For over 95 years L.L.Bean has been committed to environmental stewardship. We sell products that enhance our customers' relationships with the outdoors and continually seek to minimize the adverse impacts that producing, marketing and distributing these products have on the environment. L.L.Bean conducts business in an environmentally responsible manner, using the best environmental practices within our industry. We encourage wise stewardship of natural resources and respect for the environment among all of our stakeholders.

As a direct marketing company whose use of paper is critical to our business, we accept our responsibility for careful management of its environmental impacts. In January 2008, L.L.Bean introduced a new paper policy and selected a new catalog paper supplier.

The goal of our new policy is that 90 percent of the fiber in our catalogs be sourced through a certified third-party process and contain 20 percent recycled fiber. We continue to use lightweight, resource-efficient paper. We seek third-party certification to help us assure that industry best practices are followed.

There are several certification systems available, but not all of them are right for all situations. We prefer to use paper fiber certified through Forest Stewardship Council standards when feasible – based on market conditions. From a big-picture perspective, we look for forest management standards that are based on continuous improvement.

Within our home state of Maine, L.L.Bean promotes forest certification to help protect the long-term health of Maine's forests. We support the Maine Forest Certification Initiative, which is the nation's first state-led forest certification effort. Its goal is to increase the amount of certified fiber available within the state.

L.L.Bean increased the amount of recycled content in our office paper, and now uses 100 percent recycled content in company printers and photocopy machines. Our corporate stationery contains 100 percent recycled content and our envelopes are made from 30 percent recycled content and produced by a company that uses wind power.

For detailed information related to our sustainable forest management policy, please review L.L.Bean's Paper Policy.

We have always been committed to protecting and preserving our natural environment as demonstrated through our ongoing Environmental Charitable Giving efforts and strive to promote environmental stewardship throughout our business. At L.L.Bean, we want to ensure that our operations and the products we make do not negatively impact the global climate. We also realize the need to address the issue of climate change.

In early 2007, L.L.Bean joined the Environmental Protection Agency's Climate Leaders program. Climate Leaders is a voluntary partnership between industry and government that encourages companies to develop long-term strategies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

As the first phase of our measurement, we completed an extensive inventory of our greenhouse gas emissions from all our US facilities and vehicles using 2006 measurement data as our baseline. In the future, Phases II and III will look at areas where we do not have direct control, such as employee commuting and the efforts of our vendors. We are in the process of developing short- and long-term greenhouse gas reduction goals and exploring strategies to reduce emissions.

We have also partnered with groups like Clean Air-Cool Planet to provide expertise and resources related to the issue of climate change and greenhouse gas reduction.

L.L.Bean has always approached energy conservation as good business. We have an ongoing and successful program to improve energy efficiency that includes:

• Use of energy sensors in offices and buildings throughout the company
• Energy management systems that measure and control temperature and humidity
• The ongoing replacement of lighting fixtures and bulbs with energy-efficient alternatives

Most of our corporate buildings use motion sensor light switches as another way to save energy. All newer equipment, appliances and computers are Energy Star rated. As we remodel restrooms throughout our facilities, we are using waterless urinals, ultra low-flow toilets and other low-flow fixtures to conserve water.

Since 1982, L.L.Bean has been using solar power to heat all the hot water for our corporate offices in Freeport, Maine. This "solar hot water" is supplied to corporate restrooms and employees' showers. In addition, we are looking at investing in renewable energy generation projects such as wind power, wood pellet boilers, geo-thermal, co-generation and additional solar hot water systems at other L.L.Bean locations. We already incorporate 30 percent renewable energy in our electricity purchases via a Maine energy mandate.

As we grow our business, it is important to build our new structures in harmony with the environment. In 2006, L.L.Bean committed to build all new structures according to the US Green Building Council's LEED – Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. This building rating system is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high-performance green buildings. LEED promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality.

L.L.Bean now has nine retail stores registered and built to LEED standards (Burlington and Mansfield, MA; Center Valley and Pittsburgh, PA; Albany, NY; South Windsor, CT; South Barrington and Skokie, IL; and the Hunting & Fishing Store in Freeport, ME.)

In September of this year, our new Hunting & Fishing store in Freeport, Maine, received LEED Silver Certification. This prestigious recognition marks the first LEED-certified retail project in Maine and the first of our LEED-registered projects to receive certification. Learn more.

It's not only retail stores that we are building green. Our new Data Center in Freeport, Maine, completed in June 2008, is the first data center in all of New England designed and constructed to LEED standards.

In 2003, L.L.Bean converted its heavy-duty truck fleet to biodiesel fuel. Biodiesel, which is made from vegetable oil or animal fats, is an alternative fuel formulated exclusively for diesel engines. At L.L.Bean, we use B20 biodiesel, which is a mixture of 20 percent non-petroleum based diesel fuel with 80 percent conventional petrodiesel. Biodiesel can also be used in our fleet of buses that supports our Outdoor Discovery Schools®. In 2004, we added three bi-fuel propane pickup trucks to our fleet.

