Earth Day occurred this past Saturday, on April 22nd. All week long during work we celebrated by taking part in eco-friendly behaviors in the office. Recycling and sustainability is a major part of the remarketing industry. A couple months ago on our blog we highlighted some facts on the automotive recycling industry. Many people may not realize that cars are one of the most recycled things in the world. Every year in the U.S. and Canada there are over 11 million vehicles recycled.¹ Additionally, 85-90% of a vehicle’s materials are recycled or reused.²
On average every car is made out of about 25% recycled steel. Since Earth Day last year, ARS has contributed over 17,000 tons of steel via remarketed vehicles that may end up being reused in new cars. That equates to our remarketing work being a part of over 75,000 new cars that will be built using recycled steel!
The week started off with a plastic bag recycling drive. Employees were encouraged to bring in the plastic bags you get your groceries in to be collected and properly recycled in exchange for some healthy snacks. In total 323 bags were collected! On Wednesday, we tried to cut down on as much emissions as possible. Employees biked, bussed, carpooled and even roller bladed to work! Not only was it fun to get to work besides the lonely morning commute but there was a bonus of exercise too.
Finally, we had a local cleanup that started at Cliff Walk in Newport. Our designated area to cover was around Morton Park. We were surprised at how much trash we found. In just over an hour we filled up more than two bags of plastic, empty bottles, food wrappers, clothes and various other oddities. The event was put on by Clean Ocean Access (www.cleanoceanaccess.org) who highlighted the importance of picking up trash around Newport because even if it doesn’t start near the ocean, so much of it ends up there.
Celebrating Earth Day should not just be one day or a week out of the year. However, designating this celebration for people to come together and help is a tremendous thing. You can see our whole sustainability statement on our website under the “About Us” drop down menu (https://www.arscars.com/our-story/). At ARS we focus our business processes to consider our impact on the environment. Furthermore, we continually look for ways to minimize our footprint.
Thank you to everyone who took part in making this an awesome Earth Day!