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 While
many U.S. companies prefer to ignore the waste and toxins
created by their products and packaging, there are companies
taking voluntary proactive steps to accept responsibility
for the environmental impacts of what they create. Many
companies save money with their “take-back” programs.
The environment wins too as pressure to extract more resources
is reduced. Here is a sampling of companies doing the right
thing.
 Albertson’s
- Waste-free Oranges
“We’ve always done it the old way” was typical
of the resistance Albertson’s Market got when it tried
persuading its produce suppliers to use a new waste-free,
display-ready shipping box. Albertson’s new box replaces
its unrecyclable wax-coated predecessor and has saved the
company $15 million in disposal costs and spoiled produce.
Once suppliers understood these benefits, they saw the light…
and the cost savings.
Norm
Thompson - Chemical-free Clothes
A big part of Zero Waste is zero toxins. So Norm Thompson
Outfitters of Hillsboro, Ohio is decreasing the toxicity
of its clothing by phasing in organic cotton and phasing
out polyvinyl chloride, which has been linked to brain,
liver and reproductive damage. Next on the horizon is a
catalog made from recycled paper.
Milliken
Carpets - Renewable Rugs
Milliken Carpets of Spartanburg, South Carolina introduced
its Earth Squares carpet tiles to address the four billion
pounds of carpeting thrown away every year in the U.S. Since
carpets wear in certain spots more than others, the squares
allow replacement of just the worn parts instead of the
entire carpet. When the square tiles become worn or dirty
they are returned to Milliken where they are cleaned, repatterned,
and reused.
 Verlo
Mattress - A Local “Take-Back” Program
Each year hundreds of thousands of beds end up in landfills,
precluding them from being turned into other useful consumer
goods. The Verlo Mattress Factory Store in Boulder is an
exception to this “one-use” paradigm. Verlo takes
responsibility for its products’ (and other brands’)
after-lives by accepting any bed for recycling from the
public. The company’s “Outcycle” program
takes the old mattresses and box springs and sends them
to Wisconsin where they are torn down into their original
components. The wood from the box springs is used to make
children’s furniture and the mattresses are used to
make blankets and rebar. Other materials like the metal
springs are melted down and reused. So if Verlo can take
back beds for reuse or recycling, why can’t other industries
do the same for their products?
 Armstrong
- Recycle Your Ceiling
As more and more municipalities ban demolition debris from
landfills, Armstrong of Lancaster, Pennsylvania is providing
a recycling program for old ceiling tiles that would otherwise
end up in the trash. The “take-back” program accepts
any manufacturer’s brand tile, and Armstrong will even
pay the shipping charges - saving the demolition crews money.
Sony
- Recycle Your Sony
While electronics companies like IBM are charging their
customers $29.95 to recycle their old computers, Sony’s
program is free - at least for Minnesota residents. In a
five-year program announced last October, Minnesotans can
bring any used-up Sony product to a Waste Management facility
in the state where it will be shipped to a facility for
recycling. “As we continue to create digital products
for the future, we must also realize there is a shared responsibility
for the products of the past,” said Fujio Nishida,
president and CEO of Sony Electronics Inc.
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