BCC CASE STUDY: ENERGY EFFICIENCY

Location
Greensburg, PA facility

History of Sustainability
In early 2009, Coca-Cola Enterprises began a major push for sustainability when it announced a set of long-range goals as part of its 2009 Corporate Social Responsibility Report. These “Commitment 2020” goals include reducing the company’s carbon footprint by 15 percent by 2020 (compared to 2007 baseline), water neutrality, and sustainable product packaging and recycling. The bottling plant in Greensburg, PA understood the value of sustainability and was quick to embrace Coca-Cola’s corporate strategy. As a result, the Greensburg, PA Coca-Cola Bottling Company facility has made significant reductions in both waste and energy usage.

Approach - "Begin by Reducing Waste"
Although most companies looking to go green start with energy-saving projects, the Coca-Cola Bottling facility in Greensburg, PA saw its first opportunity in waste reduction. First, the facility initiated a recycling program and examined its waste streams. When the facility found that many of the stores it worked with did not recycle, Coca-Cola offered to take back any damaged products to recycle the bottles and cardboard.

As this recycling program ramped up, the Greensburg bottling facility was filling 28-30 gaylord boxes of materials a month, which were being picked up by an outside recycling company. The Coca-Cola Corporation realized it was outsourcing large quantities of materials it decided to move their recycling in-house. As a result, the company is now generating revenue from both plastic and cardboard recycling.

Prior to the launch of the recycling program in 2008, the facility filled a 10-yard and a 5-yard dumpster once a week; the facility now fills only one 3 yard dumpster once a month. This has reduced the facility’s annual waste budget from $15,000 in early 2008, to $1,635 in 2009, to only $788 in 2010. In 2009, Coca-Cola was able to use the savings from its waste budget toward another greening project—a mass installation of motion sensors.

Over the summer of 2009 Coca-Cola installed motion sensors in its facilities throughout the region, including Greensburg, Toledo, Akron, Erie, and Youngstown. This project resulted in a significant reduction in the Greensburg facilities’ utility budget (which includes electricity, gas, and water). The budget decreased from $57,000 in 2008, to $56,000 in 2009, to $47,000 in 2010. The Coca-Cola Bottling facility in Greensburg will continue to reduce its energy consumption and plans to reinvest the money saved into its employees, further greening initiatives, and non-profit organizations such as the Red Cross.

Unique Projects

• Completed a $25,000 retrofit of tow motors from propane to electricity. This reduced the CO2 levels in the building, improving the facilities’ air quality and saving $25,000 in propane costs.
  
• Researched Point of Sale information to avoid overproduction of materials and in turn reduce waste.
  
• Has pursued social sustainability at the local level through monthly employee food bank volunteering.

Recommendations

• Make sustainability a part of your everyday operations – Greening programs are great, but in order to see their full potential everyone needs to participate everyday.
  
• Don’t overproduce – Producing only the materials that you need cuts down on waste and frees up space by reducing your inventory.
  
• Examine your emission sources – looking into emission sources can help ensure the safety of your employees and can often reveal money-saving opportunities.
  

Data

Bottom Line
Although most operations begin sustainability programs with a focus on reducing energy usage, it is possible to begin with waste reduction or elsewhere. Do what makes sense for your business model.