5 Companies Changing The Way They Work To Improve Sustainability

(Guest blog written by Elizabeth Mackenzie, CEO of Global PR Associates)

The fact that we all live in the same world means we have global responsibilities together. Big companies are not excluded from their duties. Even though large corporations often produce a huge amount of waste, some have accepted their role in the zero waste war. 

They still struggle to reduce 100% of their impact on our planet, but they make an effort to streamline their processes and produce less waste. This includes recycling, reducing paper waste, and finding eco alternatives to old methods, such as using digital business cards instead of paper ones. 

Above all, this all ties into the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility, with objectives varying from business to business.

What is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)?

It usually describes a company’s commitment to carry out their business in an ethical way.

This means managing their business processes while taking account of their social, economic and environmental impact, and considering human rights.


Here’s how these 5 companies are making a positive impact on society:

Google

Google is one of the leading companies in the zero-waste initiative. People often think that using online storage reduces pollution and damage to the environment. This is true at some point, but you also have to consider that big data centers produce their own damage. 

Data centres’ carbon footprint is more than 2% of the global carbon emissions, and it’s expected to have a rise of up to 3.2%. That’s why Google reduces waste and recycles data servers to decrease their impact on the environment. 

Google recycles 86 % of its uses in data centres. In fact, out of its 14 servers, 6 have been zero waste.

In addition to this, the Google Classroom platform is helping reduce paper waste globally. With this approach, students reduce paper waste of up to 100,000 sheets per year and reduce printing pollution by 20%.

Microsoft

Microsoft is a leading computer and software development company joining the zero-waste initiative.

This company has implemented multiple policies to decrease almost 90% of its carbon footprint by keeping its waste out of landfills. They have been recycling, reusing resources, and working on a hybrid/fully remote approach for their workers to reduce paper waste and electricity use. 

In addition, Microsoft’s new power management system has reduced 27% in electricity consumption. This tool has controlled around 160,000 of Microsoft’s computers. This is one of the reasons why this company was awarded the zero waste certification.

Subaru

Subaru has been considered a zero-waste company for years. With its eco-friendly initiatives, Subaru has kept its waste out of landfills for over 12 years, which is good for their environment and their finances. This company has saved between $1-2 million once the U.S plant became a zero waste facility.

This company’s recycling approach has made 96% of its vehicle components completely reusable. Additionally, all this effort and research has also served other companies that receive training from Subaru. What’s interesting is that this initiative came from Subaru’s employees. 

In addition, this company partnered with Chimani to create optimized mobile maps to reduce paper waste from printed guides and roadmaps. 

Contapp

Contapp is a business card management system. They are a great eco-friendly, all-in-one solution to printed business cards, 88% of which are thrown away within a week of receiving them. 

Created in February 2020, Contapp is a mobile app to efficiently organize business cards while helping tackle the global issue of reducing paper waste. With this app, you can conveniently share business cards without face-to-face interaction. Available to download for free on iOS & Android.

An estimated 7.2 million trees can be saved simply by switching to a business card management system like Contapp. 

Future plans for Contapp is to also collaborate with leading sustainability partners & charities. Fewer professionals using printed business cards, less money being spent on business cards and more trees being planted with this initiative. Everyone’s a winner.

Procter and Gamble

55% of Procter and Gamble’s plants have zero-waste in manufacturing going to landfills. While this is already impressive, the company doesn’t settle there. They have set a new goal for upcoming years. 

Their objective is to have zero manufacturing waste in all its sites, which would reduce 95% of their total waste. It may seem ambitious, but it’s worth it for both the company and the environment. 

Procter and Gamble’s China’s facility has created the initiative to use its production waste as nutritional soil for national parks. 

Even though paper is still needed for packaging and supplies, this company is also trying to reduce paper waste. Procter and Gamble aims that 100% of the used paper contains recycled or certified virgin content


In Summary

Becoming a zero-waste company is not easy. It requires innovation, patience, creativity, analytical skills, and resilience. We have a long way through having all companies join this force. However, it doesn’t mean no one is doing their part. 

Companies like Contapp, Procter and Gamble, Subaru, Google, and Microsoft have reached their goals in terms of becoming eco-friendly. It takes multiple solutions to get this far, but things like recycling, repurposing disposals, and using software development in our favour can significantly reduce waste.

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