Description of Individual or organization
The Container Store’s 1.1 million square foot corporate headquarters has been a Balcones Resources customer since 1996. The Container Store continues to apply the same principles of organization found in their stores to their sustainability initiatives, and continuously sets corporate goals to increase their recycling rates.
With assistance from Balcones, and under the leadership of the company’s facilities manager, Rhonda Nichols, the Container Store’s Headquarters’ sustainability program has experienced an increase in their diversion rate through innovative internal programs. With the installation of a state-of-the-art material handling automation system in 2015, The Container Store has been able to increase their recycling rate, lower its carbon footprint and improve efficiencies throughout their warehouse. Other highlights of sustainability program improvements include: New recyclable materials accepted, transportation efficiencies, internal reuse initiatives, consistent training and awareness campaigns, streamlined vendors and energy savings through LED Lighting.
Leadership (Nominee demonstrates leadership through example, knowledge, attitude)
The Container Store has set the highest standards for innovative recycling in North Texas. The recycling programs they have implemented exceed the expectations of any distribution center that has over 1 million square feet, yet alone one that also serves as a corporate headquarters with over 1,000 employees here in DFW. In 2015, with the planning assistance of Balcones Resources General Manager, Russell Luker, a new automation system was installed adding 1.7 miles of conveyor belts in their warehouse. These conveyors transport recyclables to automatically-fed, top-line industrial balers and also streamline order fulfillments that are going out to all of their store locations. This changed the old system, where forklifts traveled long distances while crossing each other’s paths, to a conveyor belt that (magically) delivers color-coded store bins to the appropriate fulfillment trucks. This process improvement was in addition to making sure products were available at the right time with a state-of-the-art replenishment and forecasting system, which reduced the number of trucks sent to the stores. During this renovation, LED lighting was installed to improve employee atmosphere and reduce CO2 emissions, and high-efficiency HVAC systems were installed throughout the company. After the implementation of the new system, Balcones was able to assist The Container Stores operation’s team, by accepting a wider stream of acceptable materials. What once was a primarily cardboard-only collection stream now changed into several SingleCycle™ collection points where plastics and metals could be included into the streams. Balcones was also able to provide other services for the container store, such as Ewaste collection, glass recycling, battery collection and document and product destruction services. The benefits of vendor consolidation for multiple services include eliminating transportation CO2 emissions, receiving standardized reporting to track progress, and reduced costs for services.
Environmental Impact (Nominee demonstrates a positive impact on the local environment via policy change, product offering, significant volunteer contribution or other achievement)
The Container Store is continuously looking for ways to get more involved and more active in sustainability initiatives. Having won the FORTUNE magazine's list of "100 Best Companies to Work For" SEVENTEEN years in a row, putting their employee’s first is obviously at the forefront of the culture. Balcones has assisted The Container Store with clothing donation drives for the employees, drop and swap items for office supplies and an employee driven E-waste collection event for recycling expired home electronics, appliances and cell phones. The Container Store participates with the Keep Coppell Beautiful campaign with clean up events and regularly hosts other community give-back events in numerous areas, including a partnership with the Dallas-based Akola Project. The Akola Project is an amazing non-profit organization that gives life-changing opportunities to unskilled women – both in Africa and in Dallas – by teaching them a trade and employing them so they become self-sufficient providers for their families. One of the first goals of TCS was to decrease the number of hauls needed to transport their materials to Balcones Resources Dallas facility. The use of the new auto-baler that the automation system fed into allowed for the following environmental impacts to result:
• Number of Hauls decreased over 52%
• Recycling Revenue increased 10% while haul costs decreased ~$1,200/mo
• Over 1,585,000 pounds diverted from the landfill through recycling initiatives
• 13% monthly Increase in recycling materials collected
• No contamination issues with cardboard bales
• LED lighting saved 40% in Energy use
• 61,500 Kilowatt Hours of Energy saved PER HAUL
• Over 5,000 Gallons of oil saved per haul
Community Impact (Nominee demonstrates commitment to DFW green community through involvement with causes, business ventures or organizations)
The Container Store has approximately 1,000 employees here in DFW. Spreading the word about recycling was achieved in various ways, including the implementation of a Green Team, numerous Balcones Recycling MRF tours for better understanding of the recycling process in order to educate their peers on good recycling practices, and lunch and learn presentations in the cafeterias for all office and warehouse staff. Balcones had recycling games to encourage employees to learn about the recycling program. During Earth Week, several sustainability partners in the North Texas area were invited to an event where all employees gained knowledge about recycling and sustainability in the community. Before implementation of the Balcones’ SingleCycle™ program, trainings were conducted for various shifts in order to educate everyone about acceptable items.
Other green outreach initiatives include organization’s websites, newsletters and thousands of informational posters hung in every break area and common area.
Other reasons for your nomination
Partnering with the only recycler in the DFW area who is not affiliated with a landfill was something The Container Store sought after. Learning that Balcones does not haul to a landfill solidified their decision to continue this long-developed relationship after the installation of the new equipment was finished. Balcones’ educational aspect, and the fact that they offered one point of contact for all activities, enabled the TCS team to focus more on their sustainability goals and less on the day-to-day logistics of moving materials around. Balcones and TCS are currently working on future projects to recycle plastics damaged in transit and various hard to recycle acrylics. Balcones looks forward to a life-long partnership with TCS. Plans have already been made for the 2016 year to coordinate more Green Team tours of the Balcones recycling MRF, Earth Day Booths and Earth Day Texas participation.
