Every Day is Earth Day
Earth Day is an “annual celebration honoring the achievements of the environmental movement and raising awareness of the importance of long-term ecological sustainability.” We say – let’s make EVERYDAY Earth Day!
Earth Day is a day to not only to celebrate the Earth and its life-sustaining resources, but to also raise awareness for potential environmental threats. It’s an opportunity for people to make a positive impact.
There are countless ways each of us can benefit the environment every day. Here are a few examples:
- Use a reusable water bottle
- Picking up litter
- Recycling
- Turn off lights when you leave the room
- Limit water usage by taking a shorter shower or turning of the sink while brushing your teeth
- Spread the message of Earth Day and offer ideas for friends and family to have a positive impact
- BONUS! Plant a tree!
There are so many small acts that can have a huge positive impact on our planet. Make EVERYDAY Earth Day by implementing one or more of these practices.
Learn more about the history of Earth Day and what you can do to help here.
Olympic Steel’s Environmental Commitment
Olympic Steel is committed to following practices that will have a positive impact on the environment, as well as on the communities where we operate. Because we do not manufacture metals and instead warehouse, distribute, and process metals, our carbon footprint is relatively small when it comes to pollutants. However, we continuously take steps to further reduce our footprint through –
- Metal Recycling: Steel is the most recycled material by weight, and our raw material is 100% recyclable. Because of this, we recycle whenever we can, and in 2021, we recycled over 57,000 pounds of scrap metal.
- Electricity: We are committed to ongoing evaluation and improvement in our energy efficiency. Some changes we have made are using lower-energy, LED lighting in 22 of our facilities and upgrading lighting at the remaining facilities to be more like our office building in Winder, Georgia, which is certified to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards, the most widely used green building rating system in the world. Olympic Steel’s facilities used just over 32,352 MWh of electricity in 2021 – a 16% decrease since 2019.
- Renewable Energy: We are consistently looking for ways to implement renewable energy is all our practices. We estimate that 12% of our electricity supply is from renewable sources, and we only want to see that grow. Some ways we do this are by using a wind tower at our steel service center facility in Bedford Heights, Ohio, that returns renewable energy to the local electrical grid. In addition, 57% of the energy used in our Bettendorf, Iowa facility is generated from wind power, too. We also have implemented efficient HVAC/air systems to reduce energy use for heating and cooling in many of our facilities.
Water Usage: Olympic Steel used approximately 7.5 million gallons of water in 2021. To help mitigate this usage, we have installed water-saving equipment in any newly remodeled facilities, including water filtration systems and motion-detecting sinks. We recognize that water is a shared and finite resource, and we are committed to preserving it.
Forestry: Across our operations, we seek a reduction of deforestation. We do this by instituting pallet return programs for customers in order to maximize the life of a wooden pallet. We also utilize reusable, non-wooden materials to ship products to our customers, where possible.
Click here to read more about Olympic Steel’s environmental efforts.
As you celebrate Earth Day, don’t forget to share any pictures or videos on social media – #IamOlympicSteel
