Sustainability Assessment Member Stories
IDEXX: Employee Engagement Yields Innovative Sustainable Practices
IDEXX’s Maine sustainability program has grown significantly over the past several years. In 2007, IDEXX conducted a sustainability self audit, the results of which allowed the company to capitalize on existing best practices and increase sustainability practices. Read more...
Eaton Peabody: Bringing New Ideas to Old Practices
Law firms are not known for embracing change, but they are known for gathering evidence and making a compelling case. Eaton Peabody, one of Maine’s oldest and best-known law firms, has taken the well-established mantra of “zealously representing clients” and applied it to sustainability. Read more...
Planet Dog: Founded with Values in Mind, Striving to Incorporate
Sustainable Practices in All Aspects of Business
Planet Dog is a company that was founded with the core values of philanthropy, social responsibility and sustainability as it opened its doors in 1997 to concept, innovate and develop premium products "made for dogs, by dog lovers". Since that time, the company has established a strong track record of sustainable practices in product development, operations and philanthropy. Read more...
IDEXX: Employee Engagement Yields Innovative Sustainable Practices
IDEXX’s Maine sustainability program has grown significantly over the past several years. In 2007, IDEXX conducted a sustainability self audit, the results of which allowed the company to capitalize on existing best practices and increase sustainability practices. In 2008, IDEXX’s Facilities Department formally incorporated a triple-bottom-line approach, ensuring all initiatives would align with business profit objectives; social and stakeholder responsibility; and environmental stewardship practices.
IDEXX’s approach to sustainability is to “start small, be realistic, and be consistent.” This approach was very successful when IDEXX looked to increase its recycling program. Prior to 2008, with the exception of bottles, cans and cardboard, waste was incinerated or sent to a landfill. An assessment revealed it was less expensive to throw cardboard waste away than to recycle it. Looking for more sustainable options, IDEXX sought a partnership with Ecomaine, a local, municipally-owned recycling and waste management firm. Today, this flourishing partnership allows IDEXX to recycle over 40% of its total solid waste stream at a lower cost in labor and disposal fees, and reduces the volume of landfill material to less than 6% of the total waste stream.
In addition to incorporating such practices as Green Building cleaning techniques, local food alternatives, green disposables (paper, plastic), furniture reuse and recycling, green vendor services and products and using technology instead of travel, IDEXX regularly engages its employees to seek smarter solutions. IDEXX’s employee engagement around sustainability issues is a two-way street. Its communications department provides education and resources through a “Green in a SNAP” feature in a bi-weekly e-mail to its more than 4,600 global employees. At the same time, IDEXX openly solicits feedback on how to improve operations through its “Write to the Top” and “Facilities Feedback” initiatives. Currently, through the facilities feedback program, discussions are in progress to better manage the foam packing materials, which were typically thrown away in one department and purchased new in another department. Through an employee-led Maine initiative, efforts to sell the foam materials back to the vendor for reuse are currently underway, a result that saves IDEXX over $100,000 annually and reduces waste.
Another example of active employee engagement concerns a topic near and dear to virtually every employee’s heart: coffee. IDEXX has a generous policy of offering free coffee to its employees. Maine employees consume approximately 24,000 cups of coffee a month – creating considerable waste (in the form of used coffee cups) and expense ($17,000) for IDEXX. In an effort to reduce costs and find a more sustainable solution, IDEXX piloted and continues to evaluate a reusable cup program. For the pilot, IDEXX purchased 50 reusable coffee mugs and distributed them to employees. IDEXX then sought feedback from employees on their coffee cup use habits through a survey. True to their desire to implement employee feedback whenever possible, the last survey question asked “Do you have any suggestions to help us adopt more eco-friendly processes at IDEXX?”
“The results of this pilot are encouraging,” says Matt Haas, IDEXX’s Maine Operations Manager. “As a result of the pilot, we’ve generated a variety of ideas about how we can reduce the waste produced and reduce the expenses of the coffee program.” While in the grand scheme of operations at IDEXX this measure may seem small, it’s an excellent example of the company’s “start small, be realistic, and be consistent” philosophy and illustrates how a triple-bottom-line approach can add value and increase employee engagement and awareness.
In looking to the future IDEXX has exciting plans: a “sustainability fair” for employees to showcase some of the sustainability initiatives within the company and a plan to incorporate sustainability into product development. “From the management side, we see tremendous opportunity in sustainability and now that we’ve tapped into the wealth of information and knowledge our employees provide, we are increasingly innovative and proactive around our sustainability initiatives. Our employees provide us with great ideas and have come to expect a triple-bottom-line approach in all aspects of our business” says Haas.
Eaton Peabody: Bringing New Ideas to Old Practices
Law firms are not known for embracing change, but they are known for gathering evidence and making a compelling case. Eaton Peabody, one of Maine’s oldest and best-known law firms, has taken the well-established mantra of “zealously representing clients” and applied it to sustainability. Like good lawyers, they have gathered the evidence and made their case for sustainability. It’s a case that’s hard to argue with.
Eaton Peabody first implemented a sustainability initiative in 2009. Part of the initial plan developed a Sustainability Team and Sustainability Coordinator. Since that time, the Sustainability Team has been incrementally implementing sustainability practices into Eaton Peabody’s everyday operations.
