eWaste policy in action

In 2013, Workday committed to a "100% no landfill policy" and we have been actively implementing this program in the last year. For example, across 4 different data centers and office locations we have conducted six hard drive collections for data destruction, shredding and recycling of materials. This accounted for a total of almost 3,000 disk drives. Similarly, over 370 units of obsolete computing equipment were collected, cleansed and made ready for resell. Recycling can even be profitable on recovery value if done right!

Workday is committed to this program on a global scale and we are extending our coverage going forward. This will ensure that we are doing our best to minimize any negative impact on the environment as outlined in our sustainability commitment.

Workday says "No" to eWaste

As a responsible citizen of the cloud, Workday has recognized that besides being "100% Green Powered", it is also very important to handle all forms of eWaste in an environmentally acceptable way. Our goal is simple: "100% No Landfill". This means nothing that was used at Workday should end up in a landfill or be recycled in inappropriate ways.

In order to achieve this, we have drafted an Electronics Disposition Policy which governs all handling of obsolete electronics at Workday.  

The key objectives of the policy are:

• Data Safety First: Securely dispose of any data in any media in an irrecoverable way.

• Prevent Pollution: Where ever possible and environmentally sensible, equipment should be re-used internally to extend its life cycle providing value to Workday. Wherever internal re-use is not possible, opportunities for resale or donation should be pursued.

• Minimize Waste: Where re-use is not a viable option, every reasonable effort will be made to control all Electronic Wastes and to avoid Electronic Wastes from entering landfills, incinerators or entering other environmentally irresponsible processes. Environmental Partners shall contractually commit to employing environmentally responsible processes and practices in the recycling and disposal of materials. All exports and imports of Electronic Waste handled by Workday and its authorized environmental partners will comply with existing international waste trade agreements and legal requirements.

• Be a Responsible Neighbour: Workday does not permit Electronic Waste to be exported from developed (OECD/EU) to developing (non-OECD/EU) countries either directly or through intermediaries.

After a diligent selection process, Workday has chosen a vendor that complies with the required eStewards certifications. We are in the process of starting our collaboration and executing the disposition process as defined by our policy. As we move forward, we will expand coverage of this process to all obsolete electronics at Workday. 

Green Purchasing at Workday

Staples, one of Workday's suppliers for office materials, has provided us with an environmental report for our purchases in 2011. 

According to this source, Workday's average post-consumer recycled content is 35.89%, which is over 20% above the national average. This also equates to roughly 20,000 gallons of water, 43 trees or 4,000 kWh electricity saved.

Not bad - Let's see if we can do even better in 2012!

Biodegradables

In response to our last post on the plastic garbage patch, we decided to take action and switch over to biodegradable knives, forks and spoons. Currently we are consuming about 8000 pieces of throw-away cutlery per year. While biodegradables are about 40% more expensive, it does not total up to a huge amount overall.

Thanks to our finance department to making this green move!

Our legacy - a garbage patch

One of the most disturbing results of our ever mindless consumption is the growing garbage patch in the Pacific. Doubling twice in size each decade, this slur of bottlecaps, lighters, toothbrushes, plastic bags and small pieces of broken junk is now estimated to be twice the size of Texas.

Sea creatures and birds die a painful death digesting our debris. Chris Jordan, who has done some outstanding work described in an earlier post, has documented some of this in a new story. Check out how our junk makes it half around the world to kill innocent life.



Keep this in mind with every throw away item you use. Every piece of packaging or containment that is only useful to us for a very short time is ending up as a massive long term problem elsewhere, no matter how much we recycle.

Changing our behavioral patterns...

A while back, I blogged about the work of Chris Jordan, who visualizes the mind boggling numbers of our average day consumption patterns. He now has given a very eye opening and challenging talk at TED. Check it out.

Lead by example....

Great story reported by MJ:

"As we were packing up to move to the new office Friday, I took my last set of soda cans to the recycle bin, feeling good that I didn't just trash them.

I walked by where the printer used to be (yea) and our Founder was digging through a garbage can. I asked him what he was looking for.

He told me that there was stuff in there that should be recycled and he proceeded to pull some paper out and stick it in the right place.

By the way, it wasn't his trash can."

That's just AWESOME! Our fearless leader himself embodies our green core values!!!

From the green island...

Natasha from our Dublin office has written a great note on how green our Irish office and employees operate:

"I thought I'd give you a snap shot of how we typically live here in Fumbally Square....

We use minimal paper (can quantify yearly consumption if needed), we
have a monthly recycling and shredding service that takes this paper
away.   Paper mostly used by Brian Montgomery and me, for accounting
purposes. 

We have a cargo bin that has a recycle part and a normal rubbish bin in
our kitchen.  We are all used to recycling all we can as at home we get
charged for each bin collection and the weight of it!  Makes us
excellent at the recycling ;-)

I have started purchasing recycled paper note pads for the stationery
cupboard.  Actually this happened by accident but still will claim it in
the name of the green movement. 

We stopped supplying coke/sods cans; we had stocked the fridge with them
for the past few months but decided instead to purchase fruit juices and
stock the fridge with mostly organic chocolate and with fruit from our
local fruit shop - less packaging.   

Since 2002 in the Republic of Ireland, the government has had a 'plastic
bag levy'.  We get charged 22cent for each plastic bag we get from a
shop so everyone typically uses a bag for life or creatively carries
their shopping home. 

At Workday Dublin, we buy our coffee and now tea from Java Republic, a
company that buys directly from  Fairtrade - certified suppliers, or
directly from growers and co-operatives.  Tastes really good too. 

We have a water filter machine that filters the water at source and we
do not use disposable plastic cups or disposable plates/cutlery.  

I'm investigating getting our cleaning company to supply us with
bio-degradable plastic bin bags for bins at our desks and eco-friendly
dishwashing tablets.  This should be achievable. 

For our office move we recycled everything that we could, paper files
that were no longer in use, old CD's etc, we even reused all of our old
furniture ;-)  

We have just three car parking spaces at our new office, meaning that
your Workday Dublin colleagues mostly cycle, walk and get public
transport to work and usually only drive when absolutely necessary. 

We aren't currently doing anything about our flights."

This is excellent - thanks Natasha!

Workday's Green Commitment

With the launch of our new website today, we also have a page outlining the commitment Workday makes to being green:

http://www.workday.com/company/the_workday_experience/green_commitment.php

Stop the junk mail

Marie Lovric sent the following contribution to our blog:

I just signed my name onto a petition asking Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, to support the creation of a Do Not Mail Registry in the United States.

Please consider adding your name to the list of supporters calling for the creation of a national Do Not Mail Registry.

Junk mail is more than just an annoyance; it's an environmental crisis. Every year, junk mail production destroys 100 million trees, creating as much global warming emissions equivalent to the emissions of 3.7 million cars.

We deserve the right to protect our privacy and our time. We deserve clean air and forest protection. Sign our petition today and take back your mailbox:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/281/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=941

Our green page in confluence also list the following solutions:

• Stop your junk mail directly at the DMA or with Green Dimes
• Opt out of receiving "pre-approved" credit offer in your mail at OptOut

Thanks Marie!!!