2Recycled/Recyclable

Photocopied on paper that contains at l

20% post-consumer content.

Inside

Employee 

Education Tips 

x Waste Preventio

Checklist  Awards 

and Recognition x

Educating Suppliers

and Customers
response, AT&T Paradyne established a convenient place for

employees to bring unused supplies for reuse. This suggestion not only reduces waste, it also saves the company

money—more than $16,000 in the first six months. The

experience of many WasteWi$e partners demonstrates that

an educated and motivated workforce is a company’s best

resource for building a successful waste reduction effort.

While the details are specific to each company, effective

employee education programs share the following elements:

■ Demonstrate management commitment. Once senior

management makes waste reduction a high priority, staff

will too. By articulating your strategy through a formal

environmental policy or mission statement, employees

will understand that environmental concerns are a company priority. 

yypy

equipment or software, train them on waste reduction.

WasteWi$e charter partner EG&G (page 6) achieves

impressive successes by training employees on company

waste reduction goals and encouraging employees to

brainstorm ideas on improving efficiency.

■ Provide incentives and reward participation. Generate

enthusiasm by recognizing achievements and/or distribut

ing promotional items with the company name and envi

ronmental logo. Employees of WasteWi$e partner NEC

Electronics (page 4) received frisbees, reusable mugs, and

seeds at last year’s Earth Day celebration. 

■ Compete for recognition from your state, trade association, or other organizations. WasteWi$e partners can

attest that winning independent awards and recognition

for waste reduction efforts can boost morale and participation. For a list of WasteWi$e partners that have recent

ly won environmental awards, see page 9. 

■ Make learning fun! The key to learning is making the

education process fun. By creating a video on waste

reduction activities and holding a paper reduction contes

among employees, WasteWi$e partner United

Technologies Corporation (page 7) hopes to dramatically

cut its paper use and increase the use of recycled product

■ Spread the word to customers and suppliers, as well.

Education doesn’t end with your employees. Let your cu

tomers and suppliers know that waste reduction is impor

tant to you. WasteWi$e partners including Larry’s

Markets, Tidyman’s, and Stonyfield Farm Yogurt (pages

10-11) are doing just that.

WasteWi$e hopes that this issue of the Update helps you

start or refine a waste reduction education program for you

employees, suppliers, and customers. 
The Three Rs

A primary goal of Anheuser-Busch employee education

program is communicating the importance of the Three R’s:

reducing, reusing, and recycling. Anheuser-Busch teaches

employees that reducing waste at the source—rather than

recycling it—provides the greatest environmental benefit.

“We use recycling as an introductory lesson in waste reduction,” said Bert Share, manager of pollution prevention. “It’s

the best first step to getting employees to think about waste

prevention.”

To raise employees’ environmental awareness, AnheuserBusch illustrates opportunities for both waste prevention and

recycling. At several breweries, employee

teams have actually poked through dumpsters to catalog what was being thrown

out. They found large quantities of glass

bottles and corrugated cardboard—both

of which were included in the breweries’

recycling programs. This finding galvanized the employee teams to remind their

colleagues of the importance of recycling.

Later examinations of dumpsters revealed

that very few recyclables were being discarded.

With recycling integrated into daily

operations, employee teams have turned

increasing attention to waste prevention.

They look for ways to lessen their facility’s

impact on the environment. Even simple

items—easy to overlook—are explored for

their waste reduction potential. For example, one brewery team examined employees’ work gloves, which were thrown out

when they became too soiled to use. The

two years, every edition of the Eagle but one has contained articles on environmental actions within the 

company. 

■ Electronic bulletin boards and e-mail—Anheuser-Busch

encourages employees to communicate their environmen

tal ideas and concerns to local environmental quality

teams via electronic bulletin boards and e-mail. Not only

does this reduce paper use, but it allows for better and

faster sharing of information.

■ Partners in Quality—Partners in Quality (PIQ) is the

vehicle through which Anheuser-Busch employees can

suggest new ideas to save the company money, improve

operations, or enhance customer satisfac

tion. Through this channel, employees

can suggest environmental improvement

such as reducing waste, conserving energy, reducing material use, and avoiding

duplication. By integrating environment

considerations into an ongoing business

program like PIQ, Anheuser-Busch com

municates the message that preserving th

environment is an important part of eac

employee’s daily job.

