Medline's commitment to sustainability extends beyond our customer offerings. We go to great lengths to be environmentally responsible in all aspects of our operations, policies and procedures. To learn more about our corporate initiatives, click on a tab below or view our Environmental Policy Statement.
Medline integrates sustainability in our offices, factories and warehouses around the world.
- Two corporate buildings are equipped with geothermal systems, which use the natural temperature of the earth 600 feet below the surface to heat and cool the building.
- All new buildings are constructed to meet LEED certification standards – a total of almost 2.8 million square feet to date.
- When Medline invests in energy efficiency we go beyond changing our light bulbs. In several of our corporate buildings and warehouses we utilize daylight harvesting through over 300 skylights and clerestory windows, photocell-controlled exterior lighting, solar-reflective roofing materials, smart thermostats, and ultra efficient heating units.
- To reduce our water usage we use sensor faucets, as well as intelligent irrigation strategies, such as drought-resistant landscaping.
- In our manufacturing facility, we reclaim, regrind and reblend 55% of our plastic raw material. This single action reduces energy consumption and the extraction of virgin material.
- In 2011 our corporate offices and manufacturing facility in Mundelein, IL recycled or recovered (for reuse) 1153 tons of solid waste, or 55% of our total waste stream
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With distribution centers around the globe, including over 30 in North America alone, we have the opportunity to implement changes that will have large overall impact. As the responsibility of serving our customers with products and services in a demanding business climate grows, so does our responsibility to the environment. Over the past five years, we have made significant changes in the way the company designs, constructs, and initiates processes that take place in Medline's distribution network.
- Optimizing picking routes and the efficient electric vehicles used for picking. High frequency battery chargers work on off-peak hours. Low UOM picking is done without vehicles—only push carts.
- Using recycled pallets, reusable shipping totes for prime vendor customers and reducing the amount of corrugate in shipping boxes and using air pillows to cushion shipment.
- Following EPA SmartWay® principles and guidelines for our internal fleet and choosing carriers with this designation
- Optimizing efficiency through driver MPG incentives, speed governors on trucks, attention to tire condition and overall vehicle maintenance, route optimization through Dynamic Route Planning, and minimizing idle times.
- Local recycling in every distribution center to address paper, corrugate and shrink wrap—over 3.6 million pounds in 2009 alone.
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- As a proud sponsor of Practice Greenhealth's Greening the OR and Greening the Supply Chain initiatives, Medline is committed to making our products and services more sustainable.
- Medline challenges our suppliers to use environmentally-friendly practices in the manufacturing process, such as use of renewable energy and raw materials, and fin innovative re-uses for manufacturing waste. As an example, a facility in India that manufactures bath towels for Medline collects lint from local spinning mills to make lint bricks that fuel their boiler.
- Redesigning products to use less packaging, optimize space and eliminate petroleum-based materials not only creates a more convenient product for our customers, it also reduces harmful emissions in manufacture and transportation. By investing in product engineering research, we were able to reduce the packaging of our medicine cups by 30% through a simple change in the angle of the sides of the product.
- In the life cycle research done into each of our green products, we require a large amount of disclosure from our own suppliers. Not only does this rigorous process ensure that no greenwashing occurs in our environmental claims, but it raises the standards of what we expect from our own suppliers and their impact on the environment.
- Where we cannot use recycled material, we identify strategies for reducing the amount of material used in the first place. For example, in the manufacture of our FitRight briefs we cut manufacturing waste by 56% and use 12% less non-renewable material overall.
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