Virco Wins EPA Award

The company was recognized for processing more than 29 million pounds of recyclables in 2000.

Since 1989, Virco operations have collected for recycling more than 75,000 tons of materials. This includes more than 40,000 tons of steel, 8,000 tons of cardboard and 3,000 tons of plastics. In addition, the company has processed over 600 tons of mixed paper during that time, as well as a staggering 23,500 tons of wood dust in the past three years alone.

Upcoming environmental projects at Virco include:

--  Working with raw material suppliers to eliminate wasteful shipping materials, such as wood pallets, by replacing them with recyclable packaging;

-- Using stretch wrap in place of cartons to ship student desks (anticipated savings in 2002 are 250 tons of cardboard, equal to 4,250 mature trees); stretch wrap is 100% recyclable and is accepted by most city recycling programs;