A Special Place for the

Environment

While Anheuser-Busch frequently use

normal communications channels to edu

cate employees about the environment, i

also uses special events to increase attention to environmental issues.

“We make 

environmental

awareness a

part of normal

communications

channels whenever we can.”

Bert Share,

Manager of Pollution Prevention,

Anheuser-Busch, Inc.
pgWeee eoe opoe eeo

make a difference, it inspires me as an employee, as a consumer, and as a citizen of the earth to make a positive impact

on the future health of our planet,” says John B. Smith of

Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida.

Keys to Success

Anheuser-Busch believes that its success in waste reduction is due partly to early involvement of employees in planning the initiatives. “It is important to explain what

environmental goals a company is trying to meet and why it

is important to meet them. But most of all, you must

explain how employees can help and ask for that help. Most

employees are flattered to be asked,” suggests Share.

Regarding the relative benefits of involving employees in

waste reduction efforts, Share says, “Considering the minimal costs and resources involved in employee education, the

payback in benefits is huge.”

Facts with Fun

L

ooking for a fun way to educate employees about

the environment? You might consider the approac

taken by NEC Electronics, a WasteWi$e charter

partner in Roseville, California. To reward

employees for their success in preventing waste,

NEC organized an outdoor festival in conjunction with

Earth Day 1995. At the celebration, employees received a

variety of gifts, such as frisbees and commuter mugs imprin

ed with the NEC and WasteWi$e logos, as well as flower

and herb seed packets that promoted California’s rideshare

program.

NEC Electronics’ Earth Day was more than just a day of

fun in the sun—employees learned about environmental

issues as well as the results of their own waste prevention

efforts. Representatives from local environmental agencies s

up booths and gave presentations about how simple busines

waste reduction activities, such as materials reuse and recycling, can conserve huge amounts of resources and save

money. One popular exhibit, a walk-through trailer featurin

the “The History of Trash,” taught employees about the

growing rate of solid waste generation. NEC employees also

saw the results of their waste prevention efforts in action: th

company donates its used wooden pallets to a birdhouse

maker who displayed his works at the event. Employees also

observed a model of a materials recovery facility (MRF) tha

has just been built in Roseville and had a chance to ask que

tions of the facility’s planner.

According to Lisa Cousineau, the environmental enginee

at NEC who planned the event, the promotional gifts and

festive setting made learning about waste reduction fun for

NEC employees. Cousineau comments: “The celebration

was a huge success, and employees were very grateful that th

company took the time to organize it.”

Coca-Cola uses table tents

in its cafeteria to motivate

employees to participate in

waste reduction activities.
In the first 10 months of the project, AT&T Paradyne

employees had reused:

● More than 2,200 binders

● Nearly 9,500 hanging folders

● More than 13,000 file folders

● Nearly 1,000 Rolodex cards

● 560 pens and pencils

● 1,800 sets of dividers

● 1,000 binder clips

● Nearly 60 overhead projector bulbs

AT&T Paradyne Turns

Employee Ideas into

Actions

WasteWi$e partner AT&T Paradyne welcomed

employee waste reduction ideas during Earth

Day ’94 celebrations and reported back during

this year’s Earth Day events on how the company had transformed those ideas into action.

One suggestion to reuse surplus office supplies has dramatically changed the way the company handles its extra supplies.

AT&T Paradyne created the Office Supply Depot

(OSD)—a convenient place for employees to exchange and

reuse office supplies. One employee, who checks in at the

depot about once every two weeks, raved that the OSD saves

her time as well as money: “I can walk in, pick up what I

need, and I’m done. I don’t have to look in the supply catalog, find the items, write a request, have my manager sign it,

send in the request, and wait.” Through reminders in their

monthly newsletter and the efforts of an active and accessible

OSD team, AT&T Paradyne encourages all employees to

check with the OSD before ordering new supplies.

