Earth Day 2020 - Celebrating 50 Years - (reduce waste)

In today’s world, sustainability is one of the largest qualities that workers are looking for when choosing a company to work for or to collaborate with.

Keeping up with the times is incredibly important for the health of one’s business, along with adapting to the ever-changing times and environments – literally in this sense.

This large interest in sustainability and environmentally friendly companies became popular in more recent years for many reasons. Some of those reasons being, new research, the state of the global environment, people experiencing climate change first hand, investigative journalism, social media, and more!

As a smaller & local company, we are trying to do our part here in West Michigan. At Great Lakes Label, we are “committed to serving the West Michigan community. We strongly believe in our responsibility to making a positive and lasting contribution to our communities and environment. Our efforts range from environmental, health, and safety initiatives to partnering with local charities and organizations.” – Our Social Responsibility Promise

In our facility, we use new T5 Lighting. We do so in our efforts to reduce our environmental footprint, & to tackle climate change. This lighting helps us reduce emissions and reduces our energy usage – compared to old fluorescent or T8 lighting. This has resulted in greater energy savings, and elimination of constant disposal, since the lights last much longer – decreasing our waste.

Along with less waste due to the new lighting above, we continually work to reduce the number of raw material deliveries, through implementing LEAN practices within our purchasing procedures. We recycle our corrugated waste material and we work closely with our supply chain – documenting & tracking raw materials all the way back to their origin so that we know where the materials originated, if they’re sustainable and their processes.

In our in-house R&D department, we are constantly testing out new labeling stocks, liners, and other materials. We test their durability, sustainability, and many other various factors. Currently, through our Label Gator® Brand, we have a Picture Label Program™. This program is a labeling program that allows growers & greenhouses to order fully printed labels (ready for application) or partially pre-printed labels that they can print their own variable data on at the greenhouse. These labels are made of polypropylene, although not thought of as recyclable, at first, they are made of the same material as horticulture plant containers – those plastic pots we are used to seeing plants in. These pots are often reused and recycled. They can be melted back down by the pot manufacturers as is – with the label on still – as well since it’s the same material.