Local Responsibility
With more than 3,000 employees globally and operations in 19 countries, Plantronics understands the importance of promoting environmental health and reducing our environmental footprint. We're committed to having a positive impact on the earth, our customers, and our communities. And we know that our efforts to reduce our impact on the environment begin first in our own backyard.
Santa Cruz, California
Powered By the Sun
Our headquarters features the largest solar and sun tube installation in Santa Cruz County. With the completion of the installation, 80 percent of our site utility bill will be offset by solar power. The hundreds of sun tubes will reduce lighting costs and save energy by using natural light. In total, our energy conservation efforts will save approximately 1,395,000 kilowatt hours in the first year.
Conserving Water, Our Most Precious Resource
All of our Santa Cruz buildings conform to the state's voluntary Savings by Design program, featuring energy-efficient construction, low-flow toilets, and waterless urinals. Drought-tolerant plants, shrubs, and grasses make up the majority of our landscaping. The water-savings calculator on our WeatherTRAK controls (smart irrigation based on local satellite data) takes into account the proportion of drought-tolerant plantings, saving approximately 250,000 gallons of water per year. In total, our water conservation efforts save more than 550,000 gallons of water each year.
Eating Green, Eating Local
Our Santa Cruz café serves certified organic produce and follows the guidelines of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Program. Of the produce we use today, 10 to 15 percent comes from true family farms in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. And by the end of 2012, we expect local farmers will supply one quarter of all agribusiness products in the café. By buying local, we help reduce the emissions associated with the food shipment and delivery process. We also use 100-percent biodegradable utensils and plates.
Earth Day at Plantronics
We host Earth Day fairs at our headquarters, where local companies come in to share tips about organic gardening, composting, water-conservation, the local adopt-a-beach program, and other earth-friendly solutions. Earth Day at Plantronics is also Low Carbon Diet Day, giving café customers the opportunity to learn about the carbon impact of food waste, airfreighted seafood, tropical produce, and unnecessary packaging.
Tijuana, Mexico
Our Award-Winning Facility
Plamex, our manufacturing facility in Mexico, is internationally recognized for its environmental leadership. Plamex is the only facility in the world to win both the Ibero American and Asia Pacific Quality awards, recognizing its longstanding commitment to quality systems and programs that encourage environmental sustainability. Plamex has also received the Waste Reduction & Recycling award from the City of San Diego and is Clean Industry certified by Mexico.
Plamex achieved these successes by incorporating environmental responsibility within employees' personal goals and providing progressive training to drive innovation and change. To date, Plamex has implemented 57 green programs, many of which have extended beyond the Plamex building. For example, Plamex gave 500 trees to employees to plant at their homes or in their communities. The idea for the program stemmed from a companywide contest for employees and their families.
Europe
The Simply Smarter Office
Our facility in Swindon, England, dramatically reduced its carbon footprint by moving from three buildings to one and implementing our Smarter Working program, which encourages employees to work from home, cutting floor space from 47,440 square feet to 21,154 square feet. During the refurbishment of a former warehouse, as much of the existing building materials as possible were reused, from electrical wiring to plumbing fixtures to timber. The new office has facilities for cardboard crushing, paper and oil disposal, and will soon have a wormery for food waste.
The new heat recovery system is 45 percent more fuel-efficient, using smart sensors to detect which areas have the greatest need. An open floor plan increased use of natural light and a smart lighting system detects movement, ensuring that empty office areas don't waste energy. A planned solar power system will provide free, clean power.
Smarter Working
We know that simple daily choices affect the environment. That's why we actively work to minimize our company's carbon footprint by reducing employee commutes to and from the office. As a part of our Smarter Working program in Europe, Plantronics employees are spending more time working from home and are encouraged to car-share, bike to work, or take public transportation whenever feasible. We've also reduced unnecessary business travel with our use of Microsoft® Office Communicator and Conferencing facilities.
