From corporate buyers to top industry executives, there’s a strong belief among business leaders that the promotional products industry will have to get greener to meet the needs of increasingly eco-minded end-users.

Reciprocity Road is taking steps to make that more environmentally conscious future a reality.

A collective of 10 promo distributors with more than $230 million in projected gross revenue, the partnering group has launched The Accelerator Program, an initiative in which Reciprocity Road will partner with new-to-the-industry suppliers that have an innovative focus on sustainability through the offering of environmentally compassionate, socially responsible products and services.

With the program, Reciprocity Road aims to help ensure the success of these new suppliers through its distributor partners. The first such supplier is ForestNation, a company whose offerings include customized tree-planting kits and a reforestation program in which matching trees are planted when kits are sold.

“We were drawn to ForestNation due to their compassion for the environment,” said Perry Wehrle, Reciprocity Road’s executive director. “Their products are made in the USA, contain zero plastic and have a strong plant-matching reforestation program. Clients will also have the ability to track their programs’ carbon offset via a unique code, all the while allowing promotional products to help fix our broken climate.”

ForestNation Founder Andrew Pothecary said making promo products that are eco-friendly and that create positive environmental impacts is one way of contributing to helping the planet, enabling people to live better lives, and empowering companies to build stronger relationships with target end-users.

“We are thrilled to be part of the Reciprocity Road community that cares about what we stand for,” Pothecary said. “Together we can lead the movement to restore and regenerate Mother Earth.”

“We’re excited to add ForestNation to the Reciprocity Road supplier family,” said Denise Taschereau, co-founder of Fairware (asi/191452), a Vancouver, BC-based distributor and member of Reciprocity Road. “ForestNation provides a product that directly gives back to the environment – every tree-planting kit is matched with a global tree-planting program. It’s truly a product with purpose, and we can’t wait to share them with our clients.”

Meanwhile, the movement toward greater sustainability in products and business practices has been gaining steam in promo, as evidenced by certain leading suppliers green initiatives.