Bigelow Tea is growing its efforts to be a “green” company and an environmentally responsible maker of specialty teas.
Family owned and based in Fairfield, Connecticut, Bigelow Tea is a supporting member of the Ethical Tea Partnership. This organization works with tea growers to establish best-practice methods for the responsible conservation of the world’s tea fields. The company produces 1.7 billion tea bags annually, yet is a Zero Waste to Landfill company, diverting 94 percent of its solid waste company wide, exceeding the official guideline of 90 percent.
“Eighty-five percent of our packaging is compostable, biodegradable or recyclable,” sys Cindi Bigelow, the third-generation president and CEO of the family-owned company. Her grandmother, Ruth Campbell Bigelow, started the company more than 70 years ago.
“Packaging innovations over the past years have allowed us to cut the weight of our outer boxes, saving 430,000 pounds of material per year, and shaving the thickness of our foil by 12 percent has saved 86,000 pounds per year. In addition, we have eliminated corrugated packaging completely on our shipments, and done away with pallet shrink-wrapping in favor of reusable rubber bands.”
Bigelow Tea also takes care to conserve resources, with rooftop solar generating up to 15 percent of the energy used by its Fairfield plant. Around its facilities, Bigelow has LED lighting to save energy, and in its men’s restrooms, waterless urinals.
They installed the no-water urinals, manufactured by Waterless Co, Inc., to showcase their water conservation efforts as well let building users and visitors know that each waterless system saves about 35,000 gallons per urinal per year.
At Bigelow, along with reducing waste, using recyclable packaging materials, and saving water, the company has taken many other steps to be greener and mores sustainable. This has helped them live up to the company’s mission statement, which reads:
“Do the right thing and good things will follow.
Caring for our planet, is the right thing to do.”
For more information on how to reduce water consumption, waterless urinals, and to use water more efficiently, contact a Waterless Co Specialist
