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Success Stories - Large Organizations
Success Stories
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Amgen, Inc.
A WasteWise Partner since 1994, Amgen has maintained and expanded its waste reduction program. The growing company has overcome many obstacles with its program, including 300 percent staff growth in 12 years. In 2005, Amgen internally reallocated and reused more than $1.7 million of lab equipment and donated unwanted lab equipment to local schools and nonprofits. Amgen also donated nearly 13 tons of computer equipment to the Ventura County School District. In addition, the company donated approximately 19 tons of leftover food to a local food bank. Amgen also demolished a lab, recycling more than 90 percent of the materials, including concrete, asphalt, metal, and wood.
Canon U.S.A., Inc.
Canon begins to analyze the environmental impact of products at the beginning of the product cycle. Programs include energy-efficient manufacturing processes, developing energy-efficient products, using a greater amount of recycled materials, creating a copier toner cartridge collection and return program, and eliminating hazardous substances. At Canon U.S.A., the company extends the life of products through its remanufacturing and recycling programs. In 2004, more than 230,000 products were refurbished, remanufactured, resold, or reused internally.
Pitney Bowes Inc.
A provider of mailing and document handling services to businesses, Pitney Bowes (headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut) has successfully implemented a nationwide toner cartridge recycling program for its home-office and field locations where employees use ink-jet, laser, and facsimile printers. By partnering with a re-manufacturer, toner cartridges are efficiently collected and returned for refurbishment and resale. Rebate proceeds are donated to a nonprofit recipient organization whose mission is to teach children about recycling and materials reuse. In addition to the toner cartridge program, Pitney Bowes recycled 11.4 million pounds of materials in 2003.
Pitney Bowes Inc.
In addition to engineering mailing and document technologies, Pitney Bowes Inc. protects the environment by developing innovative waste reduction strategies. In 2002, the company prevented more than 3,400 pounds of paper waste by asking employees to view their pay stubs on a secure Web site and completing requisitions electronically. The company also incorporated waste prevention into the manufacturing process, creating new parts from plastic waste.
Constellation Energy Group
Constellation Energy Group, located in Baltimore, sought out innovative and cost-effective new programs to prevent waste, increase recycling rates, and increase spending on recycled-content products in 2000. The utility donated 26.9 tons of computers and electronic equipment for reuse through its computer donation program. Hard copies of numerous documents, including the employee handbook and an environmental standards publication, were eliminated and made available electronically on the corporate intranet. In 2000, 96 wood utility poles were refurbished, inspected, and returned to stock for reuse, saving the company $28,800. The company also promoted waste prevention both to its employees and to other businesses through its Businesses for the Bay mentoring program, participation in various events, and featured articles in the company’s Business Express newsletter and internal magazine Quest. Constellation Energy Group, which employs 6,500 people, also recycled an impressive 412 tons of yard trimmings, 149 tons of non-ferrous metals, 47 tons of mixed paper, 42 tons of mixed plastics, and nearly 17 tons of corrugated boxes. In addition, the company recycled the oil from its vehicle oil filters and 100 percent of the aerosol cans it collected. The utility also spent a total of $721,369 on recycled-content products, including 1,043 retread tires, plastic piping, carpeting, remanufactured furniture, paper wipes, and bill envelopes.
Pitney Bowes, Inc.
