Oregon DEQ: Land Quality - Solid Waste - Commercial Waste Reduction Clearinghouse - Success Stories

Food Service Packaging

Business: Central Oregon Council on Aging (Bend)

Number of Employees: 3

Vignette

Central Oregon Council on Aging operates a senior lunch program at the Bend Senior Center.

It was observed that many clients would not eat their roll because they were too full. Historically, rolls were placed on every client's plate along with all other foods. Now, staff try to circulate among the clients with the rolls in a basket; those clients who want a roll are given one, while others can choose to pass. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $450/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 2,500 rolls (312 pounds)/year.

Paying closer attention to the amount of food left over (unserved) after each meal and adjusting orders for the off-site kitchen reduced entree waste by 50% and side dish waste by 25%. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $990/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 1,200 pounds/year.

Soup is served once a week. The kitchen switched to reusable (washable) bowls for soup for sit-down clients (previously, disposable polystyrene bowls were used). Disposable bowls (with lids) are still used for the meals-on-wheels program. The reusable bowls are washed, along with other dishes, in the on-site commercial dishwasher. Additional water, energy, and detergent costs total a mere $6/year. It requires an additional 5 minutes of volunteer time per week to wash these extra dishes. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $45/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 2,600 polystyrene bowls/year.

Removed 25% to 50% of the lamps in the manager’s office and kitchen, which were both perceived as being "overlit". FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $30/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 650 kWh/year.

Case Study

None

Business: Coffee Resort (Milwaukie)

Number of Employees: 4

Vignette

Repaired a major leak in the toilet. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $1,764/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 332,000 gallons/year.

Purchases dish soap in bulk (larger containers), thus reducing packaging waste. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $20/year.

Washes dishes in dish pans rather than the sink. This saves water, the energy to heat it, and detergent. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $67/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 950 kWh and 6,700 gallons of water/year.

Reduced the number of outside lights. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $225/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 2,360 kWh/year.

Offers reusable mugs for in-store coffee consumption, as an alternative to disposables. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $175/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 178 pounds of disposable cups/year.

Case Study

None

Business: Corvallis Area Chamber of Commerce (Corvallis)

Number of Employees: 12

Vignette

Monthly newsletter is mailed to members without a manila envelope ("self-mailer"). FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $2,100/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 520 pounds of envelopes/year.

Staff have been educated to turn computers off at night and monitors off when not in use. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $380/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 6,900 kWh/year.

Staff have also been educated to turn off lights when they leave the room. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $53/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 850 kWh/year.

Aerators were installed on bathroom faucets to reduce water use and the energy to heat it. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $61/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 26 therms (gas) and 6,300 gallons (water)/year.

Programmable, 24-hour, 7-day thermostats were installed to automatically reduce heating and cooling during unoccupied times.

Ceramic mugs are provided at meetings for guests who don’t want to use disposables. The mugs are then washed in the on-site dishwasher. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $24/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 15 pounds of disposable cups/year.

In over-lit offices, some light bulbs were removed to save energy and reduce the lighting to comfortable levels. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $62/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 1,000 kWh/year, plus light bulbs.

Employees have been educated how to use paper more efficiently in the printers (such as reducing margins and line spacing), how to copy on both sides of the page, and alternatives to full page fax cover sheets. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $74/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 74 pounds of paper/year (about 1-1/2 cases).

Case Study

None

Business: Legacy Health Systems (Portland)

Number of Employees: unknown

Vignette

Created an organizational policy to eliminate mercury - the first hospital in Oregon to do so and among the first 200 hospitals in the US.

Replaced disposable foam mattresses with reusables. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $81,527/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 16,350 pounds/year.

Switched from buying juice in 32 oz. glass container to 60 oz. plastic container (containers are recycled; larger containers use less material). FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $125/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 2,500 pounds/year.

Eliminated rarely-used items from custom packs of surgical supplies. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: more than $30,000/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 11,000 pounds/year.

Consolidated duplicative admitting kits for maternity patients. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: more than $3,500/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 2,700 pounds/year.

Switched from disposable gowns and drapes to reusable ones. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $100,000/year. (For one surgery unit only, Legacy is trying to do this organization-wide).

Reduces photocopying by keeping originals in shared files. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: more than $128,000/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 2,100 pounds/year.

Customized the distribution of reports and newsletters; periodically checks distribution lists and only sends reports and newsletters to departments and individuals who request them. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: more than $10,000/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 4,100 pounds/year.

Consolidated seven different patient forms into a single flow sheet. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $158/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 300 pounds/year.

Eliminated unused third page of three-part carbonless form. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $199/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 60 pounds/year.

In 1999, recycled cardboard, 1.1 million pounds of office paper, 72,000 pounds of glass bottles, 54,000 pounds of metal, and 92,000 pounds of several resins of plastics. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $83,000/year.

Recycled 1 ton of lead-acid and NiCd batteries in 1999.

Case Study

Case study exists, call Metro, 503-234-3000.

Mark Kidd, Recycling Specialist for Legacy Health reports that a total of $297,000 was saved through waste reduction and recycling in 1999.

Business: Lochmead Dairy (Junction City)

Number of Employees: 40

Vignette

Lochmead Dairy sells milk, ice cream, and other products through its 45 Dari-Mart stores, which are all located within 35 miles of the dairy (between Philomath and Creswell). At least 45% of all milk Lochmead processes is sold in reusable bottles, and an estimated 93.5% of the bottles are returned for reuse. The durable polycarbonate containers are lightweight, virtually unbreakable, and can be refilled 100 times. Customers pay a 60 cent deposit and collect the money when they bring the empty bottle back, although most people put the money toward their next milk purchase. Lochmead also provides non-returnable containers to shoppers who don’t want to return them.

