Budd has made sustainably an important part of our business. It’s the right thing to do for the environment and our customers. A new Fortune 100 account that we onboarded this year told us that “your sustainability and social responsibility initiatives pushed Budd over the finish line”. It was satisfying to see that our efforts were recognized, and that statement solidified the importance of sustainability in business today. There is always more we can do, and we look forward to taking this journey with our customers!
Following is an overview of Budd Van Lines’ Sustainability Policy and our initiatives:
Budd Van Lines Sustainability Policy Statement
Budd Van Lines is aware of the impact its operations have on the environment. We believe it is our responsibility to not only minimize our environmental impact, but also to consider an environmental policy as an integral part of our operational strategy.
We have established several measures to reduce our carbon footprint and prevent pollution:
- Involve, educate, and train staff in environmental issues to instill a sense of environmental responsibility.
- Fuel efficient fleet management
- Budd is a certified EPA SmartWay Partner
- Aerodynamic truck designs
- Idling guidelines
- Promotion of cruise control usage
- Recycle oil
- Employ reusable materials in serving our customers as often as practical: The Budd Eco-Crate program, masonite & neoprene residence protection, cloth furniture pads, rubber bands to adhere furniture pads.
- Recycle used packing material and cartons
- Provide free used cartons to local customers
- Recycle paper, plastic, and aluminum at our offices
- Upgraded office and warehouse lighting systems: LED bulbs and motion detection sensors
- Timers on heating and air conditioning systems
Budd Van Lines will comply with environmental legislation, strive to follow best practices, and continuously seek advancement by monitoring progress and remaining proactive.
The environmental policy and its objectives will be periodically reviewed.
EPA SmartWay Carrier
Budd is a certified partner with the EPA SmartWay Program. SmartWay’s freight emissions assessment tools and reports help us benchmark, monitor, and improve the environmental performance of our fleet. SmartWay allows us to have a baseline or benchmark to track our carbon footprint, and provides us with the metrics and data we need to make better decisions that reduce our impact.
Budd’s Load It Once SmartWay Influenced trucks
Idling Guidelines:
Training programs for drivers to minimize idling time. Benefits from reducing long-duration idling include:
- Decreasing fuel costs
- Decreasing engine maintenance costs
- Extending engine life
- Improving operator well-being by decreasing noise levels
- Decreasing emissions that are harmful to the environment.
Fact
Each year, long-duration truck idling results in the following estimated or approximated figures:
- 1 billion gallons of fuel consumption
- 11 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2)
- 180,000 tons of nitrogen oxides (NOx)
- 5,000 tons of particulate matter (PM)
Truck Speed Governors: All Budd trucks have speed limiters
Speed limiting governors prevent the truck driver from pushing the vehicle past a certain speed and contribute to safety and fuel efficiency.
Encourage Drivers to Use Cruise Control
Cruise control can help save an average of 7-14% on fuel thanks to its ability to maintain a continuous speed.
Eco-Crates
Our proprietary and environmentally safe alternative to crating. Eco-Crates offer our clients a 30% cost savings. Environmentally we our conserving the wood and corrugated material for crates while practically eliminating mirror cartons for flat items. We estimate that in 2020 alone we saved:
- Approximately 130 tons of corrugated material
- Almost 375,000 gallons of water by reducing corrugated manufacturing and recycling
- More than 900 trees
- Almost 176 yards of cubic landfill space
https://www.buddvanlines.com/eco-crate/
The Load-It-Once System
Fuel Efficiency: Load it Once trucks are averaging 6.5 MPG.
The Load It Once Transporters – In 2019, we added the LIO-Regional Transporters (modular straight trucks) to our fleet to complement the full tractor trailer units.
The Regional Transporters have a lightweight design, with automatic transmission engines designed for reliability, durability, and fuel efficiency. Features such as Idle Shutdown Timers, and speed governors contribute to the truck’s fuel efficiency. The Transporter’s averages 8.5 MPG.
Labor efficiency –With LiO, what would normally take two days to load/unload now takes only 30 minutes, constituting a 22-hour savings of driver hours and warehouse lighting, and heating systems.
https://www.buddvanlines.com/load-it-once/
Warehouses/Offices
Warehouse Sky Lights
Reduces the need for electric lighting at our facilities during work hours.
Energy Efficient Lighting – Our warehouses are built with both motion detections and energy efficient LED light bulbs. Motion detectors can reduce electric consumption by 35% to 45% and can go up to as high as 75%. We are experiencing 61% Carbon Reduction through LED lighting in our offices and warehouses.
Timed Heating & Air Conditioning – Timers on our heating and air conditioning units in our buildings across the country.
Use of Recyclable Materials
Rubber Band Furniture Protectors – we train drivers to use reusable bands to adhere furniture pads in lieu of the plastic shrink wrap and tape.
Packing Material Recycling – At Budd, we use 100% recyclable paper products. We have bailing machines at our warehouses that allow us to recycle over 2.75 million pounds of cardboard a year.
Floor Protection – We protect our customers’ floors with reusable masonite sheets and neoprene floor runners instead of cardboard. We save approximately 25 pounds of material per job/187,500 lbs. of corrugated material per year.
Used Cartons – Free used cartons to COD customers.
Plastic Cartons –Beta testing reusable plastic cartons for items like books, tools and goods not subject to contamination.
Virtual Surveys:
Video chat surveys have reduced carbon footprint by minimizing the need for surveyors to drive to residences. Assume the average surveyor logs 30,000 business miles per year. 75% + of surveys are now done virtually offering a savings of 22,500+ miles per year. At 30 miles per gallon, we are conserving over 750 gallons of fuel and reducing carbon emissions per surveyor.
Work from Home:
One positive result of the pandemic (and probably the only one) is that companies have learned to maintain productivity with people working from home.
A study from Virtual Vocations www.virtualvocations.com reported that the environmental benefits of working from home includes:
Decreasing Emissions (39%)
Less paper usage: 32%
Less space and energy consumption (21%)
At Budd we have had a hybrid program since May of 2021. We are asking employees to be in the office 2 or 3 days a week and work from home for the balance of the week. This means we are putting 150+ fewer people on the road every day.
Conclusion:
We hope our efforts contribute to serving our customers in a socially responsible and environmentally friendly way.