Greentech Lead America: Aflac, a provider of voluntary insurance in the United States and Japan, serving more than 50 million people, has announced that its waste reduction and recycling initiatives kept nearly 2 million pounds of solid waste from being sent to landfills in 2012.
In 2012, Aflac’s recycling efforts increased to 74 percent of all solid waste compared to just 57 percent in 2009, the company said in its 2012 Corporate Citizenship Report.
Aflac generates more than 2 million pounds of solid waste per year at its Columbus, Georgia headquarters, where nearly 4,000 employees are based.  In recent years, the company has incorporated several innovative devices and events to help recycle these materials in an environmentally-friendly way, including:
A polystyrene crushing device that crushes tons of used polystyrene food and drink containers – staples of any contemporary company cafeteria – into compact bricks used in the manufacture of recycled consumer products.
A food “digester” that converts food waste to grey water which is routed through the city sewer system. In 2012, this technology alone diverted up to 40,000 pounds of waste from landfills.
Regular “Freecycle” events that rescue paper products, file cabinets, and desk organizers destined for the trash, putting them to use elsewhere in the company.
Aflac has also reduced electricity consumption by 17 percent since 2009, trimming its kilowatt per hour consumption from 31.4 kWh to 26.1 kWh per square foot in 2012. In addition, in 2012, 84 percent of the square footage that Aflac owns and operates is Energy Star rated.
“Aflac prides itself on being a strong partner in our community, so we are always is looking for new ways to reduce waste and live more gently on the earth,” said Alfred Blackmar , Aflac vice president for facilities. “In addition to recycling the usual suspects, like plastic and aluminum, we continue to research new, innovative ways to recycle in order to reduce our footprint in the community.”
Aflac has been improving its waste reduction/recycling efforts for a decade, and was named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index North America for the second year, and was listed at number 69 in Newsweek’s annual green rankings in 2012.
Picture credit: ledger-enquirer.com