The Executive’s Daily Green Briefing

February 19, 2008

Subaru Among Companies Nearing Zero-Waste

subaru21.jpgSubaru says that 99.8 percent of the refuse from its Indiana plant - on track to produce 180,000 cars this year - is recycled or reused so it doesn’t go to a landfill, including about five percent that goes to a waste-to-energy plant that burns waste to make steam to heat Indianapolis’ downtown, USA Today reports. In the process, the company cuts millions of dollars a year in costs.

The company says that a big part of the effort, and a big factor in cutting costs as well as waste, was persuading suppliers to take back packaging or other items removed during the automaking process and find ways to reuse them.

What other companies are doing:

  • Toyota says it has a 97 percent zero-landfill status average over its 14 assembly plants.
  • Copy-machine maker Ricoh has been zero-landfill at its U.S. plants since 2002.
  • Anheuser-Busch has been able to recycle 99 percent of the solid waste generated at its 12 breweries.
  • Safeway says it diverts 85 percent of its solid waste from landfills in the state.
  • Target says it has cut waste by 70 percent.
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Marketing

Consumers Reward Good Corporate Behavior - Unless There’s A Big Sale

Green Meetings Don’t Have To Cost More Green

Green Marketing Campaigns Not Sticking

Emissions

Mars Snackfood Unwraps Landfill Gas Project

Honeywell, Airbus, JetBlue, IAE Developing Aviation Biofuel

EnerNOC Buys Offsets To Remain Carbon Neutral

Hi-Tech

EPS Developing Energy Use Monitoring System

Dell To Increase PC Energy Efficiency 25% By 2010

HP Exec On Product Takeback

Efficiency

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ASHRAE Best Design Practices Could Cut Warehouse Energy Use 30%

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Manufacturing

Dupont, Genencor Invest $140M In Cellulosic Ethanol Joint Venture

Smart Papers Installing Honeywell Biomass Co-Gen Plant

Ford Racks Up Another Environmental First

Carbon Offsets/RECs

Voluntary Carbon Market Tripled In 2007, Hit $331M

Enel Buys $232 Million Of Carbon Credits From China’s Wuhan Steel

RGGI Cap And Trade To Go Online Sept. 10

CSR Reports

Starbucks Plans Renewable Energy Buy, Green Building Standards

Brazilian, Indian Companies Dominate GRI Reporting Awards

CSR: Chevron To Invest $2.5B in Alternative, Renewable Energy Tech

Major Players

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