Pitney Bowes, Inc., headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, implemented numerous innovative waste prevention, recycling, and buy-recycled measures in 2000. Two of the company’s divisions conserved 344 tons of wooden pallets through its wood pallet reuse program. Incoming packaging was reused for outgoing shipments, conserving an additional 26 tons of wooden pallets. Pitney Bowes also educated its 7,800 employees on the benefits of waste reduction through posters, e-mail, and other communications. Six of the company’s facilities implemented a program to recycle Styrofoam products used in food service. The Styrofoam is converted into a gel-like material that is then returned to the recycling-equipment vendor for further processing back into Styrofoam or other plastic products. This process resulted in a 40 percent reduction of total trash volume at those facilities. The company reground 35.5 tons of postconsumer HDPE plastic and mixed preconsumer plastic resins for reuse in plastic products. The company also recycled more than 1,139 tons of corrugated, 827 tons of high-grade paper, 327 tons of HDPE, and 139 tons of mixed paper. Plastics recycling alone generated a cost savings of nearly $115,000. In addition, the company purchased 1,477 tons of 30 to 100 percent postconsumer recycled-content paper and corrugated, and 90 tons of janitorial and cafeteria supplies with 40 to 100 percent recycled content. Employees are strongly encouraged to purchase products with the highest possible recycled content. Pitney Bowes also encouraged its vendors to prominently identify products containing recycled content in catalogs so that these products could be easily identified and procured. Vendors were also asked to provide the maxi-mum number of recycled-content products.
Public Service Enterprise Group
Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), a combined electric, gas, and energy services holdings company located in New Jersey, provides electricity and gas to more than 3.5 million New Jersey customers. PSEG continued its commitment to waste reduction, recycling, and buying and manufacturing recycled products in 2000 through numerous innovative programs and initiatives. The energy company supported local charitable organizations, schools, and community groups by donating nearly 13 tons of refurbished computers. The donation program included 200 computer systems sent to Pedals for Progress, a nonprofit corporation focusing on needs in developing Latin American countries. The company also reused 81.2 tons of furniture, saving $57,530, and refurbished 1,054 pounds of street lighting. PSEG also saved $15,444 by purchasing retread tires in 2000. Through its Buy Recycled Policy, the company purchased more than $2.7 million worth of recycled-content products—up 25 percent from 1999.
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD), has undertaken many efforts to reduce waste at all of its locations worldwide. Waste reduction and recycling is rooted in the AMD culture, as evidenced by AMD's practices of donating surplus computer equipment, furniture, and sup-plies to non-profit organizations; recycling numerous materials including cardboard, plastics, wooden crates and pallets, beverage containers, scrap metal, and dry cell batteries; and sending landscape waste for composting. In 2000, waste reduction programs at AMD's U.S. sites in California and Texas resulted in reducing solid waste disposal by 1,917 tons. The company instituted a program to reuse cloth wipes and in 2000, nearly 6 tons of cloth wipes were laundered and reused at the Austin, Texas site. AMD recycled more than 1,200 pounds of consumer type dry-cell batteries and spent over $111,000 on recycled-content office products. AMD promotes employee awareness of reduction and recycling programs by distributing an employee recycling handbook, posting recycling program announcements on bulletin boards, and distributing information to employees during events such as the AMD Health Fair and AMD Benefits Fair.
Allergan, Inc.
Allergan, Inc., a pharmaceutical company located in Irvine, California, made packaging changes that resulted in a reduction of nearly 68 tons of boxboard, saving $20,000. The company also reduced package weights for intraocular lenses and tablet blisters. Light weighting of this packaging reduced boxboard by nearly 188 tons and PVC plastic by more than 66 tons and saved Allergan $2.3 million. The company also recycled an impressive 1,000 tons of corrugated boxes, 815 tons of HDPE plastic, and 350 tons of copier paper. Recycling rates were up 18 percent compared with 1999 levels, with estimated cost savings at $339,462 for 2000.
Battelle Memorial Institute
The 5,500 employees at Battelle Memorial Institute, which is based in Columbus, Ohio, worked to reduce paper usage by duplex copying. This action resulted in a reduction of 6 tons of copier paper. Battelle also conducted a number of Pollution Prevention Opportunity Assessments to identify ways to eliminate, reduce, reuse, and recycle solid waste. The company also purchased duplex printers, copiers, and fax machines in 2000. Battelle also spent $650,000 on recycled-content products in 2000.
Crown Cork & Seal Company, Inc.
