As part of our Corporate Meetings & Events team’s focus on Green Meetings, they diverted over 70% of the waste generated at our 2008 Worldwide Convention, keeping approximately 244 tons of material out of the landfill.
Walking the talk from the Corporate Center
While much of our environmental focus currently involves restaurants in our local markets, we have also made progress at our own corporate headquaters by engaging employees and making our corporate office campus more environmentally friendly.
Employee Engagement - “Green Team”
A group of employees from over forty departments at our home office have joined together as the corporate Green Team to educate others and promote positive environmental changes both on the corporate campus and within the regional offices and their diverse business areas. In addition to sponsoring “lunch and learns” and other awareness activities, they helped organize the second annual Green Week in June 2008.
Nearly half of all corporate employees took advantage of a variety of Green Week activities, including an electronics recycling drive, a discussion of sustainable transportation, a green supplier fair and a gardening exposition highlighting our campus grounds.
Greener corporate office buildings
In 2007, our corporate office building received an Energy Star Certification of 91, out of total of 100 points. We are currently exploring additional environmental enhancements as we apply for LEED Existing Building Certification. These will build on several proactive measures already in place, including:
- Use of energy-efficient light bulbs and automated lighting equipment for common areas, conference rooms and restrooms
- Temperature regulation to avoid excess use of heating or air-conditioning during non-business hours
- A shift of purchases of company cars toward vehicles that achieve better mileage per gallon. During the most recent order cycle, more than 70% of the vehicles ordered were classified as environmentally-friendly based on their fuel economy.
- Installation of sensors on toilets and faucets to help control water use in our restrooms
- Operation of campus-wide recycling program. All waste from campus facilities is brought to a central location, where items are separated for recycling. In the first half of 2008, we diverted approximately 58% of our waste, which represents over 50 tons of waste that were kept out of a landfill.
- Sensitivity to our surrounding environment. Our headquarters are situated in a woodland area that was carefully preserved during construction. We extend this care in maintaining this area – planting with native plants, restoring natural woodland areas and using natural compost where possible.