Jeff Yorzyk - Senior Director of Sustainability at HelloFresh

Jeff Yorzyk has over 20 years of experience in sustainability across a broad range of sectors, and has held leadership roles in both commercial and consulting companies spanning program development, strategic management systems, product sustainability and life cycle assessment. Based in Berlin, Germany, HelloFresh is the leading meal kit provider in the world, operating in 14 markets. As director of sustainability for HelloFresh US, Jeff oversees packaging lifecycle management, operational and supply chain sustainability and regulatory compliance and permitting. Jeff also has participated in building the profession of sustainability, leading sustainability nonprofits such as the International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP) in the development of the first professional credential for sustainability practitioners, and strategic partnering with GBCI for its independent delivery.

Jeff Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss:

• How HelloFresh addresses packaging impacts
• Life cycle emissions of HelloFresh compare to restaurant or supermarket trips
• Addressing food waste in production
• Advice and recommendations for sustainability professionals

Jeff’s Final Five Questions Responses:

What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers? 

I have two here. Number one is be ready to do anything, get dirty. In my own professional journey, I found that if I took the tasks or the projects that people didn't want to do because they looked boring or hard or just not exciting to people, they led me to some of the most exciting work that I ever did. So sometimes something that looks boring or just kind of a grind at the beginning actually turns into something really incredible. Never be afraid to take those things and, in fact, seek them out. Number two is keep a journal and ask yourself if you're making the impact you want through your career. It’s a really broad field, and that's a good question to be asking ourselves regularly. I started my career in environmental consulting in the 1990s. That's really what we had available to us. We didn't have this thing called sustainability, but as I moved forward in my career, I noticed this thing called sustainability evolving and really was able to direct myself into it. So pay attention, keep a journal, and then take the jobs that people don't want because they don't have to be dirty jobs.Those things will usually lead you to some of your greatest successes. 

What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability? 

In a word, it's mainstream. To put a little more color behind that, we're in a fascinating period right now where companies are being asked to make ambitious goals, and they're also being really held accountable to achieve them. We've moved beyond this period of lofty goals and even, to some extent, talking about moonshots. I think for some of us in the field that has been a little bit confusing because the moonshot was this inspiring thing that we were looking to gather people around, and I think there's still room for that. But we're being held accountable as companies to have realistic plans underneath them and to convince people that they're achievable. These high expectations are coming together with these enhanced greenwashing laws to really create this interesting space for companies. I know this has created side effects like what they call green hushing and companies talking less about what they're doing, but I think it's pushing us in the right direction for us to really be a lot more realistic, but still quite ambitious. 

What is one book you'd recommend sustainability leaders read? 

I'm currently reading a book called the Customer is the Planet. It's quite new and really it has a nice mapping of environmental and social issues against the European ESRs standards. Anything that makes the European ESRs easier to digest and actually put in my brain is welcome to me. If you haven't read Natural Capitalism or The Natural Step or even Our Stolen Future, which are books from a previous century, they're fantastic and they're really great foundational reading. 

What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work? 

I got my MBA in 2002 and that was my pivot from environmental consulting into sustainability. Right about that time, this guy named Joel Makower was starting up this website called GreenBiz. It's now called Trellis. They pivoted into a really network based approach. That has always been one of the key sources that I turn to. That newsletter has been very useful for me to observe things. You watch these things over time, you start to see trends, patterns, you see how things transform. It's really been a fantastic resource. Then LinkedIn. It took me a while to get the algorithm working for me, but it feeds a lot of really good content to me these days. I highly recommend both of those. 

Where can our listeners go to learn more about you and the work being done at HelloFresh? 

The HelloFresh website has a sustainability section. You can also go to our Instagram site @hellofresh. They really are great at putting some fun videos and reels in there and TikTok. They've done a great job, it actually gets quite funny. Then of course you can find me on LinkedIn under Jeff Yorzyk.