Overview
Kenco manages a 262,000 square-foot distribution center for a major manufacturer in the healthcare industry. The facility employs over 70 employees and ships product locally, domestically and internationally.
Challenge
Kenco’s sustainability mission is to assist customers in achieving their economic, environmental, and social responsibility goals. To accomplish Kenco’s and our customer’s sustainability goals, site management set out to reduce landfill waste and associated disposal fees, with the ultimate goal of achieving zero waste.
Solution
Site management started their journey by communicating the goal to employees and developing a detailed project plan. The first step was to undergo a rigorous waste stream analysis to identify every possible waste, non-recyclable items and current and future waste streams. The team then identified recycling vendors, established procedures and dispersed collection containers. Employees were trained, and the initiative went live. Total time from project conception to Go-Live was 3 months with steady state being achieved one month later.
Results
The site’s management team worked side by side with our customer, suppliers and employees to minimize the site’s environmental footprint, positively impacting society and reducing costs through this sustainable initiative. This effort achieved the following:
- Improved waste disposal costs 56%
- Reduced waste tonnage 58%