The Think Green Story
Think Green Certifications was founded to put the value back into certification.
Before we were a certification body, we were on the other side of the audit. We ran operations in industry and got them certified. We sat beside clients through their audits. And everywhere, we saw the same thing: certification had become a commodity. A box to check.
Certification bodies auditing dozens of schemes. Auditors who knew how to audit, but with limited understanding of the industries they worked in. The auditor came, worked through a checklist, and the certificate arrived. What didn't arrive was understanding. The certificate had value. The audit didn't.
If you wanted to know what the standard actually asked of your operation, you had two options: figure it out yourself, or pay a consultant to figure it out for you. The one party that was supposed to be the expert, the certification body, wasn't much help.
That's the problem Think Green exists to solve. We built the certification body we wished we'd had: auditors and account managers who know your industry because they've worked in it, straight answers at every step, and an audit you come out of understanding your operation better than when you went in.
The certificate still counts. At Think Green the audit does too.
The Think Green Difference
At Think Green we do things differently…
| The Think Green Way | The Other Way |
|---|---|
| Certifications offered | |
| Only the certifications we have deep expertise in | Dozens, because a longer list means more potential business |
| Who audits you | |
| Industry veterans with decades of experience | Checklist experts |
| Your point of contact | |
| A dedicated account manager who understands your business | Someone to schedule your audit, and long waits for vague answers |
| Scheduling and turnaround | |
| Audits around your schedule, certificates issued once conformance is demonstrated | Audits when the queue clears, and a long wait for your certificate |
| What you walk away with | |
| A certificate and a better understanding of your operation | A certificate |
| The Think Green Way | The Other Way | |
|---|---|---|
| Certifications offered | Only the certifications we have deep expertise in | Dozens, because a longer list means more potential business |
| Who audits you | Industry veterans with decades of experience | Checklist experts |
| Your point of contact | A dedicated account manager who understands your business | Someone to schedule your audit, and long waits for vague answers |
| Scheduling and turnaround | Audits around your schedule, certificates issued once conformance is demonstrated | Audits when the queue clears, and a long wait for your certificate |
| What you walk away with | A certificate and a better understanding of your operation | A certificate |
The Think Green Team
Harrison Nix
President & Account Manager
Harrison grew up in the plastic recycling industry and has spent his career working to make it more sustainable. He spent years running a recycling facility for agricultural plastics, giving him a hands-on view of how material recovery really works. That operator's perspective now shapes how he leads Think Green and works with clients on certification. Harrison's impact and leadership in the plastics industry earned him recognition as a 2026 Plastics News Rising Star. He's based in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
“At my recycling facility, the audits we went through felt like a box to check. Real work, without much real value. I knew certification could do more than that, so I started Think Green. Auditors who understand your business, make the process worth your time, and hand you a certificate that actually means something.”
Email: harrison@thinkgreencerts.com
Phone: +1 724-570-9977
Herminio Smania de Freitas
Senior Auditor
Herminio is a chemical engineer with more than 40 years of experience in the paper, textiles, nonwovens, and plastics sectors. He has led companies across Brazil, Latin America, and the United States, where he built manufacturers into international players. He knows the industry from top to bottom, and understands the pressures a client faces and what makes an audit worth the time. He splits his time between Memphis, Tennessee, and Porto Alegre, Brazil, and audits in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian.
"I have run these businesses, so I know the requirements are not always easy to understand and that an audit can be stressful. At Think Green our auditors are there to serve as a guide, to make clear what the standards require. We are not there to simply check boxes or to find fault."
Email: herminio@thinkgreencerts.com
Phone: +1 336-772-5261
Angus McAuslan
Forestry Certifications Lead
Angus has spent the last 15 years helping clients along their certification journeys, as a consultant, an auditor, and in leadership at certification bodies. He has worked with companies of every size, from local operations to global brands, across North America, Europe, and beyond. His goal with every client is the same: understand how certification applies to their business, and get them through their audit as smoothly as possible. Angus holds a master's degree in forest conservation and is based in Toronto, Canada.
"After hundreds of audits, what still makes me smile is a client telling me they learned something. That the audit made sense. That they finally understood what the standard was asking of them. That's value-added auditing, and that's what we're excited to deliver at Think Green."
Email: angus@thinkgreencerts.com
Phone: +1 416-882-5576