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Earth Day 2023: 存 Achieves Environmental Sustainability Milestones

Earth Day takes place each year on April 22^nd and is held to raise awareness about global environmental issues. 为了庆祝这一天, 存 Exchange took the opportunity to interview two key employees who are involved in turning 存’s ESG (environmental, 社会, and governance) strategy into action through environmental sustainability efforts.

For more information on 存’s broader set of ESG topics and actions, visit 存的ESG报告.

What has 存 been doing to address the Environment?

“存 started the journey to become more environmentally sustainable in 2016, 通过减少能源消耗, led by 尼克 Dalesandro and the Workplace Design and 服务 team,菲基尔·桑德斯说, 导演, Corporate Social Responsibility and ESG Reporting. Examples of these actions include LED lighting, 老化设备的退役, improving efficiency of equipment in buildings (retro-commissioning) and many more.  These actions have led to 33% reduction in energy consumption compared to 2016.

最近, a modification of 存’s buildings is being rolled out to prepare for a hybrid work environment that will utilize less energy resources.

“现在, our anchor days are Tuesdays and Wednesdays with our third day being one of the other three days in the week. We also know that Fridays are typically not the day employees come in. We're in the process of modifying building operations to align to a hybrid work environment where we have very low occupancy on certain days,尼克解释道。, noting on the days people tend to work remotely 存 has adjusted heating/cooling setpoints and ventilation rates to save energy. 

“The key message to employees is that we appreciate their support,” he says. “Without their active participation, we cannot achieve a more sustainable workplace.”

“We’re committed to continually providing updates via our intranet about how 存 sites are performing, and how they’ve performed over time from an energy perspective,尼克说。.

What Sustainability Milestones and 认证s has 存 Achieved? 

In addition to the continuous efforts to reduce energy consumption, 存 achieved the following internationally recognized certifications in 2021 and 2023. 这 is a giant step toward sustainability for 存.

ISO 50001:2018 is a standard for Energy Management providing the most robust framework for optimizing energy efficiency.  It demonstrates an organization’s commitment to continual improvement in energy management.

“ISO 14001:2015 Environmental management is an umbrella that covers a lot of different things. Some examples include how efficient we are with our waste stream of trash leaving the site, and how much of what we consume can be diverted away from landfill and recycled,尼克 Dalesandro说, 存的执行董事, Workplace 服务.

What is 存 Doing to Reduce Waste and Increase Recycling?

When 存 employees returned to the office following the coronavirus pandemic, they may have noticed some changes in their workplace setup - most notability, waste baskets were removed from beneath most desk spaces. 这 was done by design to streamline recycling efforts at 存.

“为了回收，我们移除了垃圾桶, 比如塑料瓶, were inadvertently being mixed with wet trash. As a result, we weren’t recycling as much as we could,” said 尼克.

In addition to a centralized location for recycling, 存 is starting to phase out single use water 瓶 in its pantries and cafes.

“We have given our employees at 泽西市 and 钦奈 a reusable water bottle. And we will continue doing that at other sites. 我们最终想要 最小化 一次性使用 瓶, but that would require people bringing in their reusable water 瓶 and going to refill them,” Fikir桑德斯 导演, Corporate Social Responsibility and ESG Reporting. “我们想鼓励 每一个人 to be more sustainable in our daily actions for the greater good of the company and the planet as a whole.”

最终, 存’s plan is to add soft drink dispensers in addition to the water dispensers at all locations. 这 has already been implemented in the 泽西市 office.

“We’re going to be putting in soda dispensers, like the kind you see at movie theaters in the US, where there's a bunch of different drink choices,” 尼克. “这 will all lead up to eliminating those single use 瓶. Because if you don't buy single use plastics/glass, you don't have to recycle them and our impact on the environment is lessened.”

Another effort is to eliminate plastic, such as snack packages.

“We're trying to move toward a bulk snack model where we have big canisters with snacks in them, and they're sealed but they will dispense into a reusable bowl,尼克说。.