Congratulations to our 2012 Green Master companies! The companies listed below scored in the top 20% of participating organizations in the Green Masters Program.
Appleton Coated
Headquartered in Combined Locks, Wisconsin with over 650 employees, Appleton Coaetd provides focused market leadership in the coated paper industry. As the first coated mill to be FSC certified in North America, they have lowered overall energy usage while increasing utiliziation of alternative energy. They have substituted biomass for 45% of their coal usage over the last three years as they seek out altneratives for fossil fuels. They are a recognized innovator in environmental products, manufacturing paper with high post-consumer recovered fiber content being used by top brand owners in America. 99% of the paper leaving Appleton Coated is shipped with partner carriers who have the EPA SmartWay designation.
Appleton Papers
Appleton Papers takes seriously its responsibility to use water, energy, fiber and chemicals wisely, which includes continuously seeking ways to recycle and reduce consumption. Appleton papers is oneo f a few paper companies with separate ISO 14001 certifications of its headquarters and research laboratories as well as of its manufacturing locations. The Department of Energy has named one of Appleton paper’s mills a Save Energy Now Champion, based on energy efficiency studies. In the past four years, the company has introduced nearly 100 new or redesigned product platforms that help make product development “greener” by streamlining product designs to use fewer chemicals, increasing design efficiency to use smaller quantities of chemicals and substituting ingredients that reduce the impact on the environment.
Environmental Systems, Inc.
Environmental Systems, Inc. lowers the cost of building operations by increasing building efficiency. Their core competencies center around efficiency, sustainability and intelligence. Their corporate office achieved Platinum certification under the LEED program. This office building sets the benchmark for a high performance building and serves as an example for operating and maintaining buildings at a lower cost. Over 33 months of operation, the building has saved over $100,000 and avoided over 675 tons of carbon dioxide. ESI uses a combination of technologies and a well-defined and managed process for corrective action in order to provide necessary information to keep their buildings operating at peak efficiency and ensure a positive return on investment.
Epic
Epic has been and will continue to be in the forefront of sustainability. Since the construction in Verona began, the new campus gave Epic the ability to build 100 years plus buildings that are energy conscience and architecturally pleasing. 99% of the campus heating and cooling is based on geothermal, underground parking structures and portions of buildings have green roofs, and the addition of 2.5 Megawatts of photovoltaic helps reduce Epic’s carbon footprint. The workforce challenges everyone in the company to be environmentally aware of how they function. Epic is continuously looking for methods to build better sustainability into new and existing buildings along with changing the processes of how they operate to improve the environment.
Frito-Lay, Inc.
Frito-Lay Beloit has earned a number of environmental and sustainability awards over the past four years and is recognized leader in the consumer products sector. The facility employs more than 500 people on its Beloit-based campus. In the past decade, it has reduced its dependence on water by 50%, natural gas by 40% and electricity by 17% per finished pound produced.
“As we continue on our sustainability journey we are always looking for tools and ideas to improve our performance. We have utilized Green Masters to help develop our agenda and to ensure our journey is aligned with industry experts,” according to Rob Hendrickson, DIrector of Engineering and Maintenance at Frito-Lay, Beloit. “We look forward to our continued utilization of the Green Masters PRogram and the WI Sustainable Business Council to expand our network and industry relationships.”
Green Bay Packaging
Green Bay Packaging operations consist of corrugated container plants, a folding carton plant, a recycled linerboard mill, and a pressure-sensitive label rollstock plant, is committed to sustainable practices that optimize resources and responsibly balance economic, social and environmental goals in producing quality and innovative products for its customers. GBP strives for continuous improvement in performance, innovation and quality; supporting an effective stewardship essential to sustainaing community and value-added business partnerships.
In addition to continuous sustainability improvements at all Wisconsin locations in 2012, GBP-Wausau Division established a one-acre prairie habitat on its property, which reduces mowing and associated emissions, as well as conserving water.
Gundersen Health System
Gundersen Health System’s environmental program, Envision, is a model for healthcare providers nationwide. The health system has developed a portfolio of innovative projects designed to lower healthcare costs and lead the industry in environmental stewardship.
