June 23, 2025
At B Local, our focus is amplification, collaboration, and supporting fellow B Corps with a mandate to do good as we do well.
Enviro-Stewards is the next in our Spotlight series with a goal to promote B Local member businesses, as well as bolster greater community through shared learning and experiences.
Talk to us about your WHY. Why a purpose-driven business and why the pursuit of B Corp?
We’ve always believed that business should be a force for good, where profit, social good, and reducing environmental footprints can work in tandem rather than as competing objectives. Since its founding in 2000, Enviro-Stewards has lived this out. Our philosophy has always been to address root-causes rather than focusing on “end-of-pipe” solutions. This preventative approach leads to much more economically and environmentally viable solutions that eliminate or reduce problems at their source. The results of this type of approach help our customers increase profit while shrinking environmental footprints.
For example, conservation measures implemented at Jackson Triggs’ winery in Oliver, BC (case study) reduced wine losses to the drain by two-thirds the volume of wastewater requiring treatment in half. This reduced the size and cost of the high-rate anaerobic treatment system we built for them by 50% (while selling more wine and consuming less water).
Similarly, in our Safe Water Social Ventures work (swsv.org), we train local groups to construct water purifiers (Biosand filters) using locally available materials. Remarkably, these $100-USD water purifiers save rural poor families about $40/year for 25 years. Providing safe water avoids medical expenses to treat water-borne diseases, allowing children to go to school and parents to work to provide for their families and communities.
As these families typically earn under $2/day, we encourage North American businesses to replenish the potable water that they consume here by helping families purchase water purifiers to purify an equivalent amount of water (cupforcup.ca).
Additionally, we have always believed that a company should provide a work environment where employees can thrive, enjoy a healthy work/life balance, and put their skills and passions to work helping build sustainable businesses and improving lives.
Is there a B Corp or B Corp leader that you look up to? Explain.
Back in 2011, our founder (Bruce Taylor) was speaking at the Canadian Pollution Prevention Roundtable, and Bob Willard (author of The Sustainability Advantage) mentioned, “You should be a B Corp. Enviro-Stewards is a poster child for B Corp.”
Upon learning from Bob what a B Corp is and the annual fee, Bruce concluded, "We already know we are doing these things. And for the $500, I would rather help five additional families in South Sudan to gain access to safe water."
Bob responded, "What if I give those five families access to safe water through your project and paid your (first year’s) certification fee?" Well, Bruce knows when to stop negotiating. Enviro-Stewards became a founding Canadian B Corporation in September 2011 and paid it forward in 2018 by paying the certification fee for AquaClara (one of the first B Corps certified in Kenya).
Bob’s advocacy for the business case for sustainability has always resonated with the outcomes of our services. We are grateful for the thought leadership he continues to bring to this space. More recently, Bob served as a reviewer for Bruce’s textbook: Sustainable Business, Insights from the Field of Sustainability Engineering, which was published in April 2025 (sustainablebusinesstextbook.com).
What does being a B Corp mean to you? To your team? To your customers?
Enviro-Stewards started alone in 2000 and has a voice through our work. However, by certifying as a B Corp, we have the opportunity for a collective voice.
The majority of organizations that we work with still have not heard of B Corps. However, for those that have, it provides a shortcut to trust, which is the necessary precursor to allowing us to help organizations improve their sustainability. For example, in commencing our work helping Unilever facilities (reach zero emissions by 2030), we shaved a couple of months off of their onboarding process (as we were already certified (through B Corp) in most of the areas of due diligence that they were asking about).
Being a Certified B Corp has also allowed us to attract and retain top talent. One of the best parts about B Corp is the opportunity to be inspired by how other B Corps are using their businesses to generate profound impact. Each year, we feature at least one other B Corp’s story in our Impact Film Festival. Sidenote to B Corps: please submit your own short film to be considered and/or attend the festival the evening of November 20 (live in Kitchener or via livestream).
Can you share a specific example of how your company values have shaped your business practices or decision-making process?
Our leadership team are currently implementing our succession plan. The normal exit for our founder would be to sell to a multinational consulting firm. Such a firm would immediately discontinue the Safe Water Social Venture work founded by Enviro-Stewards (as by design it generates $0/year of income for Enviro-Stewards). Similarly, the holistic root cause-based approach would be dialed back as it is much more lucrative for consultants to continuously treat symptoms rather than eliminating problems altogether.
Our key staff would then leave as they would no longer have as much opportunity to generate compelling impact at home and abroad. The remaining husk would be our client list, which the multinational wanted in the first place (and even they would melt away as the value of the work they receive declines).
As employees are those who care most deeply about Enviro-Stewards’ mission, our founder is selling 5% of the company to them each year (as part of an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) open to all employees. We are also training up and equipping the next generation of leadership. This way, the employees become the owners and can collectively continue the work of Enviro-Stewards into the future, keeping its core values and B Corp Certification intact.
As a local Ontario business, how do you engage with and support your local community? Can you share any recent initiatives or partnerships that highlight your community involvement?
Each year, Enviro-Stewards staff take a day off to help build a house with Habitat for Humanity and part of an afternoon to plant trees with Trees for Woolwich.
We also host the Impact Film Festival (IFF) each year at the Apollo Theatre in Kitchener (with simultaneous livestreaming). IFF allows us to screen a short film update on the Safe Water Social Venture project each year, as well as an opportunity to screen short films celebrating the work of about eight other local and global organizations (selected by our curation panel).
We also frequently speak at local schools and universities, rotary groups, and other institutions. And we are a pledging member of Sustainable Waterloo Region as well as Partners in Project Green (PPG).
