Success Stories 

Parts and Supplies

Business: Bend Memorial Clinic (Bend)

Number of Employees: 375

Vignette

• Identified examples of unnecessary packaging of medical products and sent letters to vendors requesting more resource efficient packaging.
• A clinic-wide paper waste prevention program reduced per-employee use of paper by 12% in one year. Employees were asked to make double-sided copies, reuse paper that had already been used on one side, and reprogram printers and fax machines to eliminate printing of unneeded fax transmission reports and blank pages between print jobs. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $1,550/year (paper costs only; printing and labor savings not included). RESOURCE SAVINGS: 65 cases (3,250 pounds) of paper/year.
• Changed from printing timesheets on large greenbar paper to a smaller (8½ x 11") paper. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 300 pounds of paper/year.

Case Study

None

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Business: City of Milwaukie (Milwaukie)

Number of Employees: 148

Vignette

The City of Milwaukie has four buildings: City Hall, Ledding Library, Public Security (fire and police), and the Johnson Creek Building (offices and shops).

• Reduced hot water temperature at all faucets to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $104/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 230 therms/year.
• Installed water conserving valves on all urinals in men’s restrooms. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $97/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 25,000 gallons/year.
• Purchased a unit to recondition rechargeable batteries. After multiple rechargings, most batteries lose their ability to hold a charge. Reconditioning restores the batteries so that they can be recharged and reused again. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $274/year (net). RESOURCE SAVINGS: 55 pounds/year.
• Reduced paper use across all City offices by 6% through employee education about double-sided copying and efficient printing and formatting practices. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $351/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 585 pounds of paper/year.
• Encourages reuse of filing folders, hanging files, and other office supplies.
• Installed a crank timer for lights in a storage loft. This turns the lights off after 10 to 30 minutes. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $321/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 7,400 kWh/year, plus light bulbs.
• Installed a crank timer for lights in the parking garage. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $522/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 11,000 kWh/year, plus light bulbs.
• Reduced outside night-time lighting levels by 50% to 75% at the Johnson Creek Building offices and shops. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $3,211/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 50,900 kWh/year, plus light bulbs.
• Fixed a shower drip in a locker room. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $28/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 16 therms (gas) and 4,900 gallons (water)/year.
• Fixed a leak at the truck/car wash. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $113/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 29,200 gallons/year.
• Incorporated recycled content building materials into several remodeling projects.

Case Study

• Report available on use of recycled building materials in remodeling projects. Call Metro, 503-234-3000.

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Business: Columbia Gorge Veterinary Clinic (Hood River)

Number of Employees: unknown

Vignette

• Installed a ventilation system that reduces the need for air conditioning by using fresh outside air during morning and evening hours. This reduced electricity use by 25-30% and had a two-year payback.
• Upgraded lighting and lighting controls and insulated the hot water heater, reducing electricity use another 15-20%. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $225/year.
• Installed faucet aerators and a toilet tank displacement to reduce water use.
• Reconfigured margins and simplified a medical form to fit onto one page of paper.
• Reuses large envelopes and file folders.

Case Study

• Call Hood River Green Smart, 541-386-2000.

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Business: Evanite Fiber Corporation (Corvallis)

Number of Employees: 330

Vignette

Evanite Fiber Corporation has three manufacturing facilities at its Corvallis campus: hardboard (wood interior panels), glass fibers, and battery separator material.

• Faced with an air compressor system that was not performing well enough, Evanite reconfigured and repaired leaks in the compressor system. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $36,000/year in electric bills, plus an avoided capital cost of $27,000 to replace the compressor system. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 900,000 kWh/year (estimated).
• When Evanite closed one if its plants, a purchasing agent chose to list 34 items needing removal as "available" materials in the Industrial Materials Exchange (IMEX). Within two months, Evanite had found users ranging from Portland to New Jersey for 12 of these listings, including various types of plastics and organic chemicals. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: at least $3,500 in avoided disposal costs. The market value of materials reused is over $11,500.

Case Study

• Case study exists.

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Business: Holographics Inc. (Portland)

Number of Employees: 4

Vignette

Holographics Inc. is a four-person company that develops interactive marketing and communications tools for businesses. These and other practices have reduced office supply expenditures by more than 57 percent annually:

• Extensive use of e-mail to handle phone messages, internal correspondence, and inter-office communications, including document transfers to clients.
• Computer-generated faxes.
• Canceling hard-copy subscriptions in favor of referencing magazines via the Internet.
• Copying and printing is double-sided whenever possible.
• Printing of faxes, drafts, and other preliminary documents is done on the blank side of previously used paper.
• A printing company hired by Holographics assembles notepads from partially used paper.
• File folders are labeled with removable tape so they can be reused. Once folders are unusable, they are trimmed to serve as tab separators within files.
• New versions of software are downloaded via the Internet whenever possible, eliminating the disks, manuals and packaging normally associated with software purchases.

FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $1,200/year (all activities).

Case Study

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

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Business: Hood River Electric Cooperative (Hood River)

Number of Employees: 12

Vignette

• Reduced energy use approximately 30%.
  • T-12 fluorescent lamps and magnetic ballasts were replaced with T-8 lamps and electronic ballasts in all areas where the lights are used on a regular basis. Incandescent bulbs were replaced with compact fluorescents in other high-use areas, such as the entryway and restrooms.
  • Installed a ground-source heat pump, which warms and cools the building by pumping heat from or to the soil. This system replaced electric resistance heating and a separate air conditioning unit in the ducts of the air handling system. Connecting a standard electric water heater into a heat exchanger circuit with the heat pump compressor further supplies most of the building’s hot water.
  • Controls further reduce energy use when the equipment is not in use. This includes a programmable thermostat for the heat pump system, and low-power/"sleep" modes for computers, printers, and the photocopier.

RESOURCE SAVINGS: 32,000 kWh/year. 32,000 kWh/year.

• Improved its irrigation system by replacing "rain bird" type impulse sprinklers with drip emitters and "micro-sprinklers" to use less water. Placement of mulch around landscaping also conserves water by reducing evaporation.
• The shop floor is now swept rather than hosed down, further saving water.
• The electric cooperative is switching to a longer-lasting electric cable that reduces material use (replacement) and labor costs. Although the longer-lasting cable costs more up-front, it is expected to reduce overall costs from anywhere between 19% and 57% after replacement costs (including labor) are factored in.
• The office reuses file folders, cuts old paper into notepads, and purchased a duplexing unit as an option when replacing an older copy machine to allow two-sided copying.

Case Study

• Call Hood River Green Smart, 541-386-2000.

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Business: Legacy Health Systems (Portland)

Number of Employees: unknown

Vignette

• Replaced disposable foam mattresses with reusables. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $81,527/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 16,350 pounds/year.
• Switched from buying juice in 32-oz glass container to 60-oz plastic container (containers are recycled; larger containers use less material). FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $125/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 2,500 pounds/year.
• Eliminated rarely-used items from custom packs of surgical supplies. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: more than $30,000/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 11,000 pounds/year.
• Consolidated duplicative admitting kits for maternity patients. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: more than $3,500/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 2,700 pounds/year.
• Reduces photocopying by keeping originals in shared files. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: more than $128,000/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 2,100 pounds/year.
• Customized the distribution of reports and newsletters; periodically checks distribution lists and only sends reports and newsletters to departments and individuals who request them. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: more than $10,000/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 4,100 pounds/year.
• Consolidated seven different patient forms into a single flow sheet. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $158/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 300 pounds/year.
• Eliminated unused third page of three-part carbonless form. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $199/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 60 pounds/year.
• Recycles cardboard, office paper, glass bottles, metal cans, and several resins of plastics.

Case Study

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

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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: Mentor Graphics Corporation (Wilsonville)

Number of Employees: 1,000

Vignette

Mentor Graphics Corporation creates electronic design automation software used by engineers and designers in high-technology industries.

• Eliminated, consolidated, or computerized some printed forms. Between 1992 and 1993, the number of pre-printed forms dropped from 556,000 (134 different types of forms) to 399,000 (91 different types of forms). FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $55,000/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: more than 2,000 pounds/year.
• "Save Our Supplies" Program to consolidate and redeploy reusable office supplies. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $45,900.
• Double-sided copying. All copies at on-site copy center are made double-sided unless specifically requested. Posters above walk-up copiers remind employees to copy on both sides. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $15,500/year. RESOURCE SAVINGS: 32,500 pounds/year.
• Guarantee return postage for undeliverable direct mail; delete names from mailing lists. Periodic telemarketing campaigns to "clean up" mailing lists; remove or change obsolete addresses. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $7,000/year.
• Replacing printed documentation with electronic media (CD-ROM).
• Recycles cardboard, office paper, magazines, newspapers, aluminum, and glass. FINANCIAL SAVINGS: $13,700/year.

Case Study

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

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