Knowing it was the right thing to do for their patients, staff and communities, Gundersen took a hard look at their own practices, thento ok the necessary steps to improve their environmental impact. Through their Envision program, Gundersen hasi mplemented a number of projects that have an effect on the health of their communities and the cost of care–such as improving their energy efficiency by 25%, increasing their renewable energy supply, improving their pharmaceutical and hazardous waste program and a commitment to recycling that’s led to a 25% recycling and resuse rate of the solid waste stream. The health system is well on its way of reaching its goal of 100% energy independence by 2014, and continues to look for ways to improve their environmental footprint.
InPro Corporation
InPro Corporation began their sustainable journey in 2009 and has implemented over 75 initiatives. Not only are InPro’s processes becoming increasingly sustainable, all new products are required to be examined for sustainable attributes through their Stage-Gate process. Some of the significant improvements that propelled the company to gain Green Masters status this year include a year-long effort to prepare for ISO 14001 certification to be completed in December 2012, a new water chiller for the extrusion lines with an automated valve system, commercial grade paper shredder for employees’ personal use, new energy-efficiency loading dock seals and converting extruders from DC drives to more energy-efficient AC drives.
JBS Green Bay, Inc.
JBS, the worlds’ largest producer of protein and related products, recognizes that enhanced management of environmental affairs promotes the sustainable health and welfare of the natural environment and provides balance, value and security to its operations, employees and the communities in which they reside. JBS Green Bay, Wisconsin’s largest beef producer, has participated in the Green Masters Program since 2010. JBS Green Bay is ISO 14001 certified and has been active in the WIsconsin Focus on Energy Program since 2005.
In 2012, JBS Green Bay received the very first JBS Environmental Pioneer Award “for the adoption of innovative approaches that exceed regulatory requirements and go above-and-beyond environmental compliance obligations resulting in superior results and new standards for excellence.”
JBS Green Bay contributed over $16,000 in 2012 for the Green Bay Area Community Shelter and an additional $26,719 to the local United Way. Additional contributions were made to the Green Bay Police Benevolent and Protective Association and a number of other local charities and fundraisers. JBS Green Bay donated the land for the Ray and Joan Kroc Salvation Army Community Center that opened in 2011.
Johnson Controls, Inc.
Johnson Controls’ 125-year commitment to energy efficiency today is exemplified in their Glendale, WI corporate headquarters campus which received Platinum LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Their headquarters has the largest concentration of LEED Platinum buildings. Despite doubling the size of the campus, energy use has been reduced by 21% and water usage decreased by 595,000 gallons/year. Through the energy efficiency installations on the campus, they are now annually reducing their U.S. carbon footprint by the equivalent of 827,000 pounds of carbon dioxide. This illustrates the very best of Johnson Controls, their values and what they offer to their customers.
KI
At KI, sustainability isn’t just about “going green”. It’s a fundamental way of doing business–one that conserves natural resources and reduces waste, consumption and operating costs. While sustainable practices have always been a part of KI’s heritage, they’ve sharpened their environmental focus over the past 20 years and set more aggressive goals for the corporation.
Today, they have clear sustainability objectives and metrics in place to ensure that they “walk the talk”. More specifically, they’ve challenged all of their manufacturing facilities to reduce consumption of energy, water, chemicals and CO2 emissions. Additionally, KI has implemented a Design for the Environment program that sets guidelines for the engineering and manufacturing of more environmentally friendly products. They’re also pleased to report significant decreases in landfill materials due to KI’s development of alternative recycling streams for items not typically recyclable, such as waste powder and textile scraps.
Underlying these efforts is an ongoing awareness program that seeks to educate and inform employees and the community oni mportant sustainability practices for the home and office environments. It’s all part of their “Green behind the red” initiative.
Kohl’s Department Store
Kohl’s has made a commitment to conserving the environment with long-term sustainability solutions. They have three sustainability strategies: sustainable operations, stakeholder engagement, and supply chain. Kohl’s sustainable operations strategy is the foundation of its environmental program with focuses on energy, recycling and building design. Kohl’s stakeholder engagement strategy keeps the company connected with its associates and customers, and helps build and maintain parternships. Kohl’s collaborates with its supply chain to share its passion for efficient and sustainable operations with all of its business partners.
