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Photo by Chance Agrella.
06/19/2008
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By Arnold Howard
Paragon has always had a “green initiative” to reduce energy consumption. Here are ideas that other businesses might be able to use. You could also apply some of these at home.
Paragon has just upgraded the lighting in the factory to reduce energy consumption. The reduced pollution from the electricity we are saving is equivalent to planting 24 acres of trees annually. Other factories could do this too.
For the last six years, we have shredded scrap paper and cardboard to make “spaghetti” packing for furniture kits and UPS shipments. We haven't bought petroleum-based packing peanuts in years. The only peanuts we use are the ones that we recycle from shipments we receive from others.
Fifteen years ago we switched from oil-base spray paint to water-base paint to reduce emissions. The oil-base paint emitted strong toxic fumes; the water-base paint fumes are mild by comparison.
Paragon has been on the four-day work week since the 70s. There is very little employee turnover here, because having Fridays off is like taking a holiday every week. And it doesn't take long to get used to 10-hour days. After a few weeks 10 hours seem like eight. The factory starts at 7:00 a.m. and leaves at 5:30 p.m. Because we arrive early and stay late, we avoid some of the heaviest traffic. To handle customer calls, we have two people in the office on Fridays. They go home at noon. For many businesses, the four-day work week is definitely viable. It is an easy way to save gasoline.
I do small things toward going green. My recycled paper stack, which I keep next to a filing cabinet near my computer, is 20" tall. It is a collection of obsolete forms, brochures, or miscellaneous letters. I use the blank side for taking notes.
I picked up that habit from Frances Darby, who founded Paragon. She saved scrap paper from obsolete printed material. When it grew to several boxes, we printed notepaper lines on the backs and padded the paper. (We have offset printing presses at Paragon.)
And, of course, if you would rather stay at home having fun rather than put money in your gas tank, fire a Paragon kiln. The typical electric kiln can fire a full load of ware for less than the cost of a gallon of gasoline.
Photo by Chance Agrella.
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