The dedicated efforts of the OSD team, an eleven member sub-team of the company’s all volunteer recycling team,

Office Supply Depot volunteers of AT&T Paradyne sort through

supplies dropped off by employees for reuse.

Northern States Power 

provides t-shirts to its

waste reduction team 

members as an incentive to 

promote employee 

participation.
WasteWi$e charter partner EG&G, Inc., headquartered in Wellesley, Massachusetts, supplies

an array of high-technology products, scientific equipment and other products to manufacturers and end-users in industry and

government. To keep employees aware and involved, employee education is now a central component of EG&G’s Waste

Reduction Pays (WARP) program.

In the early days of the WARP program, EG&G

employed outside consultants to conduct waste audits and

recommend waste reduction options. While the company

was pleased with the consultants’ work, it discovered that the

recommendations were not being implemented. After investigating the situation, EG&G found that employees resisted

implementing the consultants’ waste reduction ideas because

they required the employees to change their behavior without

seeking their input.

EG&G began conducting waste reduction training to

include employees in the decision-making process. “The only

way waste reduction works is if the staff members identify

the opportunities themselves,” Tome explains. “Employees

need to experience ownership of waste reduction ideas.”

EG&G routinely educates its 21,000 employees through

two-day waste reduction workshops at the company’s 45

domestic and 31 international facilities. Approximately 10 to

15 employees attend each seminar. “We encourage employees

from all departments (purchasing, human resources,

accounting) and all levels—line workers to custodians to

managers—to attend the seminars,” says Tome, who personally conducts most of the seminars companywide.

g, 

Teamwork Pays Off

One team discovered a waste reduction opportunity that

saves its division nearly $100,000 per year. By changing the

purchase specifications for one size of a steel-alloy part used

in manufacturing seals for refineries and petrochemical

plants, the division was able to purchase an alternative mate

rial that did not require as much cutting and shaping to

meet the buyers’ needs. The team identified this opportunit

through discussions between an engineer and a purchasing

expert. Not only did the switch to the alternative part save

money by reducing labor costs (by 33 percent), shipping

costs, and maintenance costs (to clean up waste), it also

reduced metal waste by 66 percent and conserved space pre

viously used to house the parts.

To assess the usefulness of the workshops, EG&G distrib

utes evaluation forms to each participant. Tome reviews eac

questionnaire and incorporates suggestions as appropriate. T

date, most facilities have immediately implemented at least

one of the ideas raised in the seminar. “We know the seminars are effective because the ideas are being implemented

and saving the company time and money,” states Tome.

University of Notre Dame

employees and students

receive a 10 cent discount on

drink refills when they bring

their own reusable mug to 

the cafeteria.
g

L

etting employees know the results of their paper

reduction efforts is just one of the ways United

Technologies Corporation (UTC) educates

employees about the importance of waste prevention. In the summer of 1995, the company’s head

quarters in Hartford, Connecticut, launched a

comprehensive education campaign to encourage employee

to eliminate office waste. The company stresses the environ

mental benefits of waste prevention and encourages employ

ees to consider the effect their jobs have on the environmen

Because paper accounts for the largest component of UTC’s

waste, the company focused its efforts on reducing paper us

by encouraging employees to use double-sided copying, email and voice mail, bulletin boards, and paperless faxes and

business transactions. UTC is also increasing its use of recycled content paper.

As part of the educational campaign, UTC created a

video, titled “Closing the Loop: Recycling in the Office.”

The video is shown at staff meetings to encourage discussions about office recycling and waste prevention. One mes

sage of the film—that you are not truly recycling until you

buy products made of recycled materials—describes how th

company “closes the loop” in its recycling efforts.

The company also motivates employees to become more

involved in waste prevention by instituting a “competition”

between floors. Every month, the company tracks how man

cartons of paper are brought to each floor and publicizes

how much paper each floor used. Employees are able to see

how the numbers compare to the month before, as well as

how each floor ranks in respect to other floors. “We think

showing people real numbers makes a strong impression,”

explains Frederic Kaeser, UTC’s environmental manager.

“Awareness creates motivation.”

■ Develop an environmental solution through innovative

technology.