The practice of law is a paper-intensive business. Recognizing an opportunity to make a positive environmental impact and reduce operational costs, Eaton Peabody set about implementing a waste reduction and recycling plan. The waste reduction plan focuses on goods purchased, operational changes and waste disposal. On the front end, Eaton Peabody’s plan calls for purchasing copy/printer paper and file folders with a minimum of 25% post-consumer recycled content; letterhead, envelopes, and legal pads with 25% post-consumer recycled content; consumer tissue with at least 50% post-consumer recycled content; and preference for all products with recycled content whenever available at a cost of up to 10% more than the same item without recycled content.
Operationally, Eaton Peabody has also implemented a number of procedures that reduce paper waste while still fulfilling the filing requirements of courts and government agencies. Examples of these procedures include electronic filing, receipting and routing of incoming faxes, scanning instead of copying, and double-sided printing. In order to ensure best practices around paper reduction, training and staff education programs emphasize the costs of endless printing of draft documents that can be viewed on the screen and the importance of recycling paper as much as possible.
With waste disposal and recycling Eaton Peabody faced numerous challenges. Since much of the paper waste created by a law firm is confidential, great care must be taken when disposing of that material. True to the firm’s commitment to sustainability, Eaton Peabody went to significant lengths to implement a recycling plan applicable to confidential documents entering the waste stream. This paper is now collected and shredded immediately and confidentially by a contractor specializing in paper management for law firms and other companies with sensitive documents. The contractor delivers the shredded waste paper to paper mills for reprocessing and sale back into the market. A number of the mills using shredded post-consumer waste are local, making Eaton Peabody’s program not only environmentally friendly, but supportive of local, Maine-based businesses. Since that paper has already been through the pulping and bleaching process, every ton of paper that is sent back to the mills for recycling saves 12 trees if it's used in 50% post-consumer content paper and 24 trees if it's 100% post-consumer content recycled paper. Non-confidential paper is either used as scrap paper or taken to the Penobscot Energy Recovery Company, a trash to electricity facility located in Orrington which captures the energy used in the incineration process and converts it to power.
“For us, reducing the amount of paper and ink we use will result in a cost savings that will be of benefit to our clients. We know we want to implement these practices to reduce our negative environmental impact, but we also have a mandate to provide our clients with the best service and best value possible. Reducing our operational overhead through reduction of waste is a simple way to achieve both ends,” says Tamrah Brown, Eaton Peabody’s Sustainability Coordinator.
Eaton Peabody continues to seek opportunities to implement sustainable practices into its operations. “The practice of law relies heavily on precedent and tradition,” says Brown. “But where opportunities exist to re-think those practices, we have an obligation to break with tradition. We believe our sustainable practices will serve us and our clients well – and we hope to inspire other businesses to re-evaluate and change their operational practices as we have.”
Planet Dog: Founded with Values in Mind, Striving to Incorporate
Sustainable Practices in All Aspects of Business
Planet Dog is a company that was founded with the core values of philanthropy, social responsibility and sustainability as it opened its doors in 1997 to concept, innovate and develop premium products "made for dogs, by dog lovers". Since that time, the company has established a strong track record of sustainable practices in product development, operations and philanthropy. "As a small company doing big things, our goal will always be to improve the world around us by giving back to our community, our workforce and the environment," says Alex Fisher, Founder.
Planet Dog has incorporated a variety of sustainable practices internally including an Alternative Transportation Program for employees which reimburses employees 50% of their sales tax if they purchase a hybrid vehicle; elimination of all bottled water in their facilities; comprehensive recycling; motion sensor LED lights; and a redesign of its wholesale catalog to save 2.4 tons of paper. In addition, as much as possible, they have maintained their mission to design and develop premium products that were made out of eco-friendly or organic materials. Most importantly, the Planet Dog Foundation, their corporate philanthropic arm, receives 2% of every Planet Dog purchase which is used to fund the placement, training and support of service dogs helping people in need nationwide.
Like many other businesses, particularly those that produce high-end consumer products, the challenging economic landscape over the past several years necessitated some innovative thinking. A company known for innovative design and conception, Planet Dog looked for ways to reduce production costs while maintaining the quality and eco-friendly nature of its dog toys. Innovation came in the form of the Orbee-Tuff® “Regrind” toy line. Planet Dog’s Orbee-Tuff® compound which took them two years to develop, is used to make their award-winning toys and are all recyclable, buoyant, minty, and made in the USA. It is inherent to the injection molding process that a certain amount of excess material is used while making their products. Because Orbee-Tuff® is recyclable; they are able to chop up this excess and mix it with “virgin”, unused materials and make them into finished products. Any finished product that is rejected (known as scrap) is reground and made into toys for this Regrind Line using 100% of the excess material, thus eliminating virtually all waste.
As Planet Dog looks to the future, it continues to seek ways to become more sustainable across all aspects of its business. “One of the things that is challenging for us is our global product sourcing” says Stephanie Volo, Planet Dog’s Top Dog. In 2007, Planet Dog brought all of its molded manufacturing back to the United States, but the company maintains long-term global sourcing partners. “We have chosen our global partners very carefully and have worked with them for several years” Volo continues “and as we grow, we plan to look more closely at the practices of our global partners to ensure they continue to meet our standards”.
Thirteen years ago Planet Dog was created and has grown based on core values, responsible business principles and their commitment to their mission;
“To amuse, explore, support, innovate, create,
educate, celebrate and “philanthropate”. . .
all in the name of the dog.”
They are dedicated to their customers, pack, community, and to Planet Earth. They have been since day one and are committed to continuing in the years to come. Welcome to their planet.
