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Sustainability

Sustainability - dumpster image
Sustainability - reuse and recycle.

Entering our 22nd year in business, we have seen trends in design and materials come and go. One trend we see starting to grow that is not going away is the concept of sustainability. We cannot continue to haul away dumpster after dumpster of materials that can be reused or recycled in some fashion.

Through the participation in Green Street USA, we are making it a goal of SC&D to try to be more cognizant of areas where we can have an impact on Sustainability. Below are the 7 action lanes the Green Street USA has helped us consider. We have bullet pointed examples of areas we have completed towards a more sustainable future:

  1. Risk & Resilience –
    As COVID has taught us, we face existential threats when we do not prepare for rare but not entirely unexpected events. Risk management better positions us for a thriving future.
    • The Signature Companies moved all in-house storage and computing to the cloud in 2021 to mitigate risk of hacking or downtime due to a local infrastructure issue.
  2. Waste, Circularity & Stewardship –
    Current consumption, waste, and disposal practices are depleting resources, harming our health, and threatening our ecology. We must work collectively through a “circular” economy that minimizes waste and maximizes reuse and regeneration.
    • finding new homes for perfectly good appliances versus throwing them away
    • on older/worn out appliances, making sure they go to a recycling yard for metal reclamation.
    • taking granite kitchen countertops and remanufacturing them for bathroom vanity countertops
    • reusing kitchen cabinets in basement arts and crafts room instead of throwing them away
    • sourcing FSC Lumber-FSC certification ensures that products come from responsibly managed forests that provide environmental, social, and economic benefits. The FSC Principles and Criteria provide a foundation for all forest management standards globally, including the FSC US National Standard
    • Carbon neutral concrete
    • reusing newer energy efficient windows when renovating
    • helping a homeowner give away an older wolf gas range on Craig’s List.
  3. Water Management –
    Clean and potable water is one of our scarcest resources and must be managed responsibly to protect human health and the environment.
  4. Energy & Climate –
    The climate crisis demands that we all do our “fair share” to fundamentally change the way we generate and consume energy, manage our carbon footprint, and protect nature – in our backyards and across the globe.
    • installing LED lighting in our office and warehouse. We had 90 fixtures with 400-watt metal halide bulbs in them and now switched out to 45-watt LED essentially cutting our electric usage by 90%.
    • installed a 69kW solar array on the roof of our office/warehouse which supplies all our electric needs for the facility which houses.
    • We were connected to the grid on February 15, 2015.
      • We have produced 527,500 kW as of May 1, 2021.
      • One 100-watt light bulb uses 1kW if left on for 10 hours (100 x 10 = 1kWh).
      • The average American family home uses approximately 10,500 kWh per year.
      • For every kWh we produced, it saved 0.92lbs of CO2 emissions. We saved 477,480lbs of CO2 emissions since we began generating.
    • The 477,480lbs of CO2 emissions saved are equal to one of the following:
      • 72 Passenger vehicles driven in one year.
      • 37,480 gallons of gasoline consumed.
      • 32,719 gallons of diesel fuel consumed.
      • 4.4 tanker trucks worth of gasoline
      • 368,149lbs of coal burned
      • 640 Homes’ energy use for one year
      • 408 acres of carbon sequestered by U.S. forests in one year.
  5. Health, Safety & Wellbeing –
    Nothing is more important than the health, safety and wellbeing of our people and communities. Businesses will be increasingly expected to provide and support these programs in a post-COVID world to attract, retain and empower staff.
    • Long time member of Delaware Safety Council
    • Participate in State of Delaware Workplace Safety Program for 20 years
  6. Diversity, Equity & Inclusion –
    The health and legitimacy of our social and economic systems depends on collective respect for human diversity (racial, ethnic, gender, sexual orientation, and physical ability) in the workplace.
    • We offer a full array of benefits to our associates base from a health care subsidy to paid vacation to paid holidays to matching 401k plan. We seek everyone’s opinion in the business and seek feedback and inclusion of everyone.
    • We have a ongoing initiative to hire associates with disabilities to work within our warehouse and begin the transition into a workplace and the community.
  7. Compliance, Integrity & Ethics –
    Compliance and ethics are at the core of a resilient, trusted, and sustainable business and must be embedded into the DNA of company leaders and employees.
    • We are a member of the BBB serving Delaware.
    • Ownership is active in Rotary International.

Can we help one another add to this list and work towards a sustainable existence?