If you want to get back into shape, one way is to set an exercise goal. Whether it's a triathlon, a marathon, or even just a 5k run, setting a measurable goal often provides instant motivation. Finding a benchmark to measure yourself against is key to real improvement. It's not surprising that what is true in life in this regard, is also true in business!

Return2Sector, as a division of parent company Sector Supply, has always participated in companywide environmental and sustainability efforts. However, we wanted to find a way to measure ourselves and set goals that would push us to achieve a higher standard of excellence in the specific area of sustainability. We wanted to find a way to measure ourselves against a real sustainability benchmark, much in the way TL 9000, another quality standard we are certified to, allows with comparative benchmarking of scores in customer experience metrics such as "on-time delivery" and "service quality."

Enter the QuEST Forum Sustainability Initiative. QuEST Forum, the global organization that publishes the TL 9000 standard for the ICT community, saw the need for a set of measurable sustainability metrics, and responded by introducing the QuEST Forum Sustainability Initiative. Our company started submitting regular data into the anonymous benchmarking program, and soon thereafter looked to see how we could improve our scores and fill gaps in areas where we weren't yet achieving any score at all. We started engaging our own supply chain to measure their sustainability efforts, introduced a new employee engagement survey program, and found new ways to reduce environmental impacts.

As part of the Sustainability Initiative, the Global Sustainability Awards competition was started in 2015, where companies submit their scores on the various sustainability metrics. Two awards are given for "Best Overall Performance" and "Most Improved." We are so proud that in just our second year of submitting sustainability scoring data, Sector Supply (Return2Sector) was able to win the award for "Best Overall Performance."

What could be better than bringing home the award for this particular companywide goal? Getting a finish line photo posted on the big screen in Times Square, New York City - an unexpected plus!

For more information about QuEST Forum and its sustainability initiatives, visit http://www.questforum.org/sustainability.

Click here to view the original press release on the announcement of the 2016 sustainability award.

At Return2Sector, we're all about making e-cycling "easy"...we believe it shouldn't be hard to do the right thing for our environment. That's also why we decided to ask each of our users (we con't call them customers, since we are a free service) to pay it forward, and take one more easy step on their own.

Something we did when launching was to include inside the "Thank You" card we give to every business owner, complex manager, IT manager, or anyone who calls us out to pick up old electronics, is a packet of pollinator friendly sunflower seeds. In case you haven't heard, honey bees and other pollinators could use a little help from their human friends - click here to learn more about the problem, and what you can do. The choices we make, individually, as business owners, as students, as neighbors in a community, do matter...and they add up to have big impacts. What can you and/or your business do today, to take "one small step" in the right direction?

Pollinator Hero, Cindy Jordan of Trendline Interactive in Austin, Texas - with sunflowers grown from an R2Sector "Thank You" seed packet!