Otis’ First Zero Waste to Landfill Pilot Begins

A piece of metal. A stack of cardboard. A piece of packaging.

Individually these items may not seem like much, but when you consider the tons of materials needed to build the components for Otis elevators, the waste produced can add up to a lot. Today these items are what make up most of the waste at Otis’ manufacturing facility in Florence, South Carolina.

And while the site currently recycles much of its production waste, the facility recently conducted a sustainability analysis to help reduce its carbon footprint and obtain Zero Waste to Landfill certification.

Zero waste is a set of principles focused on waste prevention that encourages the redesign of resource life cycles so that all products are reused. Zero waste also means the conservation of all resources by means of responsible production, consumption, reuse, and recovery of all products, packaging, and materials, without burning them, and without discharges to land, water or air that threaten the environment or human health. Companies are eligible to have their facilities certified for ZWTL by a third-party once key criteria are met. Examples include having formal policies to limit waste generation and demonstrating reduction efforts have been taken through redesign, reuse or recycling

Otis aims to have all global factories eligible for Zero Waste to Landfill certification by 2025 as part of its recently announced long-term Environmental, Social & Governance goals. The pilot at the Florence facility is the first of its kind at Otis. The standardized process defined in this pilot will be scaled to other manufacturing facilities next year.

“Attaining this certification is a major next step for Florence and an evolution of where we are in our goal of reducing our ecological impact on the environment,” said Terry Robinson, Sr. Manager, Sustainability and Remediation.

The Florence facility is Otis’ primary manufacturing facility for North America. It consists of approximately 425,000 square feet of floor space and approximately 650 Otis colleagues work there. In 2019, operations resulted in approximately 8.8 million pounds of industrial process waste, and 315,000 pounds of waste classified as garbage. More than 95% of the facility’s waste is managed as recycled material and largely consists of scrap metal. That final 5% of garbage includes wastes from the facility cafeteria, office waste, and packaging dunnage, such a bubble wrap, cargo straps and plastic liners. Additional items include cardboard, mixed production-related waste, diluted wastewater, organic solvents, machining oils, glass, batteries, lamps, among other items.

“Otis’ sustainability initiatives show our commitment to reducing our carbon footprint. We have a passion for sustainability here and employees jumped right in during waste sorts. They were eager to get involved,” said Kyle Matthews, Sr. Manager, Environment, Health & Safety. “We plan to continue to harness this passion for sustainability both at the company and at the individual level, which will set Otis apart as a sustainability leader.”

Dennis Rodriguez, a staff technician, was instrumental in this effort. “I am proud to work for a company that is serious about making positive changes regarding the environment,” he said. “Advancing ecological initiatives is so much more than saving the planet – it’s about saving mankind. We all have a part in being stewards of the environment we live in. Otis is committed to leading us in a direction that not only will benefit our generation but those in the future.”