Crown Cork & Seal Company, Inc., a worldwide consumer packaging company headquartered in Philadelphia, implemented a comprehensive waste prevention plan to reduce packaging waste in its 87 North American plants. A packaging return program instituted with suppliers conserved tons of corrugated boxes. The company improved upon its packaging reuse program in 2000 by making the switch to plastic pallets and separator sheets, eliminating the use of paper and wood products. Thousands of pounds of mixed paper were conserved when Crown Cork & Seal posted its environmental health and safety manuals on the company Intranet, eliminating the need for thousands of paper copy updates and related distribution costs. The company also increased the amount of postconsumer recycled PET plastic used in the manufacture of plastic bottles from 2 percent to 5 percent.
Florida Power & Light
Florida Power & Light prevented the disposal of approximately 11,700 utility poles through donation and sale. Pole line hardware and other parts were reclaimed, refurbished, and returned for reuse, saving the utility approximately $1.5 million, based on estimated market value. Florida Power & Light also saved $21,000 by reusing wood reels. The wire and cable on the wood reels is recycled, and then the reels are salvaged for reuse. Wood reels that are not suitable for reuse are ground up and recycled for mulch. Recycled-content office supplies and promotional items were also purchased in 2000. In addition, the utility promotes WasteWise and educates its 10,000 employees on the benefits of waste reduction and recycling through presentations, special events, publications, and the Internet.
Herman Miller, Inc.
Herman Miller, Inc., a furniture manufacturer in Michigan, once again held its growth in total waste in check while recording a year of expanded sales and production. Since 1994, the company’s waste reduction activities have resulted in a yearly reduction of approximately 20,000 tons of solid waste and an estimated savings of $120 million. The company’s efforts have also resulted in the recycling of an impressive 9,313 tons of steel, 1,729 tons of corrugated paper, 320 tons of mixed plastics, and 164 tons of mixed paper. In addition, the furniture manufacturer has begun to provide sawdust to local farms to produce high-quality compost. Herman Miller has spent $200 million on recycled-content products, including 100 per-cent recycled aluminum and 22 percent recycled-content steel. Manufacturing recycled-content products is also a priority for the company. As one example of its many products that are designed for the environment, Herman Miller’s chairs are manufactured to contain between 40 to 77 percent recycled content.
Millipore Corporation
Millipore Corporation, a Massachusetts-based company, donated 5 tons of 9x12 white booklet envelopes to local and regional schools. The company also sold 69 tons of office furniture and industrial equipment for reuse, saving $5,934. Millipore also implemented a wooden pallet reuse program in 2000. They achieved an increase in its recycling rate from 32 percent in 1999, to nearly 44 percent in 2000. The company also recycled 142.4 tons of wood, 13.3 tons of magazines, 3.7 tons of computer paper, and 1 ton of PET plastic. Cost savings resulting from the company’s recycling program were significant—$12,000 for recycled wood alone. Closing the recycling loop was also a priority for the company with recycled-content purchases of $161,747 in 2000.
Southern California Edison
Southern California Edison, a California utility company, saved 125 tons of high-grade paper by putting employee directories and maps on the company’s intranet, saving $50,000. The utility also worked with vendors to have goods delivered on reusable pallets instead of cardboard boxes, saving 5 tons of corrugated boxes. Incoming boxes were used for outgoing shipments, saving 6 additional tons of corrugated. The company’s reusable mug program also conserved 75 tons of paper cups. In addition, they recycled 8,801 tons of wood, more than 244 other non-ferrous metals, and more than 169 tons of other ferrous metals. The company spent $200,000 on recycled-content products in 2000 as well.
United Technologies Carrier Corporation—Indianapolis
In 2000, United Technologies Carrier in Indianapolis, Indiana, continued its ambitious waste prevention and recycling programs. The HVAC manufacturer has significantly reduced cardboard and wood pallet usage by converting the shipping containers of more than half of its inbound bulk materials to returnable containers. A recent vendor agreement resulted in the reduction of more than 33 tons of pallet waste per year. In addition, United Technologies Carrier diverted previously landfilled concrete waste from the waste stream by hauling it to local facilities where it was ground for reuse. This change eliminated 512 tons of landfilling per year, and the fees are also less than typical landfill tipping fees.
