Greening by Example

Earth 911 has been helping people around the world see the green light for the past 16 years. But what value would all the content, tips and resources have if Earth 911 itself didn’t practice what it preached? After all, Earth 911 is a company made up of employees and daily work just like any other out there.

Rest easy all you Earth 911 fans, as the nation’s premier environmental resource has plenty of policy in place to make sure that it is just as eco-friendly on the inside as on the outside. Much of the credit for this policy has to do with parent company Global Alerts, which took over the Earth 911 portal just over a year ago.

Contrary to what you may have imagined, Earth 911 isn’t run out of a tree house using hydro-power and a gray water treatment system. It is an office building in Scottsdale, Arizona, with cubicles and a water cooler and everything else you’d expect to see in an office. But the difference is what you might not expect to see.

Earth 911 has a company recycling system in place where employees can recycle paper, aluminum, glass and plastic bottles, as well as office supplies like ink cartridges. There are no disposable cups for water or coffee; employees bring in mugs from home.

The office printers are set up to print double-sided by default, and any new electronics purchases are done with energy efficiency as a top priority.

Earth 911 also encourages a green lifestyle among its employees. In addition to endorsing the use of public transportation, the company devotes one parking spot to carpools or hybrid-technology cars. Employees are also able to telecommute from home one day a week, reducing the amount of energy consumed in a car ride to and from the office.

Any Earth 911 business cards are produced on recycled paper with soy-based ink. The company has also partnered with Genesys Conferencing to hold a majority of meetings via telephone instead of traveling for face-to-face encounters.

Lastly, to celebrate its 16th birthday, Earth 911 held an electronics recycling event for its neighboring businesses to recycle their e-waste. If every company practiced just a few of these policies on an everyday basis, just imagine the difference it could make.