WORKING SMARTER
We aim to work smarter every day and by evaluating the manner and efficiency of how product arrives in our warehouses, where the product is specifically stored in the warehouse and the method in which we deliver that product to the retailer we have been able to decrease the energy we use and the carbon footprint of each product we touch.

We have never been a company to waste anything, yet our first formal green program started in earnest across the company in 2006. The efforts included investing in balers (separate ones for plastic and cardboard) and sourcing vendors to purchase the baled shrink-wrap and cardboard.

Since then we have grown the program to include recycling of cardboard, slip-sheets, and batteries, as well as installing energy-efficient lighting, motion detectors (to turn off lights when not needed) and the recycling of cans, bottles, and paper in the offices among other efforts.

Our green initiative efforts have reduced our solid waste, decreased the amount of fuel and energy we use and resulted in more efficient businesses.

BEING BETTER NOT JUST BIGGER
We’re making changes everywhere to help reduce our impact on the environment. We utilize the latest dynamic route optimization technology to consolidate deliveries, which reduces emissions and roadway congestion and the size of the carbon footprint we create.

NOT JUST ON THE ROAD BUT IN THE WAREHOUSE
In the warehouse we have made a concerted effort to maximize our efficiency and limit wasted energy through the use engineering standards, automated load diagrams / directed selection , motion-sensor lighting and the use of natural lighting wherever possible.

We use voice-picking technology and smart warehouse layouts cut 30% of the travel time out of a normal selection process and allow a single-charged pallet jack to run the entire shift rather than the current standard of swapping batteries mid-shift.

We are investigating Fuel Cell technology in place of battery charging stations to power material handling equipment to cut our reliance on the electric grid and move towards a zero carbon footprint.

ENERGY-EFFICIENT LIGHTING
Our latest green imitative is a lighting retrograde program using efficient light sources such as fluorescent lights, skylights, and motion-activated lights that only go on when needed thus cutting our electricity consumption by a large margin.

It is a costly investment but one that reduces energy consumption of the warehouse by 25-30%. Lighting in our new buildings is 100% energy efficient with the use of natural light and fluorescent light bulbs. We aim to further advance the program as we roll it out to other locations; comprehensively conducting lighting retrofits and other energy-efficiency measures at all RBG locations by the end of 2011.

RECYCLING REAPS RETURN
We have seen the powerful benefits of recycling; while reducing our use of energy and raw materials, we have minimized the amount of waste we contribute to landfills. We recycle shrink-wrap, slip-sheets, and cardboard and return all MHE batteries to industry recyclers that remove the lead for the manufacturing of new batteries. To date, we have recycled over 660,000 pounds of shrink-wrap alone.