Solid Targets for Solid Waste Reduction
At GOJO, we're addressing the solid waste challenge within our workplaces with sustainable waste management programs geared toward reducing, reusing and recycling. Our baseline goal for 2010 was 68% landfill avoidance meaning that fully two-thirds of our solid waste was to be diverted to other uses. By the end of the first quarter 2011, we exceeded that landfill avoidance goal by an additional three percentage points.
Here are the results of some of our most successful sustainable waste management strategies to date:
Waste Elimination Through Yield Improvement |
| The GOJO Yield Improvement Teams have been evaluating and acting upon waste elimination opportunities across all manufacturing and distribution operations. These teams have successfully eliminated solid waste through: |
 |
- Component redesign leading to product quality improvements, waste reduction and improved manufacturing productivity
- Process redesigns resulting in reduced scrap and improved quality
- Manufacturing line improvements resulting in improved finished product yield across multiple product platforms
- Waste tracking system development to accurately measure our yield loss on packaging lines
|
Recycling at GOJO |
| GOJO gives new life to recycled paper, cardboard, batteries, scrap metals, plastic and beverage containers. While our sustainable waste management efforts have been in place for many years, here are some of the results we have tracked since 2007: |
 |
- 3,872 tons of corrugated cardboard recycled, saving an estimated 66,000 trees and 93 million gallons of water
- 253 tons of scrap metal recycled, saving an estimated 910 barrels of oil and enough metal to make more than 600 hybrid cars
- 142 tons of office paper recycled, saving the equivalent of more than 2,400 trees, nearly a million gallons of water and 600,000 kWh of electricity
|
Giving a Second Life to Unused Product |
 |
GOJO has had over 883 tons of product for other use in other businesses. The scope of this sustainable waste management initiative expanded greatly in mid-2010, with up to 25% of GOJO waste being earmarked for this innovative recycling project.
More recently, GOJO has partnered with a recycling partner and nationwide environmental consulting firm to reuse up to 90 percent of product left over from production. |
With this program our soap will get a second life as an industrial equipment wash, industrial floor wash, automotive car detail wash, wheel, dashboard and leather cleaners and for other industrial applications.
Plastics to Playgrounds |
 |
Sustainable waste management at GOJO has also resulted in more than 176 tons of scrap plastic being donated for conversion into more than 320 playgrounds.
It’s an example of doing the right thing for the environment while simultaneously improving the lives of those around us in an even more direct way. |