NRC CONVENTION: Companies Talk Sustainability

The National Recycling Coalition (NRC) began its 22^nd Annual Congress & Exhibition Monday, Sept. 15, with a plenary session in which representatives from Nike, Dell and TI Paperco announced recent developments concerning their recycling programs and discussed the concept of corporate responsibility.

The plenary session began with a brief update energy conservation and resource management at the federal level by John Howard, the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive. The office “continues the role of doing good work without telling the public about it,” Howard began. He went on to outline the federal government’s initiatives involving green building, energy conservation and green purchasing.

In the area of green building, Howard said the federal government is “truly leading by example.” He directed attendees to his department’s Web site at www.ofee.gov/sb/sb.htm for additional information and examples of projects that have been executed at the federal level. Among the projects detailed on-line are the addition of solar panels to the White House and federal facilities that have attained LEED ratings.

Howard also mentioned the government’s green purchasing efforts, which encourage purchasing bio-based, energy-efficient goods. He noted that an inter-agency team has been assembled to unite all of the green purchasing efforts that have been undertaken at the departmental level.

Kate Krebs, executive director of the NRC, served as moderator for the session, which centered on the concept of corporate responsibility and featured Pat Nathan, sustainable business director for Dell; David Refkin, president of TI Paperco Inc.; and Lee Weinstein, director of corporate responsibility communications for Nike.

“If we use corporate responsibility correctly,” Weinstein said, “we can add to the brand. We’re at a place, where all of our employees see corporate responsibility as a part of their jobs,” he said of Nike. The Oregon-based company has partnered with the NRC for the Re-use a Shoe Program. Weinstein announced that the program will expand in its second year to include all of the country’s 50 states. 

Dell’s Nathan said she prefers the term “sustainability” to “corporate responsibility,” because it brings to mind not only the preservation of the environment but also the need for a business to remain profitable.

Dell has experimented with different price points in developing a recycling system for its products along with those of other manufacturers. Nathan added that of all the electronics taken in at Dell-sponsored collection events, only 5 percent carried the Dell name. The remainder was orphan waste.

Nathan added that bringing recycling in house has helped Dell to reduce costs and to better manage the process, though she stressed that collection events are not a long-term solution to electronics waste.

She also expressed the possibility of setting up a grant program for Dell-assisted collection events, saying that supply-chain management is one of Dell’s competencies.

Together, Dell and the NRC have launched a program to educate recycling professionals on the best computer reuse and recycling practices through community collection events. 

TI Paperco, a division of AOL Time Warner, and the NRC have joined together in an attempt to boost the recycling rate for old magazines with pilot projects in two U.S. cities.

TI’s Refkin said that his primary focus was on paper purchasing, though it has recently shifted to forestry and recycling initiatives of late. Eighty percent of the land from which TI’s suppliers source trees have forest management programs in place.

While magazines unsold at the newsstand have a 95 percent recovery rate, Refkin said, only approximately 20 percent of magazines are recovered from homes. He added that TI will work with municipalities to try to convey the recycling message to readers.

All three panelists agreed that European initiatives are influencing their practices. Though their companies are based in the U.S., they sell their products globally and must meet the European standards. However, each felt it was important to note that Europe hasn’t exactly provided a single, ideal solution.

“Europeans aren’t doing everything right and the U.S. doing everything wrong,” Weinstein said, adding the Europe’s approach is generally more holistic than that of the U.S.

The NRC Congress & Exhibition was held in Baltimore Sept. 15-17.