For some companies, sustainability initiatives have been a popular “fad” of the last few years, launched with great fanfare but rapidly devolving to little more than taglines on a poster displayed by a recycling bin.  Weatherchem has always taken the environment far more seriously, and has invested significantly – and made significant progress – toward its eventual goal of becoming “landfill-free”.

The campaign began several years ago with a focus on reducing the company’s energy consumption and scrap.  Even during the downturn, Weatherchem resisted the impulse to pause its investment in sustainability by installing new electric presses that consumed 30 percent less energy and consumed 800,000 fewer gallons of water annually, and a new “chiller” to cool interior spaces that used 40-45 percent less energy.  

Weatherchem employees led an initiative to reduce scrap, and initially cut levels by 50 percent with efforts that were expanded during 2011.  The company began recycling pallets, shrink wrap and corrugated paper to reduce landfill content, to the point that actually very little is going into the trash now.  In fact, Weatherchem created 24 tons less trash in 2011 compared to 2007, even though the company’s business volume doubled during that time period!

Efforts will continue during 2012, with a focus on reducing weight of the closures themselves, which are already recyclable.  Less weight, of course, consumes less material, but also saves on shipping/fuel costs for Weatherchem and its customers.  One closure in particular will use 20 percent less plastic, with production cycle times also cut by 25 percent in order to save electricity.

Weatherchem Corporation is an innovative manufacturer and marketer of convenient plastic dispensing closures and controlled access packaging. As the creators of the original Flapper® dispensing closure, Weatherchem now offers one of the industry's most innovative closure product lines. In addition to Flapper these include: LiquiFlapper®, NutraFlapper®, NutraGen II®, FlapMate® and Grinder NR®.