■ Demonstrate savings by avoiding the need for costly pollution control equipment or by reducing operating and

material expenses.

Throughout the year, EG&G managers informally recognize employee accomplishments through the following 

activities:

■ Publicize employee waste reduction suggestions in the

company newsletter or on bulletin boards.

■ Announce the contribution of an individual or team at

company meetings or luncheons and present certificates of

appreciation, small monetary awards, or other tokens.

■ Authorize individuals or teams to attend a conference as a

reward.

■ Incorporate waste reduction accomplishments into performance evaluations.

Tome emphasizes that “employee training and development must be followed up by recognition and reward,”

whether formal or informal, to help build and maintain

momentum for waste reduction efforts. 

Chrysler provides waste

reduction tips in

brochures 

distributed to 

all employees.
Malden Mills Educates

Managers on Waste

Prevention Value

H

aving trouble getting upper management to support your waste reduction ideas? Employees at

Malden Mills, a new WasteWi$e partner in

Lawrence, Massachusetts, found a solution to this

problem. Malden employees formed a committee

to educate their managers about the company’s solid waste—

and to suggest ways to prevent waste.

After a period of rapid growth, employees of Malden

Mills, a producer of apparel and home furnishing fabrics,

realized that the solid waste program needed improvements.

To address this issue, they formed a committee to study solid

waste and to determine the value of loss associated with it.

Headed by Walter Bickford, director of corporate environment, health, and safety, the committee reviewed each solid

waste component and set goals for significant reductions 

and cost savings. The committee reported that between 

1988 and 1994, solid waste generation at Malden Mills had

increased disproportionately with the production increase. 

the groundwork for future reduction efforts. Says Bickford,

“If you have no baseline, you can’t motivate people to do

better and you can’t compare your achievements to anythin

What gets measured shapes and drives the organization.” In

Malden’s case this was certainly true. By measuring the com

pany’s solid waste, and presenting the results to managemen

in clear dollar terms, Malden employees have brought on b

changes in their organization. Now everyone sees that good

environmental practices are equivalent to good business pra

tices, and cost savings are proving it—in Fiscal Year ’95,

waste prevention practices saved Malden Mills $2 million.

Editor’s note: Malden Mills recently suffered significant dam

age in a fire. Malden is committed to rebuilding its business an

incorporating the latest pollution prevention techniques in its

operations.

Jim Kolar, NSPs administrator of material services for

the company’s 29 facilities. “Using knowledge acquired

from waste prevention measurements, employees can

see results and room for improvement,” says Kolar. 

Kolar measures waste prevention progress with the

help of a computer program—Accounting Software for

Pollution Prevention. For more information on ASAPP

software, call the helpline at 800 EPA-WISE.

To assist you in your employee education efforts, WasteWi$e would

like to hear what your needs are. Please let us know if you would like

us to develop any of the following materials for you to use in educating company employees. Fax this form to us at (703) 308-8686.

q Articles for your company newsletter

q Checklist of waste reduction activities for employees

q Quick facts on waste reduction

q Waste reduction fliers

q Paperless office campaigns

q Other. Please describe_________________________________

Company Name ____________________________________________

Contact Name _____________________________________________

Phone _____________________________________________________

Fax ________________________________________________________

Let Us Know How WasteWi$e Can Help You
, , p

North Carolina Governor’s Award for Excellence in

Waste Reduction for its commitment to protecting North

Carolina’s environment and public health through

innovative waste reduction practices.

AT&T: The U.S. Conference of Mayors National Office Paper

Recycling Project presented AT&T with the Buying

Recycled Award for demonstrating the best effort to

purchase and use paper made from recycled fiber.

Baltimore Gas and Electric Company: The Maryland Recyclers

Coalition presented BGE with its Outstanding

Corporate Leadership Award for the company’s extensive and varied recycling efforts throughout Central

Maryland.

Coors Brewing Company: Coors Brewing Company received the

Coalition of Northeastern Governor’s (CONEG’s)

Corporate Commitment Award for its 30-year commitment to reducing, recycling, and reusing packaging.

