Dart’s ongoing drive for efficiency has reaped an extraordinary harvest in reductions of our carbon footprint. From the lighting fixtures in our offices to the technologies on our factory floors, each element of our business is scrutinized for ways to further reduce energy consumption, air emissions, and solid wastes.
Energy conservation measures include recovering heat from our cupmaking process to warm our buildings. Electrical usage has been substantially reduced through the use of programmable controls and lower wattage lighting. Dart’s largest factory uses landfill gas to run the boilers for its foam cup production and the ovens for its oriented polystyrene operations, resulting in a net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
Dart has led its industry in emissions reduction and source reduction efforts, including the reduction of pentane emissions, the expansion agent for foam cups. Dart recaptures pentane for use in our production processes. By choosing inks curable by ultraviolet light, Dart avoids the solvent emissions associated with typical solvent-based printing inks. The amount of material used to produce many Dart products has been reduced without altering product performance. The amount of materials used in the packaging of our products, both corrugated cartons and plastic films, has been reduced.
Reuse and recycling also are an essential part of Dart’s stewardship ethic. Dart routinely makes multiple uses of the pallets, cartons, and bulk bags used to ship raw materials. Process water at Dart facilities is continually reused. Dart recycles foam cup plant scrap and trim scrap from extrusion and thermoforming operations. We recycle tires and batteries used in our trucks, forklifts, and automobiles, mercury in fluorescent light bulbs, and metal from our machinery manufacturing plant. Dart also recycles post-consumer polystyrene foam, with drop-off locations accessible to the public at all our North American plants and at over 30 drop-off sites in Michigan.
Add it all up and, conservatively, we estimate that as of 2006 Dart’s diligent stewardship efforts in pursuit of sustainability have produced energy savings totaling approximately 8.4 trillion BTUs per year and 5 million watts. That’s enough energy saved each year to heat nearly 105,000 homes and power over 3,000 homes!