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Does Your Company Recycle Electronics? 

10/13/2015

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If so, your customers may soon start asking whether it is R2:2013 certified.  While this certification is fairly new, many industry leaders have adopted it which may influence your ability to re-sell or recycle their electronics.  As a key component of the standard, downstream vendors that process electronics from other, upstream companies that are R2 certified will be expected to meet certain standards for product quality and responsible recycling practices.

Even if R2:2013 certification looks like a distant possibility for your company right now, get ahead of the curve by setting up your ISO 14001 environmental management system and OHSAS 18001 health and safety systems now.  The R2 Standard requires accreditation to both of these standards or to RIOS in order to receive certification, and these certs also have their own benefits.  Having an internationally-recognized certification proving you have systems to manage your environmental, health, and safety issues can only benefit your company in the long run whether or not you choose to pursue additional certifications to increase your ability to do business.  

For more information on the R2:2013 Standard, view SERI's website here:  https://sustainableelectronics.org/

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Laundry Poster Giveaway!

4/30/2015

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As a special web exclusive, here is a free laundry poster download containing a variety of helpful sustainability tips.  Post it up in any common laundry room to make sure users save you water and energy, and minimize pollution impacts with their laundry habits.  Enjoy!

Having trouble seeing the preview below?  Click here to download this free PDF file.  Be sure to contact Sundowner for a quote if you have additional custom sustainability signage needs!
sundowner_laundry_signage.pdf
File Size: 272 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

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DIY Hazardous Waste Bins

10/21/2014

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As a commercial customer, safely disposing of hazardous waste like burned out CFL's or batteries from your facility is your responsibility.  Unlike residential customers, commercial customers are expected to make their own drop offs for such waste items to a community hazardous waste collection center.  But how do you make sure your employees and co-workers properly store these items for collection?

Time for a simple DIY project to ensure your organization's batteries, old cleaning solutions, and other hazardous materials don't miss the next ride to the collection center:
  • Step 1: Purchase or find any clean bin with a properly fitting lid. (Landlords of multi-family housing units can even request a free orange bucket for this purpose from Marborg- info here). 
  • Step 2: Attach a Sundowner Universal Waste Poster ($8 for a printable PDF) to it.  
  • Step 3:  Voila! You have a bin with some excellent signage ready to accept hazardous waste.   
     
 Read on for more information on how to properly handle hazardous waste as a commercial customer.     
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Behind the Scenes:  2014 Community Clean Up Event

7/31/2014

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As anyone who has planned an event can tell you, it's a lot of work!  For government agencies and non profits, limited staff bandwidth combined with large public events means they can use all the help they can get.  Looking Good Santa Barbara's 11th annual Community Clean Up event, which brought together approximately 400 community members in support of beautification projects throughout the East and Westside neighborhoods of Santa Barbara was no exception.  To make a great event even better, Sundowner Sustainability offered pro-bono consulting services to pay attention to the green event features so organizers could keep their focus on the big picture.

One of the most useful features Sundowner focused on was creating a paperless online registration system.  Creating a publicly available survey that captured critical information allowed Sundowner and City staff to track how many volunteers planned to attend, what kind of projects they wanted to participate in, and ensure sufficient project materials for everyone.  There was also an online survey that allowed businesses to pledge participation and supplies virtually instead of snail mailing paper forms.  Together, the systems made registration paperless and ensured a successful event.

Event planners also wanted to make sure catering vendors, participants, and organizers were all on board with the City's efforts to make this a zero-waste event.  Historically, participants would have a hard time knowing how to sort effectively, or vendors would bring supplies that were non-compostable, reducing the effectiveness of the zero-waste bins.  Sundowner took the lead on communicating with food vendors to make sure they understood that compostable utensils and plateware would be available on-site, and double check on potential sources of waste.  When it comes to waste sorting, Sundowner strongly believes in the concept of creating waste signage that is customized to what's being served at the event.  As a result, Sundowner came prepared with interactive signage templates and physically attached examples of the appropriate waste to the signs.  Case and point:  it's a lot easier to look down at your plate, see the exact same plate posted on the waste sign, and know where to put it as opposed to having to read through a long list of potential materials to figure it out... wouldn't you agree? 



To bring the waste sorting message home, we also had an interactive waste sorting game for volunteers at the end of the event.  In exchange for prizes, participants could sort through a pile of sample waste items ranging from plastic bottles to batteries and place them in the appropriate "bins" (labeled sections of our sorting box).  The more items they placed correctly, the more points they earned.  It was a great way to educate people about waste streams in Santa Barbara, and how to appropriately dispose of unique items like CDs/DVDs and foodscraps.  

If you want help implementing green features like this at an upcoming event, don't forget to contact Sundowner for a free consultation ([email protected]).  For a news article containing more information on the event, click here. 
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    Sundowner offers a full range of sustainability ("green") consulting services to help organizations improve their environmental performance while saving time and money in the process.  Read on for more tips and case studies on how to make our mission part of your mission! 

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