The Principal and the Environment
The Principal has recycled for a number of years, and continues to make enhancements to reduce the amount of waste generated by our company.
Through our recycling program, we collect paper, cardboard, aluminum and plastic.
In 2010 company-wide, we recycled the following:
- Paper – 1,330 ton
- Cardboard – 52 ton
- Aluminum – 3.5 ton
- Plastic – 9 ton
In 2011 The Principal introduced a new commercial single-stream recycling program at its corporate headquarters to encourage even more recycling. It includes the disposal of paper, cardboard, plastic and metal. In 2012, we began shredding all paper, which will increase the amount of paper we recycle and reduce the amount we send to the landfill.
Other programs in place to help with waste management/landfill avoidance include:
- The Principal refurbishes PCs, laptops, monitors, printers, servers, PDAs and other hardware devices or recycles their individual components. Since 2006, more than 33,000 devices have been retired and saved from landfills.
- Our company donates furniture, office supplies, equipment and other items to non-profit organizations to help them out and reduce the number of items sent to landfills.
- We switched all our facilities to large coreless rolls of paper towels with automatic dispensers, coreless toilet paper rolls, foam soap and battery-free air fresheners to help reduce waste.
- In our cafes, employees receive a 5 percent discount for choosing china instead of take-out containers. Also, scratch-based cooking using fresh ingredients instead of pre-packaged convenience foods, reduces the amount of packaging waste and supports local growers.
- The Principal plants native and drought-resistant plants, which has helped reduce water waste.
