and the environment. Like how do they transport goods, or how do we save energy. So they think about the use of co2 and nitrogen, but also how are the products that we sell produced and against which wages, are there fair wages paid or not.
Ecological Company #1 - Dille and Kamille
The original founder of Dille en Kamille is Frank Kamerling. He started Dille en Kamille in 1974 in a ‘werfkelder’ in Utrecht. He started the company because in the seventies a lot of products were made of plastic, also called plastic fantastic. Frank wanted to change this and started a company which did have as less plastic as possible.
The owners in Middelburg, Willem Burger and Nina Kasfiki, took over the store because they support eco friendly companies. We got to meet Willem at the store to interview him. Willem and his co-owner also think it’s a great opportunity to show that stores can be eco friendly. For example, they only sell products which are produced by people in developing countries for fair wages, no plastic products and energy saving lights. Next to that they keep their own energy bill as low as possible by turning the heating some degrees lower than other main street stores. Willem and Nina already have quite an ecological store but they still have goals. For example, some products still have plastic wrapping, but they want to decrease this amount even more and go for zero products which have plastic wrapping.
The store has a very organised decor, it is easy on the eyes and also eco friendly. The tables and closets are all made from wood. Everything is sorted out by type of product. The products are all made of wood, pottery, glass and cotton. Which have been produced in a sustainable way. Their assortiment ranges from toys to cleaning products, they also have cards which are made by an employee.
The website does reflect the ecological policy of the company although you have to search for it. It is not stated as such, but described at the certain product types. Like for example at ‘schoonmaakartikelen overig’ you can read it is not necessary to use many different types of plastic bottles and aggressive products. Natural remedies will do the work as well; also good for the environment.
The owners in Middelburg, Willem Burger and Nina Kasfiki, took over the store because they support eco friendly companies. We got to meet Willem at the store to interview him. Willem and his co-owner also think it’s a great opportunity to show that stores can be eco friendly. For example, they only sell products which are produced by people in developing countries for fair wages, no plastic products and energy saving lights. Next to that they keep their own energy bill as low as possible by turning the heating some degrees lower than other main street stores. Willem and Nina already have quite an ecological store but they still have goals. For example, some products still have plastic wrapping, but they want to decrease this amount even more and go for zero products which have plastic wrapping.
The store has a very organised decor, it is easy on the eyes and also eco friendly. The tables and closets are all made from wood. Everything is sorted out by type of product. The products are all made of wood, pottery, glass and cotton. Which have been produced in a sustainable way. Their assortiment ranges from toys to cleaning products, they also have cards which are made by an employee.
The website does reflect the ecological policy of the company although you have to search for it. It is not stated as such, but described at the certain product types. Like for example at ‘schoonmaakartikelen overig’ you can read it is not necessary to use many different types of plastic bottles and aggressive products. Natural remedies will do the work as well; also good for the environment.
Ecological Company #2 - De tuin van broeder lodovicus
The founders of de tuin van broeder ludovicus is the Timmermans family. Willem and Marjanne started the store 43 years ago. Now 40 years later their 3 children, Sharon, Jeroen en Joel, took over the store. They want to expand the store even further.
Willem already had a little store, and his customers were always talking about how they wanted a biological supermarket. so after a few years Willem started to think about it. He thought it was a good idea to. ‘’we can better start making the world better now before it’s too late’’ he said, and his wife Marjanne agreed. So they started planning and found a little building at the lange Noordstraat. And after 2 years they had a lot of customers, so they moved to a building at the korte Delft.
Their assortment is everything that you can also find in your local supermarket, all your groceries you can get there and they are even biological. They also, just like Dille en Kamille, only want to sell things without plastic wrapping. But that is pretty difficult for a supermarket Willen said. Because when we get our products the expiration date should not have expired already. So the options to that are very small. They do have products wrapped in plastic but they want to keep that as little as possible. Also the ‘fridges’ are installed so that they do not cool all the time. When the fridge is at a certain temperature, it shuts down. In this way they save energy.
Their main customers are mainly elderly people. Not only because all the products are healthier than in a normal supermarket, but also because of flavour the products still have. But lately a lot of younger people also come to the store because they also start to realise that the food in the ‘normal’ supermarkets is more unhealthy than the food in de tuin van broeder ludovicus.
