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AirBoss Continues to Broaden Sustainability Goals
The focus on environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) by both investors and consumers has created the need for companies to focus on sustainability. Today, companies that aren’t operating in a sustainable, responsible manner are quick to be ostracized by the market at large.
This means that large, multi-facility companies like AirBoss need to do better. And, fortunately, they are.
At AirBoss, sustainability and ESG practices are more engrained in the company mindset than ever before. People like our Director of Sustainability, Erin Stavropoulos, are improving company practices and policies to better align with ESG standards while AirBoss leads the charge toward sustainability.
As a result, AirBoss continues to broaden its sustainability goals, from the sourcing of materials to the production and manufacture of products. And it’s making an impact.
Below, we tell you how AirBoss makes sustainability not only a goal but an obligation and how doing so affects the entire company.
Sustainability and ESG Go Hand-in-Hand
AirBoss has always strived to position sustainability at the forefront of its manufacturing processes. AirBoss’s approach to environmental sustainability considers the company’s impact on the world as both a producer of rubber products and a manufacturer that needs raw rubber materials to operate.
This almost-symbiotic relationship between production and sustainable sourcing positions the company to walk the walk, as they say. AirBoss would find itself on the wrong side of consumer and investor ire if it didn’t maintain a sustainable balance between manufacturing and harvesting of materials.
As such, we aim to consider a number of sustainability tenets regardless of the compound, product, or manufacturing process:
- Pollution prevention
- Waste reduction
- Recycling and repurposing
- Sustainable sourcing of materials
- Adherence to government compliance standards
- Environmental education and awareness
- And more
This tip-of-the-iceberg overview of the company’s sustainability focus helps define just how AirBoss operates on a day-to-day basis.
Pair the above-mentioned focuses with traditional ESG standards, and you can see why our sustainable practices continue to improve.
AirBoss Spearheads Sustainable Manufacturing Practices
AirBoss President and COO, Chris Bitsakakis, says, “At AirBoss of America, we are not just good corporate citizens. We view ourselves as stewards of this planet and plan to play whatever role we can to leave our corner of the world better, cleaner, and more sustainable.” “Our class-leading efforts to utilize sustainably-grown natural rubber as well as recycled rubber from end-of-life tires has played a key role in our drive for environmental stewardship.”
This focus on the environment leads AirBoss down sustainable avenues that many large-scale manufacturers either fail to find or simply haven’t focused on yet.
Recently, in an effort to reduce waste and prevent excess pollution, AirBoss released findings from a 2021 Toxics Reduction Public Summary Report. The goal of the report findings was to understand how the company can better manage its impact on the environment. Mainly, how can AirBoss reduce its reliance on harmful chemicals and compound additives?
AirBoss already incorporates sustainability practices like recycling and repurposing materials.
Annually, AirBoss recycles or repurposes:
- 50,000 pounds of cardboard
- Nearly 1 million pounds of steel
- 900,000 pounds of rubber
- 20-25% of all hydraulic oil used during manufacturing
- All wooden pallets received by the company
And, again, this is only the tip of AirBoss’s sustainability iceberg. The company also tries to reduce waste through scrap management, trains and educates employees in material optimization protocols, and develops long-term sustainable solutions to recurring manufacturing challenges.
AirBoss Recognizes the Cultural Shift Toward Sustainability
It’s one thing to invest in sustainability practices or adapt processes to be more environmentally friendly. It’s another to do so because it’s the right thing to do for investors, the company, and consumers.
Erin Stavropoulos, Director of Sustainability, says, “Our customers are starting to create their own goals in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. Some of our major customers have started to declare they’re going to be carbon neutral by a certain date in the future. “As our customers do that, they need to start seeing sustainability efforts from AirBoss as well.”
And they are. Just as customers are quick to notice companies that don’t put ESG standards into practice, they also recognize companies that do.
Stavropoulos and the leadership at AirBoss show customers and investors that sustainability matters. It’s one of many ways AirBoss supports local and global economies while it spreads its sustainability message. If enterprise-level, global-reaching manufacturers can set the example, others will follow.
“With the support of our employees and shareholders, we leverage the desire to lead and not follow into a sustainable future for our children and grandchildren,” promises President and COO Bitsakakis.
