December 30, 2002—Xerox Corporation has proven that environmental and employee safety initiatives can still be carried out in a slow economy. This vision has delivered significant gains for Xerox in energy savings and reuse-and-recycle rates in both factories and products, as well as improvements in employee safety measurements. Among the successes detailed in the company’s new 2002 Environment, Health and Safety Progress Report, Xerox:
- Prevented 149 million pounds of material from entering landfills through the reuse and recycling of Xerox equipment in 2001. Total waste diverted from landfills through equipment remanufacture and parts reuse/recycle from 1991 to 2001 was more than 1.2 billion pounds (which Xerox says would fill nearly 137,000 garbage trucks, which lined up end to end would stretch 520 miles).
- Enabled energy savings of nearly 1.5 million megawatt hours of electricity in 2001 through reuse of parts and the sale of ENERGY STAR products. According to Xerox, that is enough energy to light more than 1 million US homes for a year.
- Cut emissions of ozone and dust from Xerox equipment by 56% and 81%, respectively, from a 1990 baseline. These reductions are one result of Xerox’s waste-free product goals, which have also encompassed energy-efficient product design enabling customer energy savings.
- Recycled 90% of all non-hazardous solid waste in 2001. That includes recovery and recycling of 94 % of all “end-of-life” equipment returned to the company.
- Beneficially managed 99% of hazardous waste through treatment, recycling, or fuels blending. Since 1991 there has been an 89% reduction in air emissions from Xerox supplies manufacturing operations, its most chemically-intensive processes.
- Reduced the number of musculoskeletal injuries among Xerox employees in US manufacturing operations by 65% since 1992.
According to Xerox, the company’s goal, which is “waste-free products from waste-free facilities” has sparked creative thinking and multimillion-dollar savings worldwide. For instance, in 2001, Xerox employees in the US found they could clean returned Xerox equipment with dry ice pellets instead of volatile organic solvents. The substitution not only contributed to a reduction in hazardous waste, but it has also reduced cleaning time by 40% and lowered cleaning costs by 35%.
Xerox plans to fine-tune and expand its program in the future. For the complete 2002 Environment, Health and Safety Progress report, (.pdf format) visit Xerox.
