Abt believes environmental responsibility isn’t just the job of individuals. Abt makes a conscious effort, each day, to make the world a greener place than it was the day before. ABC7 visited Abt on Friday to see how a large corporation can impact the environment in a positive way.  ”We’ve put in place a solar panel array on our roofs [and] wind turbines. And we’ve just started selling solar and wind power as well,” said Mark Cook, Abt general manager. Watch the entire ABC7 video.

Along with the energy we are creating and selling, we also have an enormous recycling center for appliances and electronics. We are proud to recycle almost everything that comes from customer homes after delivery and service appointments. The recycling center is open to the public Thursday through Sunday 2pm-7pm. Due to our diligent recycling habits, we have decreased our garbage haul-away cost by $50,000 each year.

In addition to reducing our carbon footprint, we try to reduce the negative impact of Styrofoam, a material that takes 20,000 years to biodegrade. “We came up with a machine that actually densifies it 90% smaller, so now it becomes a raw material that can be sold on the marketplace. People make picture frames or plastic woods and it’s not going into the landfills. It’s being used in a new product,” said Taylor.

Even though we are a large business, we keep our carbon footprint small. “We’re going to take care of the trash; we’re going to give you a more energy-efficient piece. We’re going to take care of making you a more environmentally-friendly consumer,” said Cook.

-Kelly B.

Tags: ABC 7 Chicago, carbon footprint, environmental responsibility, Mark Cook, Recycling Center, Rob Taylor, solar panel, Styrofoam, wind turbines

This entry was posted on Monday, October 26th, 2009 at 1:27 pm and is filed under Customer Service Tools, Technology, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.