By aligning its sustainability efforts with two key areas of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the last few years, manufacturing and engineering company Bendix saved nearly $700,000 in energy costs and diverted 96% of material waste from landfills.
Bendix is focusing specifically on SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production) and SDG 13 (climate action), with a goal of diverting 100% of waste from landfill by 2020 and achieving an additional 10% reduction in energy consumption and CO2 emissions by 2019 (from a 2014 baseline).
Phase One: The first step Bendix took in its waste diversion efforts was to target industrial waste. The company focused on avoiding waste creation and trialing new concepts for reuse. The company conducted spent-material audits, which identify remaining opportunities in the material that is still being sent to landfill. It then looks for innovative reuse solutions for hard-to dispose wastes. Now, nine of the 10 Bendix manufacturing facilities are industrial waste landfill-free.
Phase Two: The next step in the strategy is to focus on general trash and cafeteria waste. Initiatives include the elimination of Styrofoam in its cafeterias and during employee events, establishing green procurement policies, and working with employees to ingrain a “product lifecycle mentality.”
One initiative, the headquarters’ Centralized Waste project, replaced desk-side trash and recycling pickup with new centralized collection stations. More than 600 original collection points throughout the office were narrowed to 39 centralized locations, selected across the site to ensure there would always be a station located near all occupied areas. This encouraged employees to be actively aware of “the amount of waste they generated and the ultimate fate it would have,” says Maria Gutierrez, director of corporate responsibility and sustainability.
Audits after the project implementation indicated a 54% reduction in weekly waste sent to landfill, or more than 11 tons annually.
Phase Three: The final step in the zero-waste efforts, Bendix says, will be to use waste-to-energy facilities for disposal of the remaining wastes that cannot be sent for reuse or recycling.
Bendix is also investing in improving the energy efficiency of processes and facilities. These actions include energy audits to identify energy conservation projects, use of renewable energy sources, logistics optimization, and programs for reducing the carbon footprint of products.
The company’s energy savings over the last four years - more than 9 million kilowatt hours and $690,000 - are due in large part to Bendix’s focus on reducing the energy use of its primary energy consumers: HVAC and compressed air.
Bendix raised the percentage of efficient lighting at its locations from 58% in 2016 to 99% in 2018.
Bendix is also standardizing its energy submetering system and reporting. The company’s real-time data collection drives efficient management of energy demands, as well as peak and down times. Bendix has energy submetering at its Elyria headquarters, as well as its Acuña, Mexico, and Huntington, Indiana, campuses. It plans to have implemented submetering at all major manufacturing locations by the end of 2019.
