Non-Hazardous Waste Reduction at Safetyshop – Stockport, UK

REPORT-OUT CONTEST Winner Submitted By Colin Heathcote

SafetyShop/Seton in the UK worked with their waste contractor and employees to achieve Zero Waste to Landfill at our Stockport site, a dramatic improvement from the 3,500 kg of waste that was sent to landfill from this location last year. This was achieved by engaging employees to ensure that all pallets, metal, plastic and paper waste were properly segregated, and by sending non-recyclable waste, such as kitchen waste, for energy generation. The site also committed to reducing the environmental impact of the packaging it sends out through the purchase of Packaging Recovery Notes (PRN's) in order to recycle the equivalent weight of their packaging. The net effect on the environment of distributed packaging waste from the site is also zero.

Energy Conservation / Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction at Balkhausen, Germany

REPORT-OUT CONTEST Winner Submitted By Olaf Engler

The operations team at Brady's Balkhausen location took advantage of an extremely competitive energy marketplace in Germany to look for a more sustainable option. By switching to a provider that offered a lower percentage of energy produced from fossil fuels and a higher percentage of energy from renewable sources, they were able to cut their CO2 emissions by 27 percent in 2012 while saving over $25,000 in energy costs.

Green Team Compost Program

2012 Green Team Highlights included a Compost Program at the company’s headquarters in Milwaukee that partnered the cafeteria’s food service provider with Growing Power, a non-profit organization that provides safe, affordable and healthy foods to communities, to compost food scraps and coffee grounds resulting in the diversion of approximately 100-200 lbs of biodegradable waste from the landfill each week.

Milwaukee Earth Day Tradeshow

The Green Team also hosted an Earth Day Tradeshow to engage Milwaukee employees on Brady's sustainability programs and provide them with practical knowledge, tools and actions to support a healthier environment both at work and at home.  Tradeshow activities included:

• Bike-to-Work Week and Bike Commuter Challenge, put on by the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin, focused on the environmental and health benefits of using biking for transportation. 
• E-Waste Recycling Round-up in partnership with Brady’s computer recycling vendor Cascade Asset Management, to collect spent electronics (e.g. batteries, computers and related accessories, TVs, monitors, printers, mobile phones, etc.) and educate staff about the importance of recycling and re-using electronics both in the office and at home.  This resulted in a total of 5,760 lbs. of hazardous e-Waste diverted from the landfill.