Virco Mfg. Corporation
Virco Mfg. Corporation, located in Conway, Arkansas, made great strides in waste reduction, recycling, and the purchase of recycled products in 2000. The furniture manufacturer reduced more than 6 tons of mixed office paper when the entire company converted to e-mail. Virco also continued its program to eliminate unnecessary packaging by transporting school furniture on reusable pallets instead of in corrugated containers. Approximately 10,000 pallets were repaired for reuse, while boards that could not be salvaged were ground up for use as mulch. In 2000, the company made a $350,000 profit for various recycled scrap plastics and purchased an impressive $30 million of recycled-content products.
Bass Pro Shops
Bass Pro Shops, headquartered in Springfield, Missouri, implemented numerous innovative waste prevention activities at all its retail facilities. The company uses architectural salvage from building demolition products and trees reclaimed after forest fires in store offices and fixture construction. It also salvaged nearly 170 tons of transport packaging materials through a shipping and receiving waste prevention program, saving more than $28,000 in 1999. This program involved the reuse and sale of used wooden pallets. Its cardboard recycling program saves Bass Pro more than $94,000 and generates more than $14,000 in donations for a local nonprofit.Virco Mfg. Corporation
Virco Mfg. Corporation located in Conway, Arkansas, implemented forward- looking and innovative waste prevention, recycling, and buying-recycled efforts. In 1999, the company initiated a program to eventually eliminate the use of wooden pallets as part of the Transport Packaging Challenge. The company repaired more than 9.5 tons of pallets for reuse and mulched discarded boards. Virco also conserved 1,250 tons of plastic pellets and saved $300,000 by selling scrap hard plastic for use as sandblasting material. The company reused 9,000 tons of wood dust as a soil amendment on its new building site, saving $120,000.
Pitney Bowes, Inc.
When spending the company’s money, employees at Pitney Bowes do it right! Pitney Bowes Inc., headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, continues to decrease its burden on the environment by reducing wastes, recycling, and buying products made of recycled materials. In conjunction with designing products that are easier to disassemble, reuse, and recycle, Pitney Bowes recycled more than 2,800 tons of materials in 2001. Furthermore, it purchased food-service supplies, paper, toner cartridges, and other office supplies that contain 30 to 100 percent recycled content! These products total more than 1,500 tons, constituting 15 percent of total annual purchases. Pitney Bowes continues to identify products containing postconsumer recycled content in their supply catalogues to facilitate purchasing activities, and it encourages employees to purchase materials with the highest recycled content available.
Pitney Bowes didn’t stop there! An employee environmental education program reinforces the company’s environmental mission at all levels. The program covered topics such as environmentally preferable purchasing, shortening the paper trail, reuse of office supplies, and tips for recycling white versus mixed paper. The company distributed nearly 20 percent of its 230 environmental communications electronically.
From bins to great marketing signs, Pitney Bowes makes recycling educational and fun—so much so that many employees started to recycle at home! The recycling program’s success is due in part to the fact that recycling isn’t just encouraged around the snack rooms and by the printers. Pitney Bowes also placed recycling bins in conference rooms, breakout rooms, copy centers, pantries, and other office areas where waste is produced.
Virco Mfg. Corporation
“Virco’s commitment is a credit to our community as well as to our state and to industry in general,” said Debbie Plopper of the City of Conway’s recycling division. When the City of Conway, Arkansas, collected more cardboard than it could handle, Virco Mfg. Corporation volunteered to bale and sell all of it, giving the profits to the city. Virco built corrals from used pallets when the local PTA realized schools in the area needed collection bins for cardboard. The company now collects cardboard every week from all the schools in the area, sells it for recycling, and divides the proceeds among schools in need of funding. In 2001, Virco recycled 1,000 tons of corrugated cardboard.
This Arkansas-based furniture manufacturer is making environmental commitments within its walls as well. Through Virco’s Document Retention Policy, the company focused on reducing paper waste, collecting 34 tons of paper for recycling in 2001. Virco also purchases recycled material, spending an incredible $30 million on products with recycled content in 2001. The company eliminated a line of furniture that was producing nearly 48 tons of waste each year, decreased its use of inter-polystyrene packaging material, and even donated recycling equipment to the city to assist with the city-wide recycling initiative. Since 1991, Virco has recycled more than 75 million tons of materials, and keeps on counting!
