Our Sustainability Mission
We believe wellness extends beyond the healthcare industry to the planet we all share. Since our founding, Edifecs has embraced a green approach to our operations and made conservation a pillar of our culture. Our sustainability initiatives have earned us several awards including the SEAL Business Sustainability Award for 2020, 2021 and 2022, the Best in Biz: Most Environmentally Responsible Company in 2016, Seattle Business Magazine’s Community Impact Award for Sustainability in Business Operations, and a spot on Washington’s 50 Top Green Companies.
Our Electric Car & Bike Initiative
Edifecs has offered free EV charging to all associates for the last decade. To encourage our associates to make the switch to electric vehicles and to accommodate those who already have, we recently added two more free EV charging stations, now totaling 8 charging stations.
Edifecs has had a corporate fleet of electric vehicles since 2012. We offer these vehicles to our associates to use for business purposes, providing them with a sustainable transportation option when they travel for offsite meetings and events. We also offer these vehicles to remote associates when they come to the office from out of town, allowing them to skip renting a gas-powered vehicle during their visit.
Edifecs also takes pride in providing alternative modes of transportation to our associates. All of our offices feature bicycle storage facilities and showers, making it convenient for associates who prefer to bike to work. At our Bellevue HQ we offer bicycles and e-bikes for associates to use to get around the office park or to get some fresh air and exercise. We have even had an associate kayak to work!
Our Public Transit Initiative
When evaluating office locations, we always consider public transit access. We are happy to share that all of our offices are accessible without the need for a vehicle. Our US office locations are all accessible via MARTA in Atlanta, BART in San Francisco, and the Sound Transit Station which plans to include the new light rail in 2023 at our Bellevue HQ. For visiting associates, we have partnered with neighboring hotels that are within walking distance of our offices, allowing multiple environmentally friendly commuting options.
Our Energy Performance Initiative
Under the Edifecs Carbon Emission Initiative, we focused on implementing LED lighting throughout our headquarters in 2021. Throughout the year, we replaced nearly 1,600 incandescent and fluorescent light bulbs with LEDs. The lighting in our home office is now 95% LED, with a follow-up goal of 100% LED by the end of 2023. Furthermore, we plan to extend this lighting conversion project to all of our global offices, following the success of our headquarters.
Our Initiative to Encourage Sustainability
At Edifecs, we work hard to make sustainability easy, convenient, and accessible for our associates. We encourage and incentivize our associates to make the sustainable choice by providing quick and easy alternatives. We also prioritize transparency and choose to post all of our sustainability initiatives and practices on our internal, associate-facing site, offering a guidebook for our associates to practice more sustainable living at home.
Our Sustainable Materials Initiative
We started the Edifecs Sustainable Materials Initiative in 2014 when we had the opportunity to renovate and build out our new corporate headquarters. This allowed us to weave our sustainable values into the physical framework of our building. We also selected sustainable materials to be used throughout the entire building, from the floors to the ceiling. Our focus with this initiative is on using sustainably-made products and mindful construction methods to build a greener workplace. In 2021, we continued this vision by renovating the last remaining section of the building that was still in its original condition. We have now renovated the final 15,000 sq. ft. area, mirroring the sustainable building materials used in the rest of the building.
Our Landfill & Waste Reduction Initiative
Edifecs prioritizes the reduction of landfill waste by promoting recycling and composting. We implemented a centralized three bin system for recycling, composting, and landfill waste including the removal of individual workstation trash bins. This program resulted in the following:
Our Plastics Reduction Initiative
Another way we promote mindful waste management is by stocking our kitchen with environmentally friendly compostable cups, plates, bowls, and utensils. The life cycle impacts of our compostable kitchenware are significantly lower than the traditional plastic-based, single-use products. We encourage our associates to opt for reusable water bottles and not to stock any plastic water bottles in our kitchens. Instead, we have multiple water dispensers that offer a higher water quality than your standard bottled waters do.
Our Print-Free Initiative
The Edifecs Print Free Initiative focuses on reducing paper usage as much as possible. The average office worker prints 10,000 sheets of paper each year (2 boxes of paper), nearly half of which is printed in error. Edifecs has found a way to reduce paper waste while keeping productivity maximized. With our print release software, a job does not release until the associate physically walks up to the printer and approves the job. The process is streamlined by an easy sign-in with the swipe of an employee badge or network credentials.
Our Tree-Saving Initiative
One tree makes approximately 8,333 sheets of paper. We estimate that each associate saves about 5,000 sheets of paper per year as a result of this program. Factoring in the 1000+ associates, we save up to five million sheets of paper per year, which is equal to over 500 trees.
