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Quad/Graphics, Sussex WI, was the winner of the 2009 WhatTheyThink Environmental Innovation Award for Environmental Sustainability and Your Plant, which recognized Quad/Graphics as a company that is “walking the talk” in their own plant.
Quad/Graphics Environmental Initiatives
Hear how Joe Muehlbach, Director of Facilities and Environmental Policy, Quad/Graphics, describes his company's projects and the benefits resulting from them.
Quad/Graphics intends to be the first printer of its kind to have all its major manufacturing sites designated as green buildings through the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification program. To receive certification, a site must demonstrate:
- Sustainable site development
- Water efficiency
- Energy efficiency
- Materials and resource selection
- Indoor environmental quality
- Recycling 99% of all solid waste. A facility must recycle a minimum of 60% of its solid waste to quality for 3 certification points. Our rate earned an additional innovation point for a total of 4 points.
- Participating in the U.S. EPA’s SmartWay Transport Partnership that has led to greenhouse gas emissions reductions from our fleet of 100 trucks. In 2007, we prevented the emission of 12, 658 tons of carbon dioxide – the equivalent of taking 2,485 passenger cars off the road.
- Purchasing GREENGUARD-certified, low-emitting products and materials to improve indoor air quality. Our corporate-wide purchasing system will soon feature an icon next to environmentally preferable or LEED-compliant products and materials, making it easy for our purchasing agents to make “green” choices.
- Offering a 10-cent-per-cup discount on coffee when you use your own cup or reuse a cup. An extensive awareness campaign increased cup reuse 30% over the previous year and prevented over 18,000 disposable cups from being land-filled at the Sussex plant, 35,000 companywide.
- Our Environmental department set up a worm farm at our onsite childcare center in 2008 to create compost from food scraps. Children can participate in “feeding” the worms. Eventually, the compost will be used on a garden raised by the children. Produce will be sold to help offset expenses at the childcare facility.
- Creating the Quad Building Management Network(QBMN), an enterprise-wide computerized system for monitoring, recording and, in some cases, controlling in real time heating, ventilating and air conditioning; electrical and natural gas consumption and demand; process boilers, chillers, air compressors and vacuum systems; indoor air quality; and life safety systems.
- At Sussex, we've completed an energy baseline study. Data collection will streamline and improve our energy budgeting process and allow us to extract the building baseline from the total energy profile. Like an MRI scanner, QBMN is a diagnostic tool for proactive maintenance and energy use. Without QBMN, we wait for utility bills and attempt to understand what already happened, like an autopsy.
- Voluntarily agreeing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25% over a 10-year period (baseline 2003) through membership in the U.S. EPA’s Climate Leaders. As of yearend 2007, we achieved a 19.1% reduction corporatewide, and a 31.6% reduction in Sussex.
- Benefiting from a 2003 lighting retrofit in the Sussex plant. We exceeded the LEED criterion of mercury reduction of 100 picograms per lumen hour with 86 picograms per lumen hour. The lights burn 50% brighter, but consume 50% less energy. All plants now have the lights.
- Creating preferred parking for carpoolers and alternative fuel vehicles in 2008 – now in use by 200 individuals at the Sussex plant.
- Absenteeism has been halved in three years’ time. Improvements in indoor environmental quality were a significant contributing factor.
- Quad/Graphics will mentor Sussex-area small businesses in environmental sustainability.