Case Study

None

Business: Lynch Wood Elementary School (Portland)

Number of Employees: unknown

Vignette

Students eliminated the use of straws, individual food wrappers, and single serving food containers in the cafeteria.

The school reuses polystyrene packing peanuts and packing foam, and also recycles paper, plastic, glass, tin, crayons, batteries, and cooking oil.

Case Study

None

Business: Melanie’s Flowers (Cannon Beach)

Number of Employees: 2

Vignette

Melanie’s Flowers is a flower and coffee shop.

Large packing boxes that flowers arrive in are saved and sent back with the flower supply company for reuse. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 190 pounds/year.

When coffee is served in disposable cups, staff used to automatically "double cup" all drinks. Staff switched to asking if a single or double cup was preferred. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: more than $800/year in cup costs. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 390 pounds/year.

Uses reusable, washable coffee filters. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $125/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 50 pounds/year.

Installed toilet "dummy" (sealed bags filled with a weight, such as rocks) in the tanks of all toilets. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $20/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 5,100 gallons/year.

Repaired leaking window.

Reduced size of coffee club cards.

Case Study

None

Business: Royal Blend Coffee (Bend)

Number of Employees: 22

Vignette

Royal Blend Coffee’s First Street Store in Bend added a bulk dispenser of skim milk and stopped purchasing and wasting cartons of skim milk. The dairy supplier provided the dispenser at no charge. Each 6-gallon plastic bag of milk replaces 24 one-quart cartons. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $767/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 812 pounds of packaging/year.

Lamps were removed in the reception area, offices, and conference rooms, all of which were overlit. Exit signs were changed from standard incandescent bulbs to low-energy LED lamps. The lights inside and above the reach-in cooler in the bakery were also turned off. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $143/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 2,400 kWh/year.

Case Study

None

Business: Sagewood School (Bend)

Number of Employees: 8

Vignette

Informed parents of how to pack a "waste wise" lunch for kids; switched from paper towels to cloth towels for staff; and started a mixed paper recycling bin. The school was able to reduce the size of their garbage can from 60 gallons to 33 gallons.

Reformatted reimbursement forms to use half as much paper.

Began double-siding the school newsletter.

Turned down hot water temperature from 130^o to 120^o Fahrenheit. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $23/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 460 kWh/year.

Case Study

None

Business: Stahlbush Island Farms, Inc.

Number of Employees: 22

Vignette

Stahlbush Island Farms is a grower and processor of fruits and vegetables. Most of the company’s customers are large food product manufacturers.

Water use has been reduced by more than 50%, due to an innovative system where water is used in three or four different applications. Water is used to cool hot pumpkin puree and compressor oil, and to condense ammonia refrigerant. The warmed water is then used to pre-heat both the boiler and pumpkins. Wastewater from pumpkin and equipment washing is applied to fields for irrigation.

Timers were installed on fan motors in freezers so that fans don’t run all of the time. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $4,500/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 133,000 kWh/year.

As targeted motors wear out, they are replaced with high-efficiency motors. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: when fully implemented, this will save $2,300/year in electric bills. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 50,000 kWh/year.

Only "natural" (uncolored) five gallon HDPE plastic pails are used. These pails are easier for customers to recycle.

Ammonia compressor head pressure and boiler pressure have been adjusted to conserve energy.

The farm composts food scraps and is experimenting with using food scraps as cattle feed.

Some bulk products are shipped in reconditioned drums.

Corrugated cardboard boxes and office paper are recycled.

Case Study

Case study exists.

Business: The Village Baker (Bend)

Number of Employees: <10

Vignette

Added a smaller bag for individual baked goods. Each small bag uses less materials and costs less money than a larger bag. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $156/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 290 pounds of bags/year.

Changed shape of one specialty bread to fit in existing, smaller bag.

Provides permanent-ware mugs for customers to use instead of paper cups for in-house purchases of coffee, other hot drinks. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $181/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 210 pounds of disposable cups/year.

Case Study

None

Business: Tualatin High School (Tualatin)

Number of Employees: ~100

Vignette

Encourage teachers and students to copy, print, and write on both sides of the page.

Eliminated print overruns of the school newspaper. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $1,260/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 260 pounds/year.

Use a posting policy to discourage excess posters; install more bulletin boards, reduce number of posters. This reduces high custodial costs repainting damaged walls.

Classroom garbage can liners are no longer changed every night unless obviously soiled. Lunchroom garbage can liners are only pulled between lunches if more than half full.

Replaced paper food trays for a la carte items with wax tissue pickups. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $458/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 320 pounds/year.

A mulching mower is used everywhere except the football field and baseball diamond. This saves mowing time, hauling expenses, and garbage bags. It also returns nitrogen and other nutrients to the soil, reducing lawn fertilizer needs. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: more than $10,000/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 37,800 pounds/year.

Purchase cleaning solutions in concentrate. A dispenser unit is used to mix the concentrates with water at the correct ratio. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $300/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 350 pounds/year.

Purchase remanufactured laser printer cartridges rather than new cartridges. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $1,200/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 72 pounds/year.

Built in 1991, the school features glazed and double-paned windows, electronic ballasts, advanced fluorescent lights, and computer controlled heating and cooling. As a result of these design features, Tualatin High School uses 36% less energy per square foot of building space than the district’s other high school. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: approximately $35,000/year.

Case Study

Case study exists, call Metro, 503-234-3000.