The sustainable evolution that has exploded in the mainstream during the past few years is important for all of us in order to reduce waste, conserve energy and take better care of our planet. It sometimes can be difficult to determine how green a company truly is. ATAS International, Inc.—from the front office to the production facility to our various manufacturing sites—has taken many steps to ensure we reduce our carbon footprint, improve our energy efficiency and manufacture sustainable products.
For starters, we strive to be landfill free by producing less waste and optimizing the utilization of our materials by reusing cardboard boxes for shipments, donating extra product to the worthy causes and finding alternative uses for metal that would otherwise be considered scrap. Our skids and fiber cores from coils are reused; plastic coil ID rings are reused instead of creating new tags; and scrap wood is donated to the community. These efforts have reduced the creation of new skids and packaging by 50 percent. Although hazardous waste was minimal, we still were able to reduce this component by 64 percent. Of course, scrap metal from our manufacturing that has no alternate uses is recycled.
We have made upgrades, including motion sensors and improved lighting, to our original plant and new production facility to make the buildings more energy efficient. We also installed our InSpire® wall system, a supplementary solar air heating system, at our newest manufacturing location.
As a manufacturer of metal roofing, ATAS wanted to set an example on their own facility to show how solar and metal roofs can work together, resulting in a long-lasting, sustainable, and energy efficient system. Solar ready metal roofing is the best solution for any building on which solar is being considered. In a continuing effort to improve energy efficiency at our facilities, a 187.2 kW photovoltaic (PV) solar electric system was recently installed on ATAS International’s plant located in Mesa, Arizona.
On the operations end, we donate lightly used office products to local schools for underprivileged students instead of throwing these items away. We recycle everything—paper, bottles, cans, office supplies, batteries, ink cartridges, light bulbs, electronic equipment, newspaper and magazines. Simple changes have also made a difference. For example, we have eliminated the use of Styrofoam cups and paper plates by our employees and visitors. It’s not just the way we do business that adds to our energy-efficient measures. What we manufacture also contributes to our green lifestyle. Keep in mind all metals generally contain varying amounts of recycled material and can be recycled at the end of their service life. That means all our metal products are recyclable.