The store does not have a way to promote itself. The customers just come because people talk in a positive way about the store.
Willem already had a little store, and his customers were always talking about how they wanted a biological supermarket. so after a few years Willem started to think about it. He thought it was a good idea to. ‘’we can better start making the world better now before it’s too late’’ he said, and his wife Marjanne agreed. So they started planning and found a little building at the lange Noordstraat. And after 2 years they had a lot of customers, so they moved to a building at the korte Delft.
Their assortment is everything that you can also find in your local supermarket, all your groceries you can get there and they are even biological. They also, just like Dille en Kamille, only want to sell things without plastic wrapping. But that is pretty difficult for a supermarket Willen said. Because when we get our products the expiration date should not have expired already. So the options to that are very small. They do have products wrapped in plastic but they want to keep that as little as possible. Also the ‘fridges’ are installed so that they do not cool all the time. When the fridge is at a certain temperature, it shuts down. In this way they save energy.
Their main customers are mainly elderly people. Not only because all the products are healthier than in a normal supermarket, but also because of flavour the products still have. But lately a lot of younger people also come to the store because they also start to realise that the food in the ‘normal’ supermarkets is more unhealthy than the food in de tuin van broeder ludovicus.
The store does not have a way to promote itself. The customers just come because people talk in a positive way about the store.
Interview Customers - Dille en Kamille
For Dille en Kamille we interviewed Tom and Iris. They actually had kind of the same opinion. They like Dille en Kamille because they have all kinds of stuff, from cleaning products to table covers. They also like Dille en Kamille because it is ecological and already for such a long time. They consider Dille en Kamille as an ecological company because it is already busy with the environment for such a long time, but also how they keep the wages for example in mind and how they only want products which are made fairly
Interview Customers - De tuin van broeder Ludovicus
For this interview we interviewed Jedidja her parents. They come to shop already for 4-6 years and they really like it. They like the way the products are produced and just how the shop is working in general. They think the shop is ecological because of how the vegetables are grown and how the shop also keeps the use of the product in mind. They also like that the store tries to sell as much healthy food. They both like how the store sells biological products, and are made in the best ways (good for the environment, and for fair wages).
Interview Conclusion
By conducting these interviews we came to the conclusion that the amount of people that care about ecological companies is rising. We think that in the period we live in people start to care more and more about how certain products are produced. We also see that many companies try to make their company as ecological as possible.
Process
We started off with part 2 by searching for a few ecological companies in Zeeland. This was quite a challenge because we all found it difficult to decide if a company was ecological or not. After we found 3 ecological companies, Gaia send an email to the companies but unfortunately they didn't respond so we had to search 2 other companies, when Mara found 2 other ecological companies Gaia and Jedidja went to the centre of Middelburg to interview one of the ecological companies and they asked politely if they were allowed to interview a few customers. Todd interviewed the second ecological company. When all interviews were conducted Gaia processed the results of the interviews, Mara did the interview conclusion, the process and made sure everything was handed in and put on the weebly page.
Collaboration
This is our collaboration part, this part is about how we kept contact with India.
First of all we had a video conference at school. We talked about how the project was going and if they ran into any problems. We spoke to Sara , the group leader of ecological companies in India, we asked her two questions, what the condition is of their ecological companies, so what did the company do to become ecological. She said that all the companies are trying to become more ecological. We also asked them what the company did to become more ecological, she answered by saying that the company that they chose was manufacturing medicine, that they try to transport it with green energy and that they also plant trees.
First of all we had a video conference at school. We talked about how the project was going and if they ran into any problems. We spoke to Sara , the group leader of ecological companies in India, we asked her two questions, what the condition is of their ecological companies, so what did the company do to become ecological. She said that all the companies are trying to become more ecological. We also asked them what the company did to become more ecological, she answered by saying that the company that they chose was manufacturing medicine, that they try to transport it with green energy and that they also plant trees.
It was not really difficult to prepare for the videoconference. We had to prepare 2 to 3 questions for them and they also needed to prepare questions for us. The connection wasn’t really good, so understanding what they said was difficult. We were told to talk slow and clear, so that they could hear and understand us.