As of December 2012, Kohl’s has 747 Energy Star labeled stores, 297 LEED-certified locations, 129 buildings with solar power, and two locations with wind power. Kohl’s has offset 100% of its energy use for three consecutive eyars and recycles approximately 150,000 tons of material every year. They take their environmental commitment seriously and will continue taking big steps to leave a smaller environmental footprint.
Lands’ End
The support Lands’ End has received from the WDNR and the UW-Madison School of Business through the Green Masters Program has helped the company expand its sustainable presence in each of the previous years. Edgar Huber, CEO and President of Lands’ End stated, “For nearly 50 years, Lands’ End has implemented a wide range of environmentally-focused business practices. Being recognized by the Green Masters Program for a third year confirms our commitment to sustainability.”
Lands’ End is consistantly looking for ways to improve its sustainability efforts and organizational policies. This year, the company’s internal GoGreen Committee established a five-year sustainability plan to help chart a course twards furthering sustainable business practices. Whether it’s partnering with local non-profit organizations such as the Madison-based Clean Lakes Alliance, reducing carbon use on its corporate campus, or continual investigation of the use of sustainable fabrics, Lands’ End is committed to making a difference.
Laser Pros International
From the very beginning, Laser Pros International (LPI) has been committed to doing the right thing. Our sustainability efforts and actions speak to our commitment of creating a sustainable future for our environment and future generations.
LPI is committed to managing the materials used in our facilities in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. Efforts are continually made to reduce waste, promote responsible procurement practices and create a healthy environment for our staff. With the addition of our coastal distribution centers, LPI has significantly reduced their carbon footprint with more direct ground delivers as opposed to air shipments.
To help reduce the environmental impact of packaging materials, their professional fulfillment team offers eco-friendly packagingma terials for product shipping. LPI uses Korryu packaging inserts made from natural, renewable materials containing a high percentage of recycled content. When foam inserts are necessary for shipment, LPI returns these pieces to our packaging vendor to complete the recycling circle. Eco friendly products are used throughout their production environment and the manufacturing process of their parts.
LPI’s recently installed updated lighting throughout the entire warehouse, and on outside signage. This update has resulted in a huge reduction in excess energy consumption and created a more energy efficient working environment.
Lauterbach Group Inc.
Lauterbach Group is a privately owned, midsize, award-winning flexographic printer located in Sussex. They are committed to environmental stewardship, sustainable and green initiatives. They partner with clients and suppliers to reduce their environmental impact. These sustainable measures have led to rapid growth while securing a diverse clientele base in a variety of commercial markets.
Their corporate ehadquarters and printing facility was recognized in March 2010 as a LEED silver certified building, having less impact on the environment, providing greater production efficiencies and greatly reducing operating costs. Group members are dedicated to utilizing new clean technologies to reuse process waste, actively recycle while reducing energy and natural resources consumption to include: reclamation of water, inks, pallets, product packaging and obsolete materials. The company has made significant headway toward its evenutal goal of zero landfill waste. The amount of waste material diverted from landfill is approximately 50% comapred to 2009 when it was 11%.
Menasha Corporation
Menasha Corporation’s commitment to sustainability extends beyond looking for leaner and greener ways to help its customers get their products to market. Menasha is actively pursuing its 20/20 Vision with a goal to reduce carbon emissions and water consumption 20% by the year 2020 as part of its over-arching objective of respecting the enviornment for today and for future generations. In 2013, Menasha will initiate a major employee engagement activity around sustainable actions in its employee’s everyday lives with the help of Cool Choices. The company is also committed to social causes and donates about $1 million to non-profit organizations in Wisconsin and in communities where it has oeprations each year.
