Monthly Archives: September 2008

When we think about green strategies and how we will implement them at VirTex, we try to address them in the order that is the lowest cost and the most environmentally friendly. 

The first question is how can we use less?  Ways of reducing include implementing paperless processing, changing methods of handling chemicals so as to minimize evaporation and closed loop processing.

The next question is can an item be reused, while still maintaining the quality and presentation of a product?  Several years ago during the dot com bust, a company called bike.com went out of business right behind us.  They gave us all of their shipping boxes so they did not go to waste.  We shipped small sample quantities and products in these boxes for over a year, sometimes covering it with a label, sometimes not.  Pallets that we receive shipments on are saved for outgoing shipping.  There are many things that can be reused if you look.  

The last is can it economically be recycled?  It’s easy to recycle cardboard and paper at a very slight cost premium to waste disposal.  Plastic has always been one of those items recycling companies reluctanly take, due to the cost of recycling, sorting, etc. 

I recently saw an article in The Guardian about a Welsh company named Closed Loop Recycling that is finding ready buyers for its recycled plastic due to the rising cost of oil.  They are talking about adding four more plants in the next five years. 

Check out the article and let me know what you think about this.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/15/waste.recycling

Brad

TerraCycle is a great company that makes fertilizer out of, as they call it, “worm poop”.  They were recently at the INC5000 conference encouraging other companies to do similar things.  They package it in recycled containers.  They also have a lot of other cool products made from and packaged in recycled products.  They are one of the first self proclaimed ECO-CAPITALISTS.  Check out their web site and products at http://www.terracycle.com.  They have truly embraced the reuse and recycle concepts of green manufacturing.

Look for ways to use things that will end up in a landfill otherwise.

Brad

http://www.virtexassembly.com

My name is Brad Heath and I am the president of VirTex Assembly Services,  an electronic manufacturing services company in Austin, TX.   I’ve set up this blog to talk about things companies are doing to be more environmentally friendly in manufacturing.  A lot of companies are doing a lot of cool stuff, some of it very minor and some major.  Every bit helps.  

At VirTex, we just went to a four day work week (4 days10 hours per day) at the request of our emplyees.  This allows them to save the gas that they would have spent driving to work the 5th day.  It also allows us to reduce the power usage in air conditioning the manufacturing area and powering up the SMT reflow machines.  I’m not sure how much it will save, but it’s a good first step and the right thing to do. 

A Canadian newspaper even picked up the story and included it in a recent article.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080920.RWORKOUT20/TPStory/Business

We’ll keep looking for new ways to be better corporate citizens.

Brad