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
To help employees select office equipment and supplies that have minimum environmental impact, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) developed Green Procurement Guidelines that outline product characteristics such as packaging materials, end-of-life disposal, and energy usage. These are attributes that AMD employees consider before buying these products. Seven percent, or more than $100,000, of AMD’s 2001 purchases contained recycled materials. The company has a goal of annually purchasing 45,000 reams of photocopier paper containing postconsumer material, which would more than double its environmentally preferable purchases.
This semiconductor manufacturer also looks at ways to reduce its waste. Plastic items such as clean room shoe covers, polypropylene bouffants and beard covers, latex gloves, and wafer carriers are recycled. Plus, AMD steadily increased the amount of textile clean room wipers it launders and reuses each year, to 7 tons in 2001.
This 6,700-person company performs an impressive job with recycling collection as well: 577 tons of paper and cardboard, 145 tons of plastic, and 330 tons of metals.
Battelle Memorial Institute
Every year, Battelle Memorial Institute targets an area within its company for environmental improvement, and 2001 saw the birth of an environmentally preferable purchasing program for custodial products. This technology developer found that environmentally preferable replacements were available for all cleaning products it used. Battelle spent $329,000 on recycled-content paper products including towels, toilet tissue, and seat covers; $35,000 on plastics such as traffic barriers and trash can liners; and $4,000 on biobased cleaners made from corn, oats, and soy. These replacements, in addition to products already being purchased, boosted Battelle’s total spending on environmentally preferable products to nearly $1 million!
To increase green purchasing further, this Ohio-based company offers regular training and information sharing sessions. It publishes a quarterly newsletter with environmental news and activities. Battelle even coined the Rocky Raccoon Recycled Products Champion award to be given to staff members who promote environmentally preferable products. Other educational events held by Battelle include an environmental fair, a waste sort, and an America Recycles Day.
Canon U.S.A., Inc.
Canon U.S.A., Inc. not only manufacturers cameras, optical products, and business machines, but also proves to be a company concerned with its waste streams and how they affect the environment. As one of the country’s most recognized camera manufacturers, Canon took the initiative to prevent 100,000 cameras from entering landfills by collecting used cameras for refurbishment, sale, or remanufacture in 2001. Canon’s Consumer Products Return Center recycled more than 1 million accessories, in turn saving the company more than $5 million dollars!
Canon also prevented packaging materials from becoming waste. In 2001, it reused incoming packaging for its outgoing shipments, and eliminated polystyrene use. If its vendors shipped products with polystyrene, Canon reused it and worked with the vendor to help them discontinue polystyrene use as well. The company continues to increase efforts to educate its employees about environmental responsibility. Canon has even incorporated postconsumer materials into new products. For instance, Canon reuses plastics from old machines and “sandwiches” them between two pieces of virgin plastics. Through this innovative process, Canon skips the entire pellet making process usually used to recycle plastics. In addition, the sandwich molding technology gives consumers an aesthetically pleasing product.
Employees also started designing products to make future recycling easier—providing quicker disassembly time, material labeling, and a decrease in the number of adhesion points and tools needed for disassembly. Educated employees have also influenced the company’s procurement. Canon purchases nearly 4,600 green-certified goods, from desks and chairs to office supplies and toilet paper.
Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.
As the provider of electricity, natural gas, and steam for New York City (and most parts of
Westchester County, New York), Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. (Con Ed) proved that it doesn’t just provide energy to its customers, but it also cares about the footprint that it leaves on the environment. Striving to increase reuse of equipment and furniture in 2001, the company succeeded in reusing 687 pieces of office furniture and 200 workstations. This actually saved the company nearly $550,000 and also prevented 171 tons of office furniture from entering the waste stream. Additionally, the company worked with its local vendor to remanufacture more than 9 tons of toner cartridges!
