About Path to Zero

Exceeding industry expectations, 3form has set distinctly aggressive goals for minimizing the impact of not only our products, but of our processes. Collectively we refer to them as our Path to Zero.

• Waste – We will stop sending manufacturing waste to landfill.
• Energy – We will be carbon neutral by 2017.
• Product – We will continue to increase the recycled content in our products.

Collaborative Effort
In April of 2007, we challenged ourselves to become a zero landfill manufacturing facility in just 2 years. We identified our waste streams, sought more recycling opportunities, found a partner in co-processing, developed systems for separating waste, and trained employees on new protocol and a new set of expectations.

In 2008, we were highly successful. We found ourselves 98% of the way to our goal in October and confident we could be landfill-free by April 2009. In total, we diverted 72% of our waste from landfill. When the economy took a hit, however, so did our partners.

In 2009, we searched out additional partners and made investments in equipment that will make us less dependent on any single company. We were not able to meet our April goal, but we are still proud of the progress we have made and are continuing to work tirelessly toward zero landfill.

We will be posting our monthly diversion rates on a quarterly basis and offering commentary on our successes and struggles. We invite you to observe our progress.

Challenges:
Our transportation company mistakenly sent loads to landfill in August and September, suppressing our performance.

Successes:
We purchased new equipment that will open up new vendor opportunities for us. As a result, we expect to see a big jump in our numbers starting in November.

Getting to Carbon Neutral
We have committed to becoming a carbon neutral facility by 2017. Conservation, increased efficiency, renewable energy, and verifiable offsets will allow us to reach our goal, drastically reducing our contribution to global warming.

We are proud to be a Founding Reporter of The Climate Registry, through which we are committed to publicly reporting our greenhouse gas emissions. 2008 will be our baseline year with all emissions data verified by a 3rd party.

Conservation & Efficiency
Through greater awareness, policies and procedures, and targeted programs, we were able to reduce our net energy use from 2007 to 2008, even as our company and production levels increased. We will continue to find new ways to reduce our energy use as we also search to implement cleaner sources of energy.

Renewable Energy
3form is an EPA Green Power Partner for our purchase of 720,000 kwh of renewable energy each year from Renewable Choice Energy, a leading advocate and provider of renewable energy credits (RECs). Our purchase of RECs directly contributes to the development of clean power sources and reduces carbon emissions. This purchase, which is 3rd party verified by Green-e Energy, offsets more than 100% of our office energy use.
IMPACT: 961,00 lbs/year

Carbon Neutral Salesforce
3form supports carbon reduction projects to offset all vehicle emissions for each outbound sales person. All projects are registered and certified by the Envrionmental Resources Trust.
IMPACT: 1,170,655 lbs/year

Carpooling and Alternative Transportation
3form actively encourages employees to carpool, bike, or use public transit to get to work. Preferred parking spots are reserved for carpool vehicles, showers are available for bikers and walkers, and a monthly raffle rewards employees who don't commute in their car alone.

Hybrid Credits
3form encourages sales representatives to purchase a hybrid vehicle by offering a a financial incentive. Our CEO has been driving his Prius to work for the last 3 years.

We are committed to continually increasing the recycled content in our existing materials and to develop new and innovative products that use minimal or no virgin materials. Our product technology, purchasing and material design departments work together to provide high design products with a low impact environmental footprint.

View our existing low-impact products

Our Progress