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.
3form is ISO 14001:2004 Certified
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 remain tirelessly committed toward reaching it.
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.
2010 1st Quarter Progress
Challenges:
The economic situation continues to create challenging service issues with some of our partners. New equipment purchased in 2009 is allowing us to be more flexible, but it does not create viable solutions for some of our smaller waste streams. As a result, we are embarking on an exciting new project to create new products from at least one of these waste streams. Stay tuned!
Successes:
As predicted, our new equipment has allowed us to consistently divert more than 80% of our waste for the past 6 months. We expect this to continue and even rise above 90% as we continue to improve our processes.
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.
Constant Innovation
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
Expanded 100 PERCENT, a 100% post-consumer recycled content product
Launched a new Struttura line with recycled content
Launched Koda XT with 40% pre-consumer recycled content