Con Ed understands that employees play a key role in successfully implementing waste reduction activities. To convey this message, the utility company produced a video highlighting waste reduction and the importance of segregating wastes as well as describing activities in the company newsletter. These actions demonstrate success, and as the company bought more than $1.2 million worth of supplies containing recycled content, including office paper, file folders, traffic cones, janitorial supplies, and barricades, Con Ed closed the recycling loop. Many employees continue to learn about buying recycled products from active participation in monthly meetings of the Buy Recycled Alliance in New York.
Constellation Energy Group
In addition to winning the 2002 Climate Change WasteWise Partner of the Year award, Constellation Energy Group’s (CEG’s) waste reduction program saved the company $1.3 million in 2001. Through reusing, reducing, and recycling, CEG avoided disposal costs of more than $500,000 and avoided purchasing costs of $800,000.
One example of this successful waste reduction is the group’s ongoing electronics program. In 2001, Constellation collected and donated 31 tons of computers and recycled an additional 1,000 tons of metal from electronics. CEG also advanced its paper reduction and recycling programs. The company converted many publications to electronic formats and made them available on the company’s Intranet in 2001, including the employee handbook, the daily cafeteria menu, and corporate policies. CEG also collected 280 tons of paper for recycling and purchased many paper items containing recycled material.
Florida Power and Light Company
Florida Power and Light Company (FPL) reuses materials at every turn and saves money doing it! For example, by refurbishing its system equipment, this Florida utility salvaged 758 tons and $1.7 million worth of material in 2001, avoiding an additional $21,000 in tipping fees and multiple trips to the dump. This high salvage rate represents a 19 percent increase from the previous year. FPL avoided another $6,000 dollars in tipping fees by selling and donating wooden utility poles—nearly 153 tons worth! The company also continues to reuse wooden reels, approximately 3,600 in 2001. This reuse avoided $20,000 in tipping fees. FPL established an innovative buy-back program in 2000, to encourage participating vendors to consider the entire lifespan of their products. FPL’s wire and cable vendor, for example, bought back nearly $3 million dollars worth of processed aluminum and copper from the utility in 2001. Dianne Reale, FPL’s corporate recycling coordinator, explained, “Buy-back agreements are changing the way industries do business. . .These agreements save money, reduce packaging, and increase efficiency.” In addition to recycling an incredible 23,030 tons of materials generated by FPL’s facilities, the company also donated several tons of non-recyclable materials to schools for creative learning experiences for children and adults.
Herman Miller, Inc.
Herman Miller, Inc. is coming closer to its goal of becoming a “zero landfill company.” Standard company policy dictates that Herman Miller products will contain a large amount of recycled content products and materials, which reduces the amount of material it landfills in its production processes by 86 percent. In 2001, Herman Miller recycled or prevented more than 3,000 tons of paper, 6,500 tons of steel, 2,900 tons of wood, 380 tons of mixed plastics, and 700 tons of textiles from entering landfills. When designing work environments, the corporation worked toward innovative environmental stewardship by reducing the amount of material landfilled during production by 20 percent. Herman Miller also recognized through internal waste audits and tracking that it generates a significant amount of paper as reports. In response, the company is switching to an electronic system to reduce the amount of paper reporting needed. So far, Herman Miller’s new system has eliminated about 40 percent of its paper from entering the waste stream.
Louisiana-Pacific Corporation
Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (LP) makes a concerted effort to plant a green ethic into its business practices. In January 2001 alone, LP spent more than 1,000 cumulative hours on environmental training and education of its employees. LP is at the forefront of a natural balance approach to the wood products industry, having recycled 2.8 million tons of wood by-products, scrap metal, and plastics in 2001. LP’s corporate-wide waste prevention and recycling efforts included using more than 1.5 million tons of waste for energy recovery, and a 37,000 ton reduction in total disposal. This effort represented a 43 percent reduction from waste disposed in 2000.
