Sagus International, Inc. is committed to our community by being environmentally conscious and striving to ensure the continued availability of natural resources for current and future generations. To carry out this commitment, each division is committed to making a conscious effort to reduce waste, create sustainability, and reduce the use of natural resources and harm to the environment. This applies to our offices as well as the manufacturing processes. As part of this commitment, we take the following actions:
Monitor and Reduce: Airborne VOC related emissions
- Monitor and Reduce: Gallons of water used at each facility.
- Monitor and Reduce: Solid waste shipped out of each facility
- Monitor and Reduce: Electricity used in our facilities.
- Monitor and Increase: The amount of recycled material used in our phase.
- Monitor and Increase: The amount of solid waste that is recycled.
Sagus, LEED® and GreenGuard®
LEED is a rating system and certification program administered by the U.S. Green Building Council that “encourages and accelerates global adoption of sustainable green building and development practices through the creation and implementation of universally understood and accepted tools and performance criteria.” LEED has come to be accepted as the de facto standard for certifying high performance green buildings by both business and government.
LEED for Schools is certification program that recognizes the unique nature of the design and construction of K-12 schools. Based on the LEED for New Construction rating system, it addresses issues such as classroom acoustics, master planning, mold prevention and environmental site assessment. The number of LEED-certified schools is increasing with indoor air quality a significant issue behind the drive toward LEED. A number of states and cities have already adopted LEED for Schools as a required certification for new school construction and more are in the process of passing such regulation.
Indoor air quality is the largest section of LEED certification (25%) with low-emitting materials the largest factor in this section. LSI, Artco-Bell and Midwest have green solutions.
LSI provides LEED solutions:
- Material and Resource
Recycled Content - MR 4.1 and 4.2
- Cores =
- Standard particleboard - Roseburg Smith (formerly Georgia Pacific) - 100% post industrial recycled content.
- No added urea formaldehyde particleboard - Roseburg's Skyblend - 100% post industrial recycled content.
- FSC and no added urea formaldehyde particleboard - Roseburg's Skyblend 2 - 100% post industrial recycled content
- Laminates =
- Recycled material content - 22%
Certified Wood MR7 (LSI is FSC COC certified)
- Cores=
- FSC and no added formaldehyde particleboard - Roseburg's Skyblend
- Environmental Quality - EQ - 4
- Core and adhesives =
- NAUF - no added urea formaldehyde particleboard
- Laminating adhesives for field and shop applied assemblies that contain no added urea formaldehyde resins.
Artco-Bell and Midwest provide green solutions: Artco-Bell was awarded the GREENGUARD® Indoor Air Quality for Children and Schools certification in June 2007. The company’s entire line of desks, chairs and tables are certified to fulfill requirements for low-emitting materials. Midwest was awarded the GREENGUARD® Indoor Air Quality for Children and Schools certification in November 2008. The company’s cafeteria mobile tables, stages and risers, and general line tables are certified to fulfill requirements for low-emitting materials. GREENGUARD® is the premier certification program for low emitting products and has gained acceptance among thousands of architects and designers. The GREENGUARD® Indoor Air Quality Certified mark signifies that Artco-Bell and Midwest’s products contribute minimally to chemical emissions in indoor environments. |
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Environmental Initiatives at Home
Each Sagus manufacturing site has a Green team that does a site self assessment: VOCs, water, solid waste energy, material recycling. The sites then focus on reducing their environmental impact. The Green Teams also work to raise awareness of environmental initiatives among their fellow employees.
Key Green Team accomplishments are:
- Re-sourced electricity to increase amount from recovered/renewable resources by 5,851,000 kWh (38% of total Sagus)
- Site reduced Water usage by 53%
- Site re-missioned 2400 tons of waste to emission efficient energy recovery
- Site replaced non-biodegradable packaging
- All sites increased recycling of cardboard and pallets
- All sites instituted more stringent office recycling
- Reduced travel through video conferencing
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