Success Stories

Retail

Business: Ashland Flower Shop (Ashland)

Number of Employees: unknown

Vignette

• Installed efficient electronic ballasts for fluorescent lights.
• Installed an occupancy sensor to turn lights off when room is not in use.
• Installed an ultra low flow toilet.
• Installed a new hot water heater. The new water heater significantly reduces the amount of time waiting for hot water at the faucet, and saves water.

FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $400/year (all activities).

Case Study

• Call Oregon Office of Energy, 1-800-221-8035

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Business: BMC West Building Materials (Beaverton)

Number of Employees: unknown

Vignette

BMC West supplies building materials to contractors and homeowners.

• Metal banding on shipments of lumber is cut and then stored for reuse. The banding is rolled and stored on the back of forklifts or in a box in the customer loading area. To use smaller pieces of banding, a crimper and clips are used to join material of the same width into pieces of sufficient length. BMC uses a style of banding gun that can be adjusted to fit a variety of widths. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $2,000/year.
• Doors arrive layered between thin plywood sheets (skins) and stacked on pallets. BMC West initiated a process to return the skins and pallets to the door distributor for reuse.
• Pallets are returned to distributors whenever possible. Damaged pallets are donated to a local supplier.
• Some plastic wrap on incoming loads of lumber is saved and reused on outgoing customer loads. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: more than $500/year.
• Usable scrap and defective wood is sorted, banded into bundles of mixed types and sold at a discount.
• The paint department buys back clean five-gallon paint buckets from contractors. These are sold to retail customers for mixing paint.

Case Study

• Case study exists, call Metro, 503-234-3000.

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Business: Computer Renaissance (Corvallis)

Number of Employees: 4

Vignette

• Repaired a toilet leak. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $192/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 67,300 gallons/year.
• Installed faucet aerator on employee sink. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $5/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 1,750 gallons/year.
• Set unoccupied heat/cool on thermostat to 55/85 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Turn off all computers and monitors at night. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $191/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 3,475 kWh/year.

Case Study

None

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Business: Corvallis Hardware/ True Value (Corvallis)

Number of Employees: 11

Vignette

• Corvallis Hardware purchases the large majority of its products from Cotter & Company. Deliveries from the Portland distribution center are shipped in reusable plastic totes. Empty totes from the previous week are picked up for reuse when new merchandise is dropped off.
• Cotter & Company also redesigned its billing statement; invoices are now sent every two weeks rather than weekly. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: more than $20,000/year (Cotter & Company). RESOURCE SAVINGS: 22.5 tons of paper/year (Cotter & Company).
• Corvallis Hardware is also retrofitting magnetic ballasts and T-12 fluorescent lamps with electronic ballasts and T-8 lamps as old lamps and ballasts burn out. This will eventually reduce electricity bills by about $1,300/year.

Case Study

• Case study exists.

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Business: Corvallis-Benton County Public Library (Corvallis)

Number of Employees: 62

Vignette

• Transports books between locations in durable plastic totes, rather than paper boxes.
• Uses remanufactured toner cartridges. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $325/year.
• Buys stationery containing recycled paper.
• Recycles office paper, corrugated cardboard boxes, newspaper, yard debris, and bottles and cans.
• Encourages the reuse of books through an annual used book sale. Consolidates unsaleable books with Oregon State University for recycling.
• The Library has an unofficial policy banning the use of brightly colored papers ("astrobrights") which are difficult to recycle. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $200/year.
• All restroom sinks have self-regulating faucets that provide water for about three seconds before shutting off. Water is also set at a constant temperature, so patrons don’t waste water adjusting the temperature.
• Reduced run times on automatic sprinkler irrigation system from 20 minutes per station to 6-10 minutes per station. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: approximately $530/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: approximately 440,000 gallons of water/year.
• As bulbs in exit signs burn out, staff are replacing them with LED lamps. LED lamps have life expectancies of 30 to 50 years, compared to 4 to 6 months for traditional incandescent lamps. The full retrofit will cost $1,352. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $628/year when fully implemented (electricity and bulb savings, labor savings not included). RESOURCE SAVINGS: 8,000 kWh/year (when fully implemented).

Case Study

• Case study exists.

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Business: Cottage Flowers (Cannon Beach)

Number of Employees: 3

Vignette

• Large packing boxes that flowers arrive in are saved and sent back with the flower supply company for reuse. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 187 pounds of packaging/year.
• Flowers arrive packed in tissue paper. This tissue paper is saved and reused for wrapping bouquets, rather than buying new. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $60/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 109 pounds/year.
• Rather than buying new paper bags, Cottage Flowers picks up paper bags at the local recycling center and reuses them. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $42/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 260 pounds/year.
• Reduced hot water temperature by 10 degrees Fahrenheit. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $4/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 70 kWh/year.

Case Study

None

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Business: Fred Meyer Gateway store (Portland)

Number of Employees: unknown

Vignette

Installed a centralized computer control system that tracks soil moisture and applies water in shorter cycles to allow for "soak" time. This limits water use to just what is needed. These controls cut irrigation water use by 50 percent, and recover their costs in less than 3 years. Most Fred Meyer stores built since Gateway now use the same controls. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: (Gateway store only) $800/year.

Case Study

• Call the City of Portland's Office of Sustainable Development, 503-823-7222.