The company also developed a range of environmentally smart and energy-conscious products made from recycled content materials. The company implemented an environmental management system (EMS) company-wide. By the end of 2001, approximately 75 percent of LP’s manufacturing facilities had fully implemented an EMS; full implementation at all facilities will be complete by 2003. LP has received numerous awards, certifications, and environmental program recognition in addition to being a WasteWise Program Champion.
Millipore Corporation
In 2001, Millipore Corporation donated 4.5 tons of electronics equipment (computers, monitors, and printers) to local and regional schools and third-world countries. Not only did the donation fill a local and international need, the corporation saved nearly $3,000 in avoided disposal costs. Millipore saved an additional $2,200 by donating 5 tons of used office furniture and industrial equipment, and purchased 518 tons of corrugated material manufactured with 22 percent recycled-content material. Millipore Corporation also continued its excellence in its recycling collection activities, collecting 295.5 tons of corrugated containers, 62 tons of paper, 60 tons of plastic, 71 tons of metal, more than 6 tons of polypropylene, 366 tons of wood, and 270 pounds of ink.
Pepco
Moving anytime soon? Need an idea of how to keep relocation costs down? Instead of using those cardboard boxes to relocate, use something reusable. That is what Pepco did when it relocated to its new headquarters in Washington, DC. Using 4,700 reusable plastic totes saved more than $8,000 in moving costs! In 2001, Pepco redesigned its cable splicing kits, preventing one ton of wire waste each year. Pepco also estimated a savings of $1.5 million in disposal fees from its recycling program, generating revenues of $575,000 from the sale of these recyclables. Pepco closes the loop by purchasing recycled content-products, including paper, office products, remanufactured parts, antifreeze, and tires.
Public Service Enterprise Group
The (PSEG), headquartered in New Jersey, found that its waste prevention and recycling activities not only benefit the environment, but also benefit the company, employees, and the local community. By working with its suppliers and employees, PSEG reached a municipal solid waste recycling rate of more than 92 percent, recycling 96,000 tons of waste in 2001. This figure includes more than 12,000 tons of wood (e.g., tree limbs) cut to prevent them from obstructing power lines and rights-of-way. After cutting down these safety hazards, employees recycle or reuse the wood in agricultural and landscaping applications.
In 2001, PSEG also conducted a pilot project to collect and recycle ink-jet cartridges used in the office. The pilot was so successful, PSEG is now planning companywide implementation. PSEG also recycles holiday cards. More than 300 pounds of cards were sent to St. Judes Ranch for Children where the backs of the old cards were removed so the fronts could be reused.
PSEG also supports the local community by providing grants to environmental educators and by participating in environmental fairs throughout New Jersey and even lectures at schools and other organizations.
Southern California Edison
Southern California Edison (SCE) is a large investor-owned electric utility company that not only thinks about how its power generation affects the environment, but also how to help the environment by reducing waste. During the 2001 California energy crisis, SCE provided an opportunity for its customers to make some money, lower their electric bills, and reduce the number of appliances entering landfills by offering free pickup of unneeded refrigerators and freezers for recycling. This great offer came at a perfect time for consumers to consider purchasing more energy efficient appliances that save cash and the environment! SCE’s recycling program not only picks up the refrigerators, but it also removes CFC-11 and other hazardous materials for proper disposal. The organization reinforced the program by presenting participants with either a $35 check or a pack of energy-efficient light bulbs.
Herman Miller, Inc.
Herman Miller, a Zeeland, Michigan, furniture manufacturer, reduced the volume of packaging materials for finished goods by switching to returnable packaging and changing packaging design. This activity resulted in the reduction of 270 tons of corrugated containers and boxes and nearly 8 tons of polystyrene packaging filler, saving $422,000. Herman Miller also eliminated 40 tons of panel textiles and 27.5 tons of textiles for chairs through a lifecycle analysis process and saved $407,300.
Public Service Electric and Gas Company
Among its waste prevention achievements, Public Service Electric and Gas Company reduced paper waste by nearly 100 tons and saved more than $320,000 through the use of electronic communications. PSE&G also donated, sold, and redeployed 48 tons of computer equipment, saving almost $350,000.