Ramping Up Efforts to Reduce and Recycle
We pack our supplements in 100-percent recycled paperboard boxes for protection during shipping and easy storage. In our warehouse, our boxed supplements are then stored in cardboard boxes. One of our recent sustainability efforts has been to reduce the amount of cardboard waste we were creating by cutting the tops off the boxes when they were placed in shipping racks. We are now using cardboard trays on our packaging line that runs our 500cc and 64-ounce bottles, and have converted the end of this packaging line to use a tray packer.
This change has reduced our cardboard consumption and subsequent waste generation by an estimated 100,000 square feet or more of cardboard per year, or the equivalent area of roughly two football fields. We are currently reviewing the ability to implement the use of cardboard trays on our two other packaging lines.
As of 2016, we are also recycling broken pallets, eliminating an estimated 20,000 pounds of solid waste per year as well as making beneficial reuse of potential waste materials.
Throughout our corporate headquarters, our employees are engaged in an extensive recycling program to help minimize the amount of waste material we send to landfills. Using designated containers, we recycle items including cardboard, paper, glass, print cartridges, batteries, plastic and other materials. Each office is supplied with a dual wastebasket system that includes a designated basket for recyclable office materials.
Various practices are used, as well, within the plant for the collection of recyclable materials, such as electrical components, metal and used oil—and the more we collect for recycling, the less we send to the landfill.