Environmental Leader

Sodexo, an integrated facilities management services company, has outlined several key environmental projects at customer locations in its North America 2008-2009 Corporate Citizenship Report (PDF) that have yielded significant water and energy savings.

In 2008, the company established its Sustainability Education and Expert Development (SEED) management program to share best environmental practices among Sodexo’s employees and 6,000 clients throughout North America. This new program has already identified site level eco-efficiencies, resulting in substantial energy and water savings, according to the report.

As an example, Sodexo’s Laundry & Linen Services group made significant investments in 2008 to reduce water consumption. Fifteen laundry facilities installed the Aqua Recycle System that cleans wastewater so it can be reused by its plants. This water recycling system helped reduce water consumption by 200 million gallons company-wide in 2008 with a savings of $200,000 at some of its larger plants.

The Sodexo dining service team at Ithaca College has helped cut the college’s energy bill by nearly $140,000 per year, resulting in a savings of 600 tons of CO2 emissions annually, through a number of energy-efficiency improvements. These include resetting energy management systems, introducing a new exhaust system, and installing lighting retrofits/occupancy sensors.

The company has also helped several campuses move to trayless dining systems, and has developed a reusable take-out container program that will reduce waste on campuses by as much as 80 percent, according to the report.

Sodexo has also helped National Geographic save 2.5 million kWh of energy since Sodexo became LEED certified in 2003, along with reducing water consumption 18 percent from 2006 to 2009  and cutting landfill waste through composting more than 200 tons in 2006, more than 300 tons in 2007 and more than 60 tons in 2008.

Sodexo is also offering locally grown produce to its customers through its supplier base of 600 farmers. The company is also moving toward sourcing 100 percent of its seafood from sources that are either certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) or from sustainable aquaculture sources including those certified by the Aquaculture Certification Council (ACC).