Decorah Facility Champions Global Sustainability Initiative
Plant invests in renewable electricity, water conservation, and recycling initiatives to meet corporate sustainability goals.
STANLEY® Engineered Fastening and its parent company Stanley Black & Decker have pledged their corporate offices, distribution centers, and manufacturing facilities around the world will operate carbon positive by 2030. The STANLEY Engineered Fastening manufacturing facility in Decorah, Iowa, has joined facilities in Danbury, Connecticut, and Warrington, England, as leaders in the company’s global sustainability initiative.
The Decorah facility is doing its part to help STANLEY® meet its energy and environmental stewardship targets by investing in a series of sustainability initiatives over the past two years.
- Last month, STANLEY® Engineered Fastening in Decorah installed an iFP high-volume parts washer manufactured by Gosiger to reduce the facility’s water consumption by 50 percent.
- Late last year, the Decorah facility purchased 9,410 MWh of Green-e® certified renewable energy certificates (RECs) to match 100% of their 2019 electricity load. One REC represents the environmental benefits associated with one megawatt-hour of energy generated from renewable resources. This effort is the environmental equivalent of taking over 1,500 cars off the road for one year.
- In 2017, the plant started converting to LED lighting fixtures to lower its energy consumption.
The Decorah facility plans to reach corporate’s renewable energy goal well ahead of the 2030 target.—Scott MilburnDirector of Operations, STANLEY® Engineered Fastening, Decorah
“The Decorah facility used 1,677,900 kWh of electricity in 2016, and in 2018 that number dropped to 940,138 kWh, thanks to a series of energy-efficiency upgrades,” said Cody Webb, EHS manager, STANLEY® Engineered Fastening — Decorah. “About 80 percent of our facility uses LED lighting to-date, and plans are in place to complete the remaining LED upgrades in 2019.”
In addition to its energy-conservation efforts, STANLEY® Engineered Fastening in Decorah is committed to diverting waste from the local landfill. Its “Zero Waste” initiative encourages employees to be good environmental stewards by eliminating waste and recycling as many items as possible.
“The Decorah facility plans to reach corporate’s renewable energy goal well ahead of the 2030 target, and we will not stop there,” said Scott Milburn, director of operations for STANLEY® Engineered Fastening — Decorah. “We are also exploring the feasibility of adding solar panels or wind turbines to the site down the road.”
The Stanley Black & Decker sustainability pledge details a multi-phase plan to capture more carbon than it produces by minimizing emissions across their operations. Long-term, STANLEY® hopes to generate renewable electricity at some of its locations to put energy back into the grid.
Stanley Black & Decker was recently recognized by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DSJI) with a Bronze Class Sustainability Award and an Industry Mover Sustainability Award for 2018.