Fleabusters: Fleabusters received the Environmental Excellence

Award from Bridging The Gap, a nonprofit organization in Kansas City, Missouri, for its outstanding efforts

to use and develop environmentally sensitive pest control methods.

Florida Power and Light Company: Florida Power and Light

Company earned The Improved Recycling Rates Award,

which is awarded by the U.S. Conference of Mayors

National Office Paper Recycling Project, for establishing

the recycling program with the greatest percentage

increase in rates of paper recovery and recycled paper

purchases from 1993 to 1994.

General Motors: General Motors won U.S. EPA’s 1994

Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award in recognition of

its exemplary efforts to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the company’s use of chlorofluorocarbons

(CFCs).

Kenneth J. Horvath, with General Motors Corporation’s

North American Operations, received CONEG’s

Individual Achievement Award for his leadership and

commitment to reducing packaging at GM.

company’s efforts to develop environmentally sensitive

products, provide recycling outreach to the community,

and promote environmental issues to other businesses.

Research Mental Health Services: Bridging the Gap, a nonprofit

organization in Kansas City, Missouri, presented

Research Mental Health Services with its Environmental

Excellence Award for the company’s outstanding recycling and community outreach efforts.

Schlegel Corporation: Schlegel Corporation-Rochester Division

received The Industry Award for Outstanding

Commitment to Pollution Prevention Through Beneficial

Reuse for its outstanding waste prevention and recycling efforts from the New York Water Environment

Association.

Springs Industries, Inc.: Springs Industries was placed on the

1994 Honor Roll Award by the National Environmental

Development Association (NEDA) for its highly effective

solid waste reduction process and 33/50 achievements

In addition, Springs Industries was included on Renew

America’s Environmental Success Index, a national

database of model environmental programs representing public-private partnerships that support the goal of

a sustainable environment.

Texas Instruments: Texas Instruments earned the U.S. Conference

of Mayors National Office Paper Recycling Project’s

Environmental Tracking Award for developing the recycling program that best tracks paper recovery and recy

cled paper purchases.

Walt Disney Company: The Walt Disney Company won the U.S.

Conference of Mayors National Office Paper Recycling

Project’s Grand Challenge Award for exemplifying successful workplace recycling through strong efforts to

buy recycled and to educate employees. The company

also received the gold award from the Solid Waste

Association of North America for its recycling and food

diversion programs.

Western Resources: The Kansas Department of Health and

Environment recognized Western Resources of Topeka,

Kansas, for its cooperative efforts in pollution prevention
on right.)

A more informal approach would be to

explain your company’s waste reduction

goals to your suppliers, and ask for input to

see what waste reduction practices they

think are feasible. (See Stonyfield article,

below.)

A number of WasteWi$e partners also

seek to educate their customers about

waste reduction. Grocery stores are a

prime example. Just about everybody goes

to the grocery store, and because of this

day-to-day contact, grocers are realizing

that they can play a vital role in teaching

customers about waste reduction. 

(See articles, next page.)

Stonyfield Farm

Yogurt Surveys

Supplier Commitment

When Stonyfield Farm Yogurt, a yogurt manufacturer and WasteWi$e partner, realized that

it had little information about its suppliers’

efforts to preserve the environment, the company developed a four-page survey to learn

more about the environmental practices of its existing and

potential suppliers.

The survey asks questions about the suppliers’ waste prevention efforts, use of materials with recycled content in their products, efforts to reduce the use of toxic substances, membership

in environmental programs (like WasteWi$e), and other issue

affecting the environment. Stonyfield Farm Yogurt hopes the

survey will communicate to suppliers that environmental issu

are important to the company while eliciting information

about suppliers’ commitment to waste reduction.

A copy of the survey is available by calling the WasteWi$

Helpline at 800 EPA-WISE.

Adapted from a letter

sent by a large retailer to its suppliers.

While this sample letter focuses on packaging, it could be 

adapted to meet your specific needs.

 buying deci

s, and product packaging is a

ur country’s solid waste. Reducing, reusing, and

ycling packaging and other materials can significantly cut purchasing, operating, and disposal costs.

Specifically, we ask you to be a partner with us to:

• Look for opportunities to reduce packaging volume and weight by

reducing packaging materials used on the products you manufacture by at least 10 percent over the next two years.

