Nov. 4, 2010 /EIN Presswire/ — One of the nation’s pioneering socially responsible product firms is having a problem coming clean about its management upheaval.
In a brief statement, Seventh Generation announced that the board had removed its CEO and founder, Jeffrey Hollender, for “leadership” reasons. Hollender had built the firm over its 20 year history to one of the leading environmentally conscious household brands.
Hollender remains a major shareholder in the company, and his wife will continue to serve as a company employee and board member.
Seventh Generation employs about 80 people in Vermont and more than 100 system-wide. The company manufactures paper, household cleaning and baby care products and regularly issues goals for their production in environmentally sustainable ways. Its annual revenues are $150 million.
This week it committed itself to reduction of life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of its products by 15 percent by 2015.
Seventh Generation also made a commitment that 100 percent of its products would come from renewable plant and mineral sources by 2015, in addition to being backyard compostable or biodegradable. The company plans to identify and scrap all persistent or chronically toxic chemicals from its products by 2012.
Another new goal involves phasing out virgin plastic use by 2014.
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