The RIGHT thing to do isn't always the practical thing to do. You won't find many people who will disagree with an environmentally friendly policy being the right thing to do. But does it make sense for your business? The simple answer is Yes; it does make sense. Your business should be environmentally friendly.
If nearly everyone agrees that being "green" is the right thing to do; why aren't more companies doing it? Because business is significantly impacted by economics; and the economics of being "green" haven't been very compelling, until now! The global demand for resources has significantly impacted the economics of waste stream management. The emerging markets of China and India will change the world and how we handle our byproducts forever.
These two developing nations are consuming incremental resources at an amazing rate as they build their infrastructure. Steel, cement, paper, and plastic are the building blocks of these potential new Superpowers. Resources are pouring into their economies, from our economy, on a daily basis. As an example, China consumes nearly 1 million tons (50,000 trailer loads) of cardboard per month, most of it coming from the United States.
This demand has positively impacted the economics of waste stream management, so much so that one man's trash is truly another man's treasure. Cardboard (OCC) was worth about $40 - $45/ton in 2001, about $65 to 70/ton in 2003, and in 2007, its worth about $100/ton. In March of 2007, OCC peaked at nearly $150/ton, or $3,000 per truck-load. Plastic (shrink-wrap) has seen similar increases, from 6 to 8 cents/pound four years ago to 15 cents/pound in 2005 to 20 to 22 cents/pound in 2007. If you are still paying someone, namely your local "recycler" to take these valuable commodities from you, you should reconsider. Processing these materials yourself and selling them to an end user, like a paper mill or a plastics manufacturer will improve your bottom line, all without significant investment in equipment or labor.
Waste Stream Management
Many of your fellow wholesale beverage associates have capitalized on the emerging global economy, including United Distributors, Inc., Smyrna, GA. United is a very large beer, wine, and spirits distributor covering metro Atlanta. United sells and delivers approximately 14 million cases of product annually; all of it moving through their 425,000 square foot facility. United spends less than $1,000 per month for solid waste disposal fees. It wasn't always this way; in 2004 they spent nearly quadruple what they spend now. How have they done it? United sells almost every byproduct they produce, pallets, cardboard, plastic, aluminum and glass.
The greatest improvement occurred within the past year or so; when United started baling their waste shrink-wrap and selling it to a plastics manufacturer direct; by-passing the recycler. The combined impact on their bottom-line (revenue from material and disposal savings) is more than $25,000 annually. There are numerous other examples, including Harbor Distributing Company (formerly Gate City Beverage) in San Bernardino, CA. Harbor has collected, baled, and sold more than 77,000 pounds of plastic during the last 12 month period, generating more than $15,000 in incremental revenue, not to mention the disposal savings. Gold Coast Beverage Distributors, in Miami and Pompano Beach, FL, has done the same, selling nearly 170,000 pounds of waste shrink-wrap in the last year. Energy Efficient Lighting Systems
Effectively managing your waste stream is a great step in the right direction, but relatively speaking it has a minor impact on what your company could be doing to reduce its energy consumption. Installing energy-efficient lighting in your warehouse and offices will dramatically reduce your power bill and give your employees a much better working environment too.
Unless your facility is relatively new, within the past 2 years or so, you probably light your warehouse space with metal halide or sodium vapor bulbs. Both types of bulbs fall into the High Intensity Discharge (HID) category. These bulbs channel a great deal of light to a narrow footprint; they also consume a tremendous amount of energy. Unfortunately, in a relatively short period of time, they become very inefficient. Within 18 months of installation HID bulbs lose 40 percent of their original "brightness" as measured in lumens, while still consuming 100 percent of the original power. Ultimately you have a "thief" on the payroll, since the bulbs are only returning 60 percent of what you are paying for.
Lighting technology has improved greatly over the last three years, especially for a "high-bay" application arena. The better solution, for improved energy efficiency and dramatically improved "quality" of light is the fluorescent bulb, which offers less initial light, but better "overall" light and more consistent coverage, eliminating "dark spots". These are the bulbs that probably light your office space right now. They also offer greater consistency over the life of the bulb, maintaining 93 percent or more of their original brightness. Fluorescent fixtures typically consume between 235 and 260 watts versus HID bulbs, along with the ballast, which consume over 450 watts. Combined with motion sensing equipment, fluorescent bulbs can reduce your energy consumption, for lighting, by 50 percent or more.
You can make an impact upon your environmental footprint. You can leave behind less of an impact on the environment; in turn leaving a greater impact on your profitability.
Robert J. Stefan is president of Environmental Dynamics, Inc. of Charlotte, N.C. He can be reached at 704.846.1124 (office) or 704.904.8156 (cell), or via e-mail at
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