specialreport
BY PETER BRADLEY, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Taking the long view
Out on the
Midwest prairie, the
Murphy Warehouse
Co. has made
major investments
in reducing its
facilities’ impact on
the environment.
CEO Richard
Murphy believes it’s
the right thing to
do for his company
and the community.
of sustainability
OUT IN MINNEAPOLIS, YOU MIGHT NOTE ON APPROACHING MURPHY
Warehouse Co.’s distribution centers that the landscaping looks a little different from what
you might see at other industrial sites—a mix of native prairie grasses rather than a green
lawn. That’s the first sign of the many steps the company has taken to conserve resources
and invest in sustainability.
The Murphy Co. operates 2. 3 million square feet of warehousing space across 13 build-
ings in the Minneapolis area. It doesn’t own all of them, but in those that it does, it has
invested heavily in energy conservation, recycling, improved storm water runoff, and
more—all aimed at decreasing the warehouses’ impact on the environment.
The Murphy Co. and a relative handful of other privately held warehousing companies
around the country have made the leap into sustainability in a major way. (See sidebar on
Barrett Distribution Centers for another example.)
Richard T. Murphy, president and CEO of the company, has become an evangelist for
investing in sustainability. He speaks regularly on the topic and urges business owners to look
hard at the long-term benefits for both their businesses and the environment, an argument
made more credible by his hard-nosed understanding of business reality and the need for