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We also used Whatsapp to stay in touch. We asked about how they were doing with the project and if they had/have any difficulties with it. For the final part of the assignment we should compare what we learned with each other and all the similarities and differences. So we sent them our link of our site and asked them to send theirs to compare. They also send their link. But because we are a bit late with sending the link we are going to have a meet later and exchange the information that we found.
We also tried to schedule a google meet with the people in India, but they didn’t respond. They only responded once when they gave us their website link. We think it's unfortunate that they didn't respond because we wanted to discuss what they found out and what we found out, and we also wanted to discuss their information on their website. So other than these messages we didn’t have any contact with them and we also didn’t have a meeting with them.
We also tried to schedule a google meet with the people in India, but they didn’t respond. They only responded once when they gave us their website link. We think it's unfortunate that they didn't respond because we wanted to discuss what they found out and what we found out, and we also wanted to discuss their information on their website. So other than these messages we didn’t have any contact with them and we also didn’t have a meeting with them.
Comparison |
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We saw a difference in how our websites look. They have all the documents that we needed to open with all the information, they had power-points and word documents. While we just text had, we just had subtitles and then our article. We think our way is handier because ours is easier to read, you first need to open all the documents on their website.
Actually we kind of have the same outcome. We both find out that it’s hard to find a 100% ecological company, but still there are a lot of stores who are close. The chose LG en Wipro and what we noticed from reading their report, is that they are already pretty close to the actual meaning of ecological. Dille en kamille is also pretty close, but the tuin van broer ludovicus is less close, but they are well on their way.
We noticed that they didn’t finish the whole project yet, we think they have different deadlines. So it was a little hard to compare the whole essay but from what we found now we do have a pretty similar conclusion.
Actually we kind of have the same outcome. We both find out that it’s hard to find a 100% ecological company, but still there are a lot of stores who are close. The chose LG en Wipro and what we noticed from reading their report, is that they are already pretty close to the actual meaning of ecological. Dille en kamille is also pretty close, but the tuin van broer ludovicus is less close, but they are well on their way.
We noticed that they didn’t finish the whole project yet, we think they have different deadlines. So it was a little hard to compare the whole essay but from what we found now we do have a pretty similar conclusion.
Conclusion
Our main research question; What measures do companies take to implement a more eco-friendly policy?
I think we got a very clear answer to that question. There are a lot of measurements that companies implement. Companies use local farmers, or local creators to get their products from to reduce the co2 emissions. Some companies, like Dille en kamille, try to buy all their products without plastic. Some products still have plastic wrapping, but they want to reduce that number to 0 as well. Dille en Kamille also only purchases things that are made for fair wages to overcome things that are produced by children. What we did see was that not a lot of stores are 100% ecological, but that’s also very hard to achieve. A lot of stores are making the right steps to come close.
I think we got a very clear answer to that question. There are a lot of measurements that companies implement. Companies use local farmers, or local creators to get their products from to reduce the co2 emissions. Some companies, like Dille en kamille, try to buy all their products without plastic. Some products still have plastic wrapping, but they want to reduce that number to 0 as well. Dille en Kamille also only purchases things that are made for fair wages to overcome things that are produced by children. What we did see was that not a lot of stores are 100% ecological, but that’s also very hard to achieve. A lot of stores are making the right steps to come close.
Part 4 Reflection
Reflection Mara
By doing this project, I have learned a lot about doing detailed research in subjects that I am not familiar with. Analysing websites of companies and getting the right information out of a source is something that was important during our project about ecological companies. Making a story out of an interview and processing all the collecting information was part of my task, and I definitely feel like I have improved my skills. But there are also a few things that we could have done better. The main issue is that we started very late with every part of the project which created a lot of stress and we could have done a better division of tasks. The division of tasks was like this: I made the introduction video, I did the layout of the website, I also processed some text and I made sure everything was on the website and handed in. Gaia made sure everything was made on time and also did a large part of processing the text, she also did a large part of the communication with the group and with india. Jedidja went to the center of middelburg and looked for ecological companies and interviewed customers of the 2 companies. Todd also went to the companies and interviewed the owners, he also made pictures for the website.