Last year we added one hybrid vehicle to our fleet. We continue to review alternative fuel trends and monitor the market for commercial-grade alternative fuel vehicles. Because company vehicles must be replaced from time to time, we will review criteria such as mileage performance, size and intended use as buying guidelines.

We are working with our suppliers and partners to develop strategies to limit emissions and the environmental impact associated with the freight and cargo business. Outside L.L.Bean, we support (through a $2.25 million dollar donation) a fleet of propane buses used in Acadia National Park that reduces harmful emissions and provides transportation for 3 million visitors annually.

In 2008, L.L.Bean created ECOBean, our Employee Commuting Options program, to help L.L.Bean employees address concerns such as our impact on the environment and the rising costs of fuel. We partnered with Go Maine, a Maine state database to help match those who wish to carpool. The popular ECOBean program rewards L.L.Bean employees who use environmentally friendly ways of getting to and from work with monthly incentives.

In the late 1980s, L.L.Bean established an aggressive corporate recycling program. It continues to be a success today because of the efforts of our employees. Environmentally responsible employees throughout the company have volunteered to be "Green Ambassadors" for their departments to help promote L.L.Bean's environmental and recycling efforts. We have recycling stations in every L.L.Bean facility, where our employees recycle office and computer paper, magazines, catalogs and newspapers, as well as bottles and cans.

We currently recycle 82 percent of our waste. In addition, in Maine, all company office supplies and equipment that are no longer needed are donated to Ruth's Reusable Resources, a Maine nonprofit group that distributes supplies to public schools in the state. At L.L.Bean, we use recycled printer toner cartridges and recycle most of those cartridges through the vendor so they can be used again.

In our Order Fulfillment Center, where we process and ship all L.L.Bean customer orders, we recycle over 5,000 tons of cardboard annually. This year, a new machine we've named the "pelletizer" began operation in our Order Fulfillment Center. In the past, the plastic scraps from our automated packing process were discarded. Now, with the pelletizer, those scraps are transformed into plastic pellets and returned to the vendor to be manufactured into new plastic shipping bags for us, thus avoiding the landfill in this closed-loop system.

Under the direction of L.L.Bean's "Green Task Force" – a cross-functional working group – our product merchandisers and designers continue to create innovative products that are produced with environmental sustainability in mind.

In 2002, L.L.Bean began work with Businesses For Social Responsibility and other large retailers in a voluntary effort to ban substances from manufacturing that could pose health and environmental risks. We introduced a Restricted Substance List (RSL) to our suppliers that requires them to limit or find substitutes for potentially harmful chemicals such as PVC (polyvinyl chloride).

L.L.Bean continues to work with other companies through the American Apparel and Footwear Association, a group of companies that shares best practices with regard to restricted chemicals.

We also partnered with third-party certification organizations to ensure L.L.Bean textile products comply with an extensive list of criteria and meet or exceed our own rigid restricted substances list. We recently partnered with Oeko-Tex Standard 100, a worldwide certification system that screens products for substances known to be detrimental to health. It is one more way that L.L.Bean strives to provide its customers with products of the highest quality. L.L.Bean will offer an expanded line of Oeko-Tex certified products in 2009.

We joined Organic Exchange, a charitable organization committed to expanding organic agriculture, with a specific focus on increasing the production and use of organically grown fibers such as cotton. Organic Exchange brings together brands and retailers with their business partners, farmers and key stakeholders to learn about the social and environmental benefits of organic agriculture, and to develop new business models and tools that support greater use of organic inputs. In addition, it raises consumer awareness about the value of organic farming and the availability of products containing organic cotton. Browse organic products.

L.L.Bean is committed to selling products that are manufactured under legal, safe and fair working conditions. To this end, we have a well-established labor code of conduct that serves as a basis of our vendor relationships.

L.L.Bean is focused on reducing the amount of packaging in our products and how we ship them, and we have made great strides in this area. All of our corrugated shipping boxes are 100 percent recycled kraft paper, and contain 80 percent post-consumer waste.

All of our gift boxes and tissue paper are 100 percent recycled. Our plastic shipping bags are made from 35 percent recycled content and can be recycled in communities that accept #4 plastic recyclables. We switched from plastic to paper shopping bags at our retail stores and increased the recycled content to 100 percent.

We plan to partner with other companies on packaging reduction efforts to challenge suppliers to make sustainable choices regarding package design.

We believe we are making continuous progress in minimizing our business impact on the environment. We also realize this is an ongoing challenge, and therefore we are committed to continually seek ways to improve our environmental stewardship. We will continue to share our goals and accomplishments as we advance our corporate sustainability initiatives. We encourage you to revisit for periodic updates on our progress.