Mercury Marine
Sustainable actions have long been integral parts of Mercury Marine’s business practices. In 2011, Mercury Marine organized these activities under company-wide policies to ensure measurement and achievement. They are please to again be recognized as a 2012 Green Master organization. A few examples from their multiple sustainability initiatives include implementing cooling tower heat recovery system in die cast, saving 14 billion BTUs in building heat, launching an internal product scorecard measuring their engine’s eco-performance based, implementing a sustainability component in all capital spending requests and launching and winning the Walk This Way walking program with an average of 500,000 steps per employee plus biometric screenings. Other health initiatives include health risk assessments, individual employee health coaching and implementing stretching programs throughout the organization.
Miron Construction
Benchmarking their sustainable efforts has signficantly helped Miron to understand where they are along their sustainable journey and having measurable metrics enables Miron to determine new initiatives to implement to continue to improve. Over the course of the past year, Miron has emphasized social responsibility and focused on educational programs that impact their core business-”building green”.
Sustainability is one of Miron’s key corporate drivers and inherently a part of their culture. They will continue to benchmark and improve their sustainable efforts through the framework of the DNR Green Tier and Green Masters Programs. Their mission is to lead by example, and will continue to inspire people to make sustainable choices and share best practices with like-minded organizations such as the WI Sustainable Business Council.
Neenah Paper Incorporated
Neenah Paper’s sustainability committment is reflected in the Neenah Green Initiative, which focuses on mill-based solutions to minimize environmental impact. They are a proud consumer of Green Energy, a U.S. EPA Green Power Partner, and manufactures many brands carrying the Green-e, Green Seal and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certifications.
In 2012, the Whiting mill was honored with the Conservationist of the year award from the loca chapter of the Izaak Walton League. TThe Neenah Paper Fine Paper division beneficially reuses its entire paper mill sludge volume, uses water power to generate 25% of the Appleton mill electricity needs, and is dedicated to environmental protection and stewardship.
Northeast Wisconsin Technical College
Northeast Wisconsin Technical College continues to make sustainability a key piece of achieving its mission. NWTC has provided training in conservation, distribution and generation of energy, and has launched Great Lakes Energy Education Center. New programs in the past 3 years include Energy Management Technology, Solar Energy Technology, Environmental Engineering Technology, Utilities Engineering Technology and Smart Grid. Their students complete hands-on training within their facilities in partnership with education and oeprations. Principles of sustainability have been built into the curriculum in many areas of the college. In college operations, NWTC’s energy team has been guiding energy improvements that should pay for themselves in 10 years or less. Through a mix of better technology and new work practices, the college has cut electricity use 22% since 2008 and plans to reduce energy use another 15% by 2018. This year, the college chartered a sustainability team as well, with members from throughout the college. It’s charged with developing sustainability projects and monitoring the college’s progress.
Phillips-Medisize
Phillips-Medisize, a leading global outsource provider of design and manufacturing services, has served the medical and commercial markets for nearly 50 years. Historically, the company has been based primarily in Wisconsin. Last year, the company purchased European-based Medisize to expand their global presence serving the medical industry. Today, Phillips-Medisize is headquartered in Hudson, Wisconsin and employs over 2,100 people in 19 locations throughout the United States, Europe, and China.
They pride themselves on their environmental performance and strongly encourage sustainable environmental business practices. They are engaged in their communities and are continually exploring innovative projects such as water reduction/re-use, energy improvements, waste reduction, hazardous waste elimination and coordinated engagement/involvement.
Spring Green Timber Growers
Spring Green Timber Growers takes sustainability seriously. It means that in every step of every process, from the forest to the finished product, they strive to minimize their carbon footprint and ecological impact. The wood they use is grown using a process called Full Vigor Forestry which uses dead and dying trees, and helps the forest to achieve its maximum growth potential. They carefully remove the tree from the forest and mill the wood themselves. They use the power of the sun to dry all of their wood, and make all of their wood products from start to finish, less than 10 miles from where the trees were harvested.
All Timber Green Woods products are made from Sustainable Harvest wood from their family farm. This means that they are using twhat the forest gives them, and not taking away from the natural prosperity of the land. Because their forest is well managed, it not only grows with more vigor, but produces a higher quality of wood. They have been Smart Wood certified by the Forest Stewardship CCouncil (FSC) whose mission is to improve the management of the world’s forests.