• Investigate opportunities to utilize reusable shipping materials,

including durable pallets and reusable plastic crates, totes, and

corrugated boxes.

• Use increasing amounts of recycled materials in the packaging you

use with specific minimum goals of 25 percent recycled content in

corrugated containers by the end of next year and 20 percent recycled content in plastic containers by the end of the following year.

• Utilize the highest recycled content materials possible in other types

of packaging, such as folding cartons and blister cards.

• Improve the recyclability of non-reusable shipping materials.

Please do not limit your efforts to these goals—be innovative! These

goals should apply to all product packaging as well as any repair and

replacement parts packaging you supply to us.

Thank you for your support.
ppy g

Through the Shop Smart tour for adults, customers learn that ears of corn and other produce

come in their own

natural packaging

and therefore do

not need to be

carried in individual bags.

Tidyman’s teaches

customers what

the recycling

codes on packaging mean, what

materials their

community collects for recycling,

and which products have recycled content. The tours also

help customers in local communities with “pay-as-youthrow” (unit pricing) programs understand the connection

between reducing waste and saving money.

Children are not only future shoppers, but they also help

communicate environmental messages to adults. Tidyman’s

tour for children teaches many of the same waste reduction

concepts as the tour for adults but with a more “hands-on”

approach. The program allows children to push their own

shopping carts and choose food they would like to eat off the

shelves. Then, they evaluate those products for how well they

reduce waste. Tidyman’s also distributes fact sheets for children with questions that encourage them to think about

waste prevention while purchasing. They help children identify foods with no packaging, think about why it is a good

idea to use cloth shopping bags, and evaluate the many different kinds of packaging in which one item can be sold.

pgg, y

cled packaging, or in con

centrated form. Other

signs positioned in grocery aisles provide helpfu

waste reduction tips, suc

as how to reduce unwan

ed direct mail and how t

recognize recycled conten

in packaging.

Providing guidance about products that help reduce waste has

increased consumer demand for

those products. “We’ve noticed a

measurable increase in sales of the

labeled products,” Rogers

explains.“People are opting to buy

‘the environmental choice’ over another because of its waste

reduction benefits. We change the labels frequently, pointin

out waste reduction benefits of different products, but the

featured products are usually the ones in demand.”

Larry’s also has conducted two “Ecology of Your Market”

workshops to educate other grocers about environmentally

sound business practices. Participants gained insights on successful waste reduction initiatives and

learned about EPA’s WasteWi$e program. Everyone who attended the workshops implemented at least one new

environmental initiative in their store.

“Whether it was waste prevention, recycling,

or another environmental activity, each of

our attendees took some actions that they

wouldn’t have taken if they hadn’t attended the workshop,” explains Rogers.

Children and adults 

evaluate the impact of 

different products on the

environment in Tidyman’s

Shop Smart tours.
with educating employees to reduce paper usage. Over the

past four years, the company reduced paper generation by

nearly 5 million sheets per month (68 percent). CITGO

estimates saving $2.5 million a year through the following

activities:

individual employees can implement at their own work

stations, articles illustrate the cost savings benefits (environmental benefits of waste reduction) and inform

employees of whom to contact to learn more (e.g., about

on-line viewing techniques).

1EPA

United States

Environmental Protection Agency

(5306W)

Washington, DC 20460

Official Business

Penalty for Private Use

$300

We’d Like to Hear from You

WasteWi$e would like to hear about your efforts

to educate your employees, customers, and 

suppliers. In addition, if you are not yet a

WasteWi$e partner and would like to join,

please let us know. Benefits of membership include technical 

assistance on waste reduction, publications, a peer match program, workshops, and more. Contact us at 800 EPA-WISE for 

more information.

Correction

The Mail Preference Service of the Direct Marketing Association

will remove only consumer addresses from its mailing lists. An

article in the September 1995 Update incorrectly stated that

businesses could use this service to have addresses removed

from the mailing lists. For additional ideas on reducing unwant

ed direct mail, call the WasteWi$e helpline at 800 EPA-WISE.

=