Member Spotlight
Office Solutions
Going green when it wasn’t in vogue was unique. Committing to it full-scale despite the obstacles was unheard of – until now.
When Office Solutions’ President and co-founder Bob Mairena decided it was time the company recycled its corrugated waste, there was little interest from recycling firms in the small amount of waste material the company had. If it wanted to recycle, Office Solutions would have to pay.
But Mairena and his wife co-founder and Vice President Cindy Mairena, weren’t content with that. So they reached out to customers in 2007, offering to collect and recycle their corrugated waste as well. The result: two environmental awards and over 142 tons of materials each month rerouted from landfills to recycling centers.
It’s an effort that began in 1984 when the company first opened its doors. Internal recycling was built into the very first business model, and the green culture defines the company. “It’s interwoven into everything we do”, says Mairena. “The culture is through-and-through.” Yet it wasn’t always an easy sell for all Office Solutions employees. When Mairena first approached his sales and marketing team about promoting a green program to customers, they didn’t quite see the value and didn’t fully embrace or promote the recycling initiative. So rather than force the issue through the sales department, he thought about effectively selling it to the distribution and warehouse team by collaborating with the manager and getting drivers to promote recycling directly with the customers. The company also began recycling corrugated waste from the customers’ other suppliers.
Soon customers were raving about it – to their Office Solutions sales people. What’s not to love? Mairena says the recycling efforts reduce customers’ trash collection costs while helping them do the right thing. “New prospects were calling us to take part in this program”. The company offers the recycling to active customers only, but is encouraged that others are interested.
His once-skeptical sales team was now sold, and they began capitalizing on the increased interest in the program. It did become a marketing tool that brought in business, but Mairena is quick to add “that was a side effect”. The goal, he adds, was to do the right thing environmentally.
The effort soon turned to electronics. Mairena was shocked at the number of electronics – old CRT’s, old computers – lying in warehouses. In most cases companies can’t get electronics recycled without paying for the service, and rarely do they have the critical mass needed to get someone to pick it up. Because Mairena’s distribution team arranged the pickup, recycling became cost-effective for customers. Pooling the waste made it economically feasible for smaller companies to recycle.
“It’s amazing how much electronic waste is sitting in people’s warehouses because they don’t know what to do with it. We wind up serving some pretty large accounts picking up pallets of electronic waste”.
Like all good efforts, things tend to snowball. Mairena says the company is now recycling used batteries and, as he says “almost anything you can think of”. Recycling batteries is a pricey endeavor for individual companies, but once again combining efforts, it becomes easier.
Cost-effective recycling requires enough bulk waste, and batteries are no exception. Mairena’s group came up with a simple system. “We supply a box for recycling batteries and we charge $10 for the box. Once the customers fill it up, we recycle it”. The company charges what it costs Office Solutions to prepare batteries for shipment (one end of each battery must be taped over) and to ship them for recycling. And for 100 customers, it’s now become easier to do the right thing. There’s no money to be made here from the company’s standpoint. Mairena says the program is to the point where it doesn’t cost them anything, either.
So why do it? “It’s about being a good corporate citizen. In the end, we do hope that’s one of our differentiators. We hope, but it’s not something you can necessarily tap into,” he says, because, as he puts it, “recycling and selling office products are two different, pretty disparate things. Yet sometimes the interconnection is undeniable”.
About those awards – in the last five years, Office Solutions received two California Waste Reduction (WRAP) awards. The annual program, part of California’s integrated Waste Management Board, recognizes California businesses that have made outstanding efforts to reduce nonhazardous waste and send less trash to landfills. Three years in a row, the award went to Office Solutions – the first company in the office products industry to receive the honor.
Perhaps it’s because of the company’s monumental efforts to encourage recycling through their own network of collections. But it’s more likely because they wrote the book on how to incorporate business and environmental responsibility – literally.
Mairena and company have put together a manual, complete with CDs, DVDs, and all the materials other companies need to launch their own recycling and green programs.
The goal was to encourage companies to launch their own green initiatives. The program manual includes information such as finding a champion within the organization to promote and drive the program, poster templates, how-to advice on launching the program, building an awareness of the program within the company, etc. The manual is provided to all Office Solutions customers. “Whether they want to recycle the product through us or by themselves, we’re there to make sure they’re doing the right thing and make it easy for them”. Next for the company is the launch of a line of environmentally friendly office furniture, carrying on the consistent tone of the company’s environmental practices. There’s also a move to consider biodiesel for the truck fleet.
Mairena says he hopes the conscious ecological efforts will make customers think twice about their consumption levels. “Being environmentally sensitive and not consumer-oriented is somewhat counterproductive from a business standpoint”, he says with a laugh. “If we’re making you more conscious about waste, you’re not buying as much paper or toner. But in the end we think that’s the right thing to do”.
TriMega Purchasing Association
847-699-3330 | www.trimega.org
5600 N. River Road, Suite 700| Rosemont, IL 60018
