In a unique partnership with the Arbour Day Foundation and the U.S. independent sales force, Mary Kay Inc. has pledged to plant 100,000 trees in the continental United States in 2008. Watch for more details on this exciting program.

As part of a more than $1 million commitment to aid survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Mary Kay Inc. first joined forces with Habitat for Humanity® in 2006. Mary Kay employees, during working hours, built a Habitat home in seven days for a family in Dallas who lost everything in the Hurricane Katrina storm. (See video for details.)

Mary Kay distribution centres in the U.S. do not use styrofoam packaging material when shipping orders. All Mary Kay orders are shipped using packing materials made from corn and potato starch, two environmentally friendly, renewable resources.
In addition, the U.S. manufacturing facility sends all returned products containing alcohol and any alcohol waste products to a resource recovery facility which reclaims and distils the alcohol into fuel-grade ethanol, which is then used as an oxygenate for cleaner-burning gasoline. Since the program began in 2004, Mary Kay Inc. has recycled between 30 and 50 tons of alcohol each year, reducing our hazardous waste disposal by at least 25 percent.

In 2005 the Dallas manufacturing facility received the Blue Thumb Silver Award from the City of Dallas for its efforts in helping ensure safe drinking water for five consecutive years.

Mary Kay Inc. President and CEO David Holl is a member of the board of directors of The Nature Conservancy of Texas. Mary Kay Vice Chairman Dick Bartlett serves as an Honorary Trustee of The Nature Conservancy of Texas, a member of the board of the Nature Conservancy of New Mexico and a member of the board of The Nature Conservancy President’s Conservation Council. The Nature Conservancy of Texas is the state chapter of the nonprofit, international conservation organization. The mission of the organization is to preserve the plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive.