Justin Hintlian (BBA ’94) is the third generation of his family to manage Cambridge, Mass.-based Superior Nut Company, a business long known for its strong social and environmental commitment. Hintlian, the company’s executive vice president, is continuing that tradition through support of the Reforest The Tropics Program. Through its partnership with RTT, Superior Nut has established a forest plantation in Costa Rica that absorbs all the carbon dioxide emitted by its energy-consuming food manufacturing plant. Moreover, one percent of sales at Superior NutStore, the company’s retail operation, is donated to the RTT Program.

Superior Nut has contracted 53 acres of forest restoration on farms in Costa Rica to balance its CO2 emissions. Each 2 ½-acre forest costs $5,000. This includes a grant to the farmer for his costs, four years of intensive, weekly technical assistance to assure the establishment of each forest, and a set-aside for long-term management. Each carbon-offset forest has a 25-year agreement, a sign to identify the sponsor, a GPS map and RTT management.

At one three-acre site located in Costa Rica’s Turrialba Valley, the owner signed a 25-year contract to sequester carbon for the company. The forest should sequester an average of 30-36 metric tons of CO2 annually during the contract at a cost of under $10/ton. It is managed so that it will also eventually produce wood for the farmer to sell.