Swanson Health Celebrates Earth Day With Eco-Friendly Initiatives That Could Power A Small Village
America's trusted wellness partner is making changes that prevent almost 2 million pounds of carbon emissions annually, 25,000 pounds of plastic waste each year, and more for an eco-friendly future
FARGO, N.D. and CHICAGO, April 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Small changes add up in a really big way, both for your health and for the environment. Swanson Health, a leader in wellness for five decades, celebrates Earth Day this year by expanding on their commitment to physical health with a commitment to the health of the planet.
"We take great care in crafting science-backed wellness products for a healthy body, mind and home, and we believe what's good for you should also be good for the environment," said Amy Sunderman, MS, RD, Swanson Health Vice President of Research & Development. "We are always improving processes and looking for ways we can do our part to keep the planet healthy."
The latest in the company's series of eco-friendly changes is the removal of a plastic wrapper from the lids of products bottled at their Fargo, ND facility. The wrapper previously served as a secondary seal, but significant improvements in induction-sealing technology allowed for its removal with no impact to product quality, freshness or safety.
The impact to the environment, however, is significant. This simple change reduces carbon emissions by 159 metric tons per year, eliminates 25,000 pounds of plastic waste per year, and reduces electricity use by 225,009 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year—enough energy to power a small village of 20 average American homes for a year.1
This latest initiative is just one of many efforts the company has put in place to be kinder to the planet, in total saving almost 2 million pounds of carbon emissions each year.
This and other eco-friendly initiatives are focused in five key areas:
Reducing Consumption
Looking for ways to reduce initial consumption of materials is one small way Swanson is doing their part. By removing the plastic wrappers from product lids, they prevent 25,000 pounds of plastic waste per year, reduce electricity usage by 225,009 kWh per year, and reduce carbon emissions by 350,535 pounds per year. Additionally, improved shipping logistics means fewer trucks on the road, reducing carbon emissions by 300,401 pounds per year—enough to power an average car for 40 round-trip road trips from Anchorage, AK to Houston, TX.
Conserving Energy
Changes were made at their Fargo, ND headquarters facility to reduce energy consumption, including the conversion of 100,000 square feet of the building to geothermal energy, using 4x less energy for heating, and switching to LED lighting. The change in lighting alone reduced carbon emissions by 251,791 pounds per year in addition to saving 190,092 kWh of energy—enough to power 136 refrigerators for a year!
Elevating Recycling
Swanson values the importance of recycling as a business, recycling over 975,000 pounds of cardboard per year—when combined with the use of lighter boxes, this saves approximately one million pounds of cardboard each year—that's 8,288 trees saved each year, plus 1,000,898 pounds of carbon emissions saved per year. Additionally, they maintain a catalog printing partnership that drives a 99.22% recycling rate for paper, wood, metal, energy recovery, plastic and more, leading to 328,000+ tons of materials recovered for the recycling marketplace. They also use inks with a higher renewable resource content (minimum 27.3% renewable content) for an overall more sustainable print operation.
Eliminating Waste
Looking for opportunities for waste reduction helped Swanson make the move to lighter boxes and significantly reducing unnecessary packaging materials. This has saved 45,000 pounds of wasted box materials, resulted in 34% fewer units with plastic bags or plastic wrappers, drove a 40% reduction in units with extra wrapping, and eliminated the use of 3 miles-worth of bubble wrap and 50,000 plastic bags per year. Improved shipping standards also resulted in the use of fewer boxes overall—since 2018 the company has used 80,000 fewer boxes and 150,000 fewer pieces of packaging tape—60 miles-worth of tape!
Fostering Conservation
Swanson Health has adopted a culture of waste reduction throughout the company—recycling plastic, glass, paper, and other recyclable materials across their manufacturing facility, call center, and business offices, in addition to continuously evaluating manufacturing process-related water consumption to reduce water waste.
Swanson Health celebrates 50 years of wellness this year and continues its commitment to creating innovative health products for mind, body and home, offering the best vitamins, supplements and wellness solutions at the best value while doing their part for the health of the planet—on Earth Day and beyond.
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"We take great care in crafting science-backed wellness products for a healthy body, mind and home, and we believe what's good for you should also be good for the environment," says @SwansonHealth about their new environmental commitments this #EarthDay. Learn more at swanson.com/eco.
About Swanson Health
Swanson Health started in 1969 in the heart of America with a mission to offer pure and potent health products at a great value. Fifty years later, Swanson Health continues to innovate science-backed vitamins and supplements, healthy home, pantry and self-care products, delivering wellness solutions for mind, body & home. Learn more and shop exclusively online at swanson.com.
1Energy Information Administration, 2018
SOURCE Swanson Health
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