Reflection Gaia
I think that we did a good job. We did our best and we managed to do everything. The thing we could have done better is discuss more what we did. Now it was more, okey you do this i’ll do this. It wasn’t fairly spread amongst us all. We did do everything and I liked the project. Our working method was based on trust a bit, we promised each other doing something and then one of us checked on english use and spelling. Then Mara handed it in and put it on our website. This worked really well for us. Our group work could have been better, we did most things alone or in pairs. We could have gone better with the four of us but also because of Corona we went in pairs because we couldn't go with the four of us in the store. I think that it would be best though if we did it with the four of us. So overall I did like how we worked and it turned out. We could have maybe sometimes started earlier with starting a certain part, but we never hurried, we thought that we could do it better right than fast.
Reflection Jedidja
When we first started our project we had to choose our subject. The one we chose was ‘ecological companies’. In the first lessons our main goal was to intervieuw 2 ecological companies. It had to be a company that we could visit in person to intervieuw. So we searched the internet for ecological companies in Walcheren. In the beginning we ignored the fact that we had to go there ourselves; it would spare us a lot of time and energy. So we thought it would be way handier to just email them to ask for permission to (eventually) interview them by mail. And that’s what we did. I think Gaia did the most searching and sending the emails.
We looked on the site of ‘Rijkswaterstaat’ because google said they were an ecological company. We were not really sure of that though. We spent a lot of lessons looking for ecological companies and making sure we could interview them. Eventually we made sure we could e-mail the companies. I think we spend too much time looking for companies to interview. We should have used that time for making proper intervieuws and doing what the assignment told us to do. Eventually we changed our plan after it was too much work to intervieuw big companies in person. So eventually we interviewed 2 small ecological shops in Middelburg. Me and Gaia interviewed the first shop. It went really well and we got the answers we needed. We had a problem after that because we had to intervieuw the second shop before the deadline. So we sent Todd to intervieuw the last shop and make pictures for the website. We had some trouble there but eventually we got it done.
Somewhere in the middle of our project we had met the students from India via an online meet. It was stressful for me (and maybe also others) because of asking questions to students with a completely different culture and accent. We had to keep in mind to talk loud and clear. We also had to be really polite. We had faced some problems with asking the questions and receiving the answers because of the internet connection. I was happy we didn't have to do another meeting sometime.
I feel like Gaia was really the leader of the assignment. She kept track of everything we needed to do and made sure everything was handed in in time. I really liked that, because we had problems with the division of tasks. I think a thing we could have done way better is the division of tasks and planning. I felt kind of guilty because of Gaia doing a lot and really putting afford in the project (in comparison to me). Mara did some/quite a lot of writing for the website. She was also the one to make sure we had an introduction video for our website (and put it on there). Todd and I were the one who did the least (in my opinion). I only wrote some short things for our website and I interviewed the shop ‘Dille and Kamille’. Todd interviewed ‘De tuin van broeder Ludovicus’ and (I am not sure) wrote some pieces for the website. We did get everything done in time though. That was something that went well and I was really proud of.
Reflection Todd
For the EUMind project we weren’t really on schedule and were always late or just in time with handing our part in, this would go way better if I wasn’t very lazy and actually did my work. Furthermore I think that we did our up most best to make contact with the ecological companies, although many of them ignored or declined our request for information over how it is to be an ecological company. The fact that our indian counterpart did not react or ignored our questions made it almost impossible to hand in that part in time. HerebyI must say that we did not ask them said question very early on in the project, communication was therefore really bad. I was always very late on doing things and handing them in or just completely forgetting that I had to do something with my life. Other than that I think the rest of my group did actually quite well. If I would have taken this project more seriously I think we would have done a lot better and I feel kind of guilty for that, the thing that bothers me the most is that the interviews with our chosen ecological companies ``de tuin van broeder ludovicus” went terribly wrong.
In short, I haven’t taken this project seriously enough and have been a major setback for my group and I think that without me this was never a problem.
Self assessment
Here you can find our self assessment
self_assessment_ecological_companies-2.pdf | |
File Size: | 117 kb |
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