• by Karlene Lukovitz , April 15, 2009

Domino Foods, Inc. has launched a new line of certified carbon-neutral sugar products.

The Domino CarbonFree® Sugar line, currently available in Florida and Georgia, has been certified as resulting in net-zero carbon emissions by Carbonfund.org, a non-profit that assists companies in achieving carbon-neutrality for their products. (CarbonFree is Carbonfund.org's registered trademark.)

The certification process began with a life-cycle assessment by the Edinburgh Center for Carbon Management. Each product's entire carbon footprint was determined based on an analysis spanning the sugar cane's planting and growing, harvesting, milling, processing and packaging, all the way to delivery to stores. The carbon footprints were then displaced by the company's own production of clean, renewable energy.

The line of white, refined granulated sugar is grown, processed and packaged in the company's South Florida-based renewable energy facility, which uses sugar cane fiber and recycled urban wood waste to produce the clean energy. (The facility also provides electricity for about 60,000 homes on the Florida grid.)

"At our roots, we are an agricultural company and have a vested interest in the environment," Domino Foods, Inc. president/CEO Brian O'Malley tells Marketing Daily. "By using over 850,000 tons of bagasse -- leftover parts of the sugar cane plant -- along with 900,000 tons of clean wood material in our biomass-to-electricity facility, we are able to grow our fuel every day. In fact, the electricity we supply to the Florida grid displaces the equivalent of over 1 million barrels of oil each year.

"Obviously, that makes great business sense," in addition to the contribution to consumers and the environment in reducing carbon emissions, O'Malley points out.

"We're excited to be able to offer Domino Sugar consumers a choice that helps them reduce their own carbon footprint," adds Jan Bottcher, director of marketing-consumer products.

The line is being sold in special green-and-yellow packaging, clearly marked with the Carbonfund.org's certification insignia, on all available sizes of the sugar (including a one-pound canister and bag sizes ranging from two to 10 pounds).

A TV commercial began airing in 10 major Florida markets last week and is posted on the line's microsite, www.dominosugar.com/carbonfree.

A print ad is appearing in Florida and Georgia subscriber copies of the April 17 issue of Family Circle, the May issues of Southern Living and Cooking Light, and the April/May issue of Taste of the South, as well as in the full run of April's Vegetarian Times and April/May's Mother Earth News. It will also appear in Publix's customer magazine on sustainability topics, distributed in the retailer's top 500 stores (circulation 500,000).

Full-page FSIs with coupons will reach 3.2 million Florida and Georgia residents through the Valassis RedPlum network.

In addition to the microsite, an interactive Web ad will appear this month on motherearthnews.com, and an email blast will go out to the brand's opt-in names.

Event marketing will include brochure distribution at upcoming Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Shows in the two states.

Domino has not yet decided whether it will expand the carbon-free line beyond Florida and Georgia, according to Bottcher. Domino Foods also markets Florida Crystals, the first natural/organic sugar product line to achieve carbon-neutral certification.