Sustainable Practices at Alta - Celebrating World Environment Day on June 5, the Alta Long Beach Office Team Shows Off Their Sustainable Water Bottles!

At Alta we not only support our clients with sustainability projects, but we work hard to reduce our environmental impact and increase the use of sustainable practices in all possible operations. In the United States, Americans went through about 50 billion plastic water bottles in 2016 with a dismal 23 percent recycling rate (Chow, Lorraine). Alta’s STF saw an opportunity to reduce its plastic water bottle usage in late 2017 by purchasing reusable hydroflasks for all employees.

Alta previously had single-use plastic water bottles in the office for employees to take with them for field work assignment or as needed use. A key part of implementing the reusable hydro-flasks, which can be seen in the picture above, is employee education and awareness. Signs were placed in common areas around the office to ensure all employees were educated about the new policy and that they could pick up a hydroflask, if they didn’t already have one, from the main front desk.
​
The guidelines for implementing sustainable practices are not always clearly defined. Something as simple as getting reusable water bottles for all employees is an easy way that a business can reduce their waste generation. The switch to using reusable water bottles means that each person at Alta is now saving approximately 156 plastic water bottles from going into a landfill (or the oceans) each year (Earth Day Network).

Sources

1. Chow, Lorraine. “1 Million Plastic Bottles Bought Every Minute, That's Nearly 20,000 Every Second.” EcoWatch, EcoWatch, 7 June 2018, www.ecowatch.com/plastic-bottle-crisis-2450299465.html.
2. ​Earth Day Network. “Fact Sheet: Single Use Plastics.” Earth Day Network, 10 Apr. 2018, www.earthday.org/2018/03/29/fact-sheet-single-use-plastics/