The Channeled Resources Group
The Channeled Resources Group is a worldwide leader in the field of reprocessed speciality paper and film. It is their mission to channel cost effective and environmentally repsonsible solutions to their global customers and suppliers. They have a long standing tradition of not only managing their business in a sustainable manner but also helping other businesses do the same. They have continued their efforts at landfill diversion in 2012 for their company and others looking for help with their efforts. The Maratech facility in Marathon is a 186,000 sq. ft. state of the art manufacturing plant involved in converting and reprocessing specialty papers and films.
Union Cab Cooperative of Madison, LLC
Union Cab has been working on greening their fleet since Earth Day 2010 when they purchased their first Toyota Prius. Having determined that their fleet is 80% of their environmental footprint, they knew they had to begin environmental work with the cabs. In March of 2012, they made the big leap and finished the process, taking out a large business loan so that all 36 sedans in the fleet are Prius. The business case for this conversion was clear: they immediately realized a fuel savings of $38,000 per month. They expect that by the end of the year, they will realize a total CO2 savings of over 400 tons. Union Cab now has the largest hybrid taxi fleet in the state.
Union Cab facilities are about 8% of their overall environmental footprint. This year they isntalled a solar photovoltaic array. While conservation estimates suggest that it will only displace about 3.8% of their electric bill, the annual CO2 reduction will be about the equivalent of two of the minivans. Union sees this as a starter system, as they have plenty of available south-facing roof and parking lot space to add solar panels.
Upper Iowa University-Madison
Upper Iowa University-Madison continues to innovate in terms of becoming more sustainable as a business. They have had their hallway lights converted to energy-efficiency bulbs in cooperation with Wisconsin’s Focus on Energy Program. They have converted their electricity to use 100% renewable energy through Madison Gas and Electric’s Green Power. In the Spring of 2013, they will conduct another carbon footprint as part of their Global Warming undergraduate science course. Upper Iowa University-Madison has reduced their waste stream and greened their supply chain for every operation.
Webcrafters, Inc.
Throughout 2012, Webcrafters Inc. made HVAC improvements at their North Plant office. In doing so, the company quickly identified an imbalance between the heating and cooling in different areas. Through expanding a Direct Digital Control system to monitor and control 19 variable air volume boxes they have increased control of individual spaces in addition to roof-top units. Overall this has decreased maintenance and staff time and saved thousands of dollars in electricity and natural gas with increased employee comfort. In addition, Webcrafters Inc. worked with a Wisconsin vendor to design a new control system which senses what, when and how much suction is needed at each bindery trim removal machine and only runs blowers to that level. The system saves Webcrafters Inc. upwards of a million kilowatts of electricity every year.
Wisconsin Industrial Sand Company
Wisconsin Industrial Sand Company’s (WISC) business philosophy focuses on the “Three Ps” of sustainable development–People, Planet and Prosperity. Environmental stewardship is a fundamental element of the way they operate, not only because they recognize it is critical to prosperity, but because they strongly believe it is simply the right thing to do. WISC’s financial success is rooted in their ability to identify and respond to key social and environmental issues. This approach to sustainable development helps to drive innovation and growth within the company.
With this philosophy, WISC has been able to achieve great strides in their sustainable development efforts at their operations in Hager City, Bay City, Maiden Rock, and Menomonie, Wisconsin. Their facilities have recently incorporated upgrades to improve energy efficiency and water consumption, including a solar array installed at the Menomonie facility that provides enough energy to offset nearly all the power used by the office, lab and maintenance shop. Over the last three years, WISCH as decreased the amount of fresh water needed for their process by 60%. Since 2010, WISC has decreased energy consumption by 35% and decreased the amount of waste going to landfill by 86%. Just recently, WISC took the final steps to become a Zero Landfill (ZLF) facility. WISC works closely with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to protect local wildlife species and their habitats, monitor bat populations in their underground mines and collaborate with DNR and local Trout Unlimited chapters to restore nearby streams and rivers. Their Environmental Management System (EMS) and sustainable development teams guide these and future improvements.
