Janet Coats, Posty Cards’ director of marketing, said working at the company for the past 17 years has made her more environmentally conscious.
“One example is that I recycle more,” she said. “Until recently, I didn’t have curbside recycling at my residence. Posty Cards encourages employees to bring recycling in from home. So, for years I brought in paper, plastic and aluminum. The convenience encouraged me to recycle more since it wasn’t piling up in my garage.”
Setting even higher sustainability goals
While Posty Cards seems to be at the top of the sustainability world, company leaders are always looking at ways to improve.
“As soon as the building was complete, we set our sights on several third-party certifications that helped us up our game in sustainability by covering every aspect of our operation,” Jessee said.
In addition to its LEED Platinum building certification, the company is certified by the Forestry Steward Council (FSC), which verifies that its paper is from responsibly managed tree farms, and Sustainable Green Printing (SGP) certified, which verifies sustainable printing processes.
”We have found third-party certification to be an effective way to verify our sustainability commitment,” said Jessee. “It’s not just our word, our claims are monitored and confirmed by outside organizations.”
Jessee said that at the time of the remodel, LED lighting wasn’t cost effective, but now that it is, he has plans to change out lighting that will save the company 56 percent on its lighting energy use.
The company also is working on becoming a zero-waste facility.
“Zero-waste is part of the sustainability journey,” Jessee said. “Part of being sustainable requires eliminating waste through efficiency, recycling, reuse and finding customers that see your waste as their treasure.”
Currently, Posty Cards diverts more than 90 percent of its waste from the landfill. Ninety-five percent of the company’s manufacturing waste stream is recycled, and Jessee said he hopes to soon hit 100 percent.
Posty Cards is also involved in a pilot program called Sustainability Circles, which is sponsored by REV Sustainability, Bridging The Gap and Kansas City Power and Light. Sustainability Circles is a six-month program that helps organizations improve the sustainability of their operation with a goal of drafting a sustainability action plan for the next one, two or five or more years, Jessee said.
Participating groups are challenged to come up with at least 50 sustainability initiatives.
“Honestly, with all Posty Cards had already done from a sustainability standpoint, I was initially concerned we would have difficulty meeting the goal,” Jessee said. “What astounded me is that we easily came up with more than 50 initiatives that will significantly improve our energy efficiency and sustainability as an organization over the next five years.”
There’s always some way to improve sustainability, he said.
“A big takeaway for me is that sustainability is a journey, not a destination,” Jessee said. “There is always more we can do.”
Top photo: Lance (left) and Erick Jessee, Posty Cards’ owners, climbed a ladder to the roof to show a better view of its solar installation.
This story is another installment in our current series featuring local businesses that are pioneering sustainability. Find more local green businesses on the Greenability Marketplace.
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Great story about sustainability!
As the Coach for the Sustainability Circle Erick mentions later in the article, I have to agree with him that we are on a journey. However, Posty Cards has a lot to be proud of, and I commend their hard work to date, and for developing a very robust Sustainability Action Plan that will take them to new levels of achievement.