The Sheward Partnership is excited to announce that Humanscale received TRUE Gold certification for their Piscataway, NJ, Fresno, CA, and Dublin, Ireland manufacturing facilities and TRUE Silver certification for their Nogales, Mexico facility – one of the first TRUE certified locations in Mexico.
TRUE (Total Resource Use and Efficiency) is a zero waste certification program used by facilities to define, pursue and achieve their zero waste goals, cut their carbon footprint and support public health by diverting all solid waste from landfill, incineration (waste-to-energy) and the environment. TSP was commissioned by Humanscale to serve as the TRUE Zero Waste Consultant for their four manufacturing facilities and help them achieve their stated goal to become zero waste in their manufacturing process.
Beyond Sustainability: Less Bad Is Not Good Enough
Humanscale is the premier designer and manufacturer of ergonomic products that improve health and comfort wherever people work. From seating to lighting to technology support, they develop innovative, functional work tools for a better human experience. All their products and services exist solely to promote the health and safety of their customers and are assessed during development to confirm their effectiveness.
As a global manufacturer, Humanscale realizes how much of an impact they have on the world: from daily operations to relationships with employees, vendors, customers and the local and global communities they indirectly touch. Humanscale sees this as both an exciting opportunity and a serious responsibility. Humanscale’s corporate goals realize that it is no longer sufficient for companies to simply reduce their harmful impacts, they must be part of the solution and give back more than they use and aim to be at the forefront of sustainability initiatives.
In 2019, Humanscale set a goal for all factories to achieve 90% waste diversion (a TRUE minimum requirement), which they met in 2020. Building on this success, they created the initiative to achieve TRUE Zero Waste certification and formalized it in 2021 via their Zero Waste Policy – targeting 100% waste diversion from landfills by the year 2030, with an improvement of at least 1% per year until this goal is achieved.
Meeting this goal required Humanscale to perform a holistic examination on new ways to reuse material, recycle hard to recycle materials, work with suppliers to proactively prevent waste, and develop a culture of responsible materials management within all factories. The process fosters strong total participation including training of all employees and zero waste relationships with vendors and customers. This whole systems approach allowed TSP to guide Humanscale’s team through the process to deliver a higher level certification than they were expecting within a short timeframe.
All manufacturing facilities follow the same principles and guidelines, with adjustments made to material management as needed based on local laws and requirements. With this certification, Humanscale can demonstrate that their facilities are minimizing their waste output and showcase their responsibility and commitment to the local and global community and the environment.
