Don't Throw Your Profits Out With the Trash, Third Edition

The Bottom Line

When you get right down to it, making a profit is the driving force behind almost all businesses. Successful businesses maximize their income and minimize expenses. Why then, are so many potential profits going out with the trash?

Of the approximately 45 million tons of garbage produced in California each year, more than half originates from the commercial and industrial sectors. By practicing waste prevention, reusing products, recycling whenever possible, and making environmentally conscious purchases, your business can cut costs and increase profits.

Here are just a few examples of northern and central California businesses that have positively impacted their bottom line and were 1994 winners and participants of the California Integrated Waste Management Board's Waste Reduction Awards Program (WRAP).

Babette's Restaurant & Wine Bar, Sonoma, CA

Babette's Restaurant & Wine Bar is a two-part enterprise that features elegant French food in one room and a casual "bohemian" wine bar in another. Babette's uses organically grown foods and returns all non-animal organic waste to a local farm to be composted. Babette's also has an extensive recycling and reuse program everything possible is recycled and, whenever possible, hard plastic "field boxes" are used, which entails no waste whatsoever. The savings to the restaurant is approximately $1,500 a year in reduced garbage bills.

Castle Management DBA Round Table Pizza, Sonora, CA

Sonia Hurt, the manager of this Round Table Pizza restaurant in Sonora, has a deep commitment to recycling and community involvement. She integrated waste reduction activities into all aspects of operations, and recycles almost everything that can possibly be recycled. Vegetable scraps are donated to a local school for their "Let it Rot" composting program. Her waste reduction program has enabled this Round Table to reduce weekly trash pickups by one third, saving more than $1,000 during the first year.

Dura-Metrics, Inc., Santa Rosa, CA

Dura-Metrics, a dental laboratory, has reduced their landfill waste by more than 50 percent over the last 12 months by recycling all office paper, cardboard, newspaper, plastics, fluorescent tubes, and aluminum cans. Annually, over 1000 surplus plastic buckets are donated for reuse to schools, other businesses, and public agencies. Dura-Metrics' waste reduction program has enabled the company to reduce its weekly trash pickups in half, saving over $3,000 annually.

EG&G Reticon, Sunnyvale, CA

EG&G Reticon manufactures Analog Signal Processing Integrated Circuits and high performance cameras for industrial, military, and scientific applications. EG&G expanded its recycling program to include all types of paper and corrugated cardboard. EG&G reduced the amount of trash going to landfill by 22 tons and reduced its annual cost of trash service by 67 percent for a savings of $13,700 annually.

IBM Corporation--Storage Systems Division, San Jose, CA

IBM Storage Systems Division develops and manufactures high capacity information storage technology products. The San Jose plant, with over 5000 employees, achieved a recycling rate of 81 percent in 1993. IBM has significantly reduced manufacturing and product packaging waste by using innovative environmental packaging which has saved more than $4.7 million. IBM also reuses parts and recycles material from products returned at end of life, recovering more than 6.8 million pounds of material in 1993.

Kraft General Foods, Tulare, CA

Kraft General Foods in Tulare manufactures processed and natural cheese, and Boboli prebaked bread shells. Their solid waste per pound of production decreased from 4.2 percent in 1991 to 3.3 percent in 1994. Their program has not only reduced their solid waste disposal fees, but also generated approximately $39,000 in 1994 from the sale of recyclable materials.

LSI Logic Corporation, Milpitas, CA

LSI Logic Corporation is a Fortune 500 designer and manufacturer of high-performance semiconductors. LSI Logic has successfully implemented a solid waste reduction program which encourages employees to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Through its Green Team efforts, LSI Logic has decreased usage of paper, increased usage of recycled products, and recycled over 300 tons of materials per year. In 1993 the company saved over $500,000 from its solid waste reduction efforts.

Marketing Response Systems, Santa Clara, CA

Marketing Response Systems (MRS) is a direct mail firm, offering data and mail processing services to the Bay Area since 1978. MRS annually donates 25 tons of cardboard to a local nonprofit organization, while also recycling wood pallets and excess paper stocks with local companies. MRS is committed to the purchase of recycled products (towels, tissues, paper stocks, and envelopes) as well as the reuse of toner cartridges and line printer ribbons. Marketing Response Systems' recycling and reuse programs have cut trash pickups in half and saves close to $1,000 annually.

Silicon Graphics, Inc., Mountain View, CA

Silicon Graphics, Inc., a leading manufacturer of high-performance visual computing systems, delivers interactive three-dimensional graphics, digital media, and multiprocessing supercomputering technologies to technical, scientific, creative, and informational management professionals. Their newest products are shipped in recycled kraft boxes printed with water-based inks. Silicon Graphics recycles glass, aluminum, computer paper, white paper, cardboard, polystyrene, polyurethane foam, wood pallets, computer components, toner cartridges, compact discs, landscape waste, fluorescent bulbs, plastic food containers, tin cans, and cooling oil and grease. In fiscal year 1994, Silicon Graphics received over $10,000 from the sale of recycled materials.

Sun Microsystems, Inc.--Corporate Environmental Health and Safety, Mountain View, CA

Sun Microsystems, Inc. is a supplier of computer workstations and servers with a commitment to sustainable business. Sun conscientiously applies business, design, and manufacturing processes, including redesigning products to reduce packaging and refurbishing/reusing pallets. From 1991-1993, Sun reduced its solid waste volume by an average of 61 percent annually, saving over $250,000 in disposal fees each year. Additionally, over 588 tons of proprietary paper were recycled in 1992.

Varian Associates, Palo Alto, CA

Varian Associates, a diversified, international, high technology company, produces systems and components for medical, communications, scientific, industrial, and defense markets worldwide. In 1994, Varian began a new aggressive paper recycling program and began recycling scrap wood such as broken pallets and crates. They also initiated a program to recycle plastic packaging materials including polystyrene peanuts and molded foams, bubble wrap, and rubber foam. Despite a 30 percent increase in landfill fees and a rise in production, Varian's landfill costs remained level in 1994!

For More Help:

For more information about WRAP, visit the WRAP Web site.
For more help in establishing a program to keep your profits from going out with the trash, call the Integrated Waste Management Board at (916) 341-6363. You can also call your city or county recycling coordinator or solid waste manager for local referrals and more information on industry-specific programs and waste evaluations.
The California Materials Exchange, CalMAX, facilitates the reuse and recycling of excess products, materials, and discards from California businesses. An online service and a bimonthly CalMAX catalog list materials available and materials wanted. Any business, nonprofit group, or government entity may list, at no charge, materials they have available or materials they need. For more information call CalMAX toll free, (877) 520-9703.
CIWMB Waste Prevention Information Exchange, (916) 341-6363. The Info Exchange has sample outreach materials from other organizations and offers technical assistance.
CIWMB Buy Recycled Program, (916) 341-6481.

Last updated: October 21, 2007

Business Resource Efficiency & Waste Reduction http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/BizWaste/
Business Assistance: bzassist@ciwmb.ca.gov (916) 341-6363