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Business: A grocery store

Number of Employees: 60

Vignette

This independent grocery store features an on-site bakery. Staff tracked how many of each type of baked good were not sold at the end of the day, and found that certain items were consistently being over-produced. By changing the quantities of each item baked to better reflect customer demand, the bakery reduced "shrink" (unsold product) by roughly 50%. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $23,000/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 13,000 pounds of baked goods/year.

Case Study

None

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Business: Hershey Studios (Cannon Beach)

Number of Employees: 7

Vignette

Hershey Studios creates fine art cards and sells them in its own store and through other stationery and gift stores.

• Several times a year, a text sheet is sent to retail customers, showing the cards currently available. It was redesigned to be folded, taped and mailed without an envelope. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $488/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 150 pounds /year.
• To clean up spills of ink and paint, the studio obtained discarded rags from a local hotel, eliminating the use of disposable paper towels. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $69/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 40 pounds of paper towels/year.

Case Study

None

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Business: Lochmead Dairy (Junction City)

Number of Employees: 40

Vignette

Lochmead Dairy sells milk, ice cream, and other products through its 45 Dari-Mart stores, which are all located within 35 miles of the dairy (between Philomath and Creswell). At least 45% of all milk Lochmead processes is sold in reusable bottles, and an estimated 93.5% of the bottles are returned for reuse. The durable polycarbonate containers are lightweight, virtually unbreakable, and can be refilled 100 times. Customers pay a 60 cent deposit and collect the money when they bring the empty bottle back, although most people put the money toward their next milk purchase. Lochmead also provides non-returnable containers to shoppers who don’t want to return them.

Case Study

None

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Business: Me and Company (Winston)

Number of Employees: 2

Vignette

Me and Company is a stained glass studio, including retail sales of stained glass supplies and space for classes and workshops.

• All scrap glass generated in the studio is saved for use in smaller projects or donated to the art teacher at Douglas High School for student projects.
• Broken window glass is accepted from the public for use in teaching students how to cut glass.
• Recovering lead from leaded stained glass projects and waste solder is a skill taught to classes.
• Polystyrene packing peanuts, office paper, and paper towels used to clean glass pieces are reused.
• Work tables are made from scrap lumber or old kitchen cabinets.
• Scrap glass bins are old kitchen cabinet drawers.
• Cardboard, yard waste, and beverage containers are also recycled.

Case Study

None

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Business: Melanie’s Flowers (Cannon Beach)

Number of Employees: 2

Vignette

Melanie’s Flowers is a flower and coffee shop.

• Large packing boxes that flowers arrive in are saved and sent back with the flower supply company for reuse. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 190 pounds/year.
• When coffee is served in disposable cups, staff used to automatically "double cup" all drinks. Staff switched to asking if a single or double cup was preferred. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: more than $800/year in cup costs. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 390 pounds/year.
• Uses reusable, washable coffee filters. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $125/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 50 pounds/year.
• Installed toilet "dummy" (sealed bags filled with a weight, such as rocks) in the tanks of all toilets. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $20/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 5,100 gallons/year.
• Repaired leaking window.
• Reduced size of coffee club cards.

Case Study

None

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Business: Murray Hill Thriftway (Beaverton)

Number of Employees: unknown

Vignette

• Cleaning supplies are purchased from a company that takes back empty cleaning fluid bottles and refills them.
• Unsold produce is set aside for Centro Cultural, a center for migrant farm workers. The program benefits the needy and saves the store about $6,000/year in disposal bills while also providing a tax deduction.

Case Study

• Call Metro, 503-234-3000.

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Business: Periwinkle (Bend)

Number of Employees: 7

Vignette

This retailer of home furniture and furnishings began setting aside packaging materials for reuse. Some of the store’s extra polystyrene packing "peanuts" are now picked up by a local manufacturer of scientific equipment, who no longer has to buy new "peanuts" to pack their goods in. Other packaging materials, such as boxes, are often picked up by people who are moving or need mailing boxes. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $410/year in reduced garbage and recycling fees. RESOURCE SAVINGS: approximately 1,000 pounds of packaging reused/year.

Case Study

None

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Business: Oregon Photo Supply (Oregon City)

Number of Employees: unknown

Vignette

Oregon Photo Supply’s Oregon City store replaced a three-part carbonless (NCR) sales form with a simple cash register receipt. That saves about 44,000 sheets of paper, not to mention storage and filing space. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $600 a year.

Case Study

None

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Business: Super King Sentry Market (Milwaukie)

Number of Employees: 30

Vignette

Like most grocery stores, Super King Sentry Market places a stack of extra sales flyers at the store doors. Watching these in-store copies revealed that about 3/4 weren’t picked up. The number of flyers purchased was reduced, saving paper, labor, and clutter. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $2,067/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 680 pounds of newsprint/year.

Case Study

None

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Business: US Post Office (Cannon Beach)

Number of Employees: 3

Vignette

• The District Office in Portland now consolidates multiple internal mailings into a single envelope. Previously, each document was sent in its own envelope. This change was implemented throughout the Portland District at the request of the Cannon Beach Postmaster.
• Eliminated the printing of blank sheets by the laser printer at the start of each print job.
• Changed to carbonless forms, where allowed. The United States Postal Service requires the use of carbon (for copies) in certain register books so local staff can’t change them; however, they do reuse the carbon slips.
• A student volunteer makes scratch pads from paper pulled from the recycling bin.
• Installed faucet aerators on sinks to reduce water and energy costs. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $20/year.

Case Study

None

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