Environmental protection, workplace wellness, and safety are integral to Mack’s success. The company’s Environmental Policy is based on compliance, risk reduction and prevention, resource management, and communication. We also subscribe to an Environmental Purchasing Policy that gives preference to suppliers whose products have environmentally friendly attributes.
To reinforce these policies, Mack has developed an environmental management system that systematically and comprehensively tracks and reduces environmental impacts in all business operations. See below to see Mack’s specific goals for FY20 in the areas of energy conservation, waste reduction, land preservation & management, and environmental education & awareness.
Energy Conservation
1. Add ceramic heater bands to all presses at the Cavendish and East Arlington Plants.
2. Reduce steam loss at the Cavendish and East Arlington Plants.
3. Eliminate lost pressured air at the Cavendish and East Arlington Plants.
4. Upgrade 40+ year-old main transformer at the Cavendish Plant.
5. Upgrade old lighting fixtures to LEDs at the East Arlington and Pownal Plants.
6. Replace broken windows at the Pownal Plant to help retain heat.
7. Add new Jockey pump for fire suppression to reduce run time at the Pownal Plant.
8. Replace lights with more energy efficient options at Headquarters.
- Continued converting lighting to LEDs, with 285 lights changed over in FY20.
9. Evaluate Switch Consolidation at Headquarters with an eye toward replacing several units with a single larger unit.
10. Purchase LED monitors instead of LCD Consumption at Headquarters
- Replace 25 monitors with LED panel
Resource Conservation
1. Encourage green transportation options at Headquarters.
- Install two Level 2 electric vehicle charging stations for use by customers, employees, and the community.
- A car can be fully charged in four hours.
2. Control recyclable materials and ensure nothing gets to land fill that does not have a viable recycling outlet.
- Work with local vendors to maximize financial incentives to drive increased sort
- Ensure metal plastic, corrugate and paper do not end up in landfill streams from each facility
3. Maximize the purchases of recycled office supplies (MRO) through vendor assignments.
- Work with Staples to create a reporting metric to track opportunities and executed material purchases that have maximum recycles content.
4. Adopt green business practices.
- Utilize environmentally friendly business practices such as:
- working from home
- carpooling
- web/teleconferencing
- minimizing the use of paper
- leveraging green hotel policies, such as not washing linens or towels, when we travel
5. Coffee ground recycling program
- Revitalize and ensure compliance with the Grounds to Grow On coffee ground recycling program through Keurig. A total of 143.9 cups of material was recycled in FY20.
6. Conserve energy and paper use and improve health,
- Install light motion sensor in conference rooms
- Turn AC down in building/department
- Print things only if needed and 2 sided if possible
- Install anti-microbial device in large conference rooms
7. Reduce reliance on paper processes
- Select HRIS/Payroll vendor to provide system upgrades that would reduce the amount of paper processed in HR functions.
8. Add air dryers in the bathrooms to reduce paper waste at the Cavendish and East Arlington Plants.
9. Reduce waste generated by plastic water bottles.
- Expanded program to replace water fountains with combination bottle filling fountains with one additional fountain replaced in FY20.
10. Recycle printer cartridges.
- Use free shipping labels to recycle all toner cartridges.
11. Continue and improve efforts to recycle more.
- Encourage department employees to bring reusable water bottles and fill with water dispenser installed
- Eliminate Styrofoam cups
Environmental
1. Eliminate high VOC paints at the Cavendish Plant.
- Engage Sherwin Williams to produce low VOC paint
2. Replace refrigerant in chillers with environmentally safe refrigerant.
Environmental Management, Education, & Awareness
- Communicate Mack’s Environmental Management Plan to the state of Vermont.
- Update plan with FY20 green goals
- Complete/submit annual survey to maintain Environmental Leader designation
2. Educate external audiences re Mack’s designation as VT Environmental Leader
- Add current goals to Sustainable Manufacturing section of website
- Communicate Mack’s environmental achievements through appropriate media outlets
