Green Teams Make an Impact at TWC
Employees Embrace Efforts to Lower Footprint
By Stacy Zaja, Director, Corporate Social Responsibility
In April 2014, TWC introduced a new resource for employees who want to get more involved in the company's Go Green efforts - the Green Team Playbook. The Playbook is a step-by-step guide to assist TWC employees in forming their own local Green Teams with tips and tools for ensuring that the team will be a success. The Playbook was developed by the Corporate Social Responsibility team together with our non-profit partner, the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES). Advising on the Playbook were Green Team employee leaders from three existing Green Teams, Human Resources and Communications team members. The Playbook can be accessed by all TWC employees through our Intranet site.
Since the launch of the Playbook, employees have been responding with new Green Teams forming across the company footprint, growing from three to 15 teams. Our employees have joined together around their common interest in making TWC and the communities where we do business more sustainable. Having a cohesive and coordinated companywide strategy around green activities allows us to drive and measure maximum impact.
Our employee Green Teams focus on three main areas:
- Raising Environmental Awareness among employees
- Helping create Operational Efficiencies
- Supporting local Environmental Organizations
These 15 employee Green Teams have been making an impact from coast to coast. Recently, the teams helped to promote our new Carbon Calculator tool, another employee resource we developed in partnership with C2ES. The calculator gives employees the opportunity to find out how much carbon dioxide they generate in their personal lives each year and suggests energy-saving steps to reduce the impact. During the seven-week Carbon Calculator campaign, TWC employees in over 20 states learned about their personal carbon footprint and the majority of participating employees made commitments to take action. The combined commitments are equal to 2.6 million pounds of avoided CO2 emissions. This is equal to recycling over 50 garbage trucks of waste rather than sending to the landfill.
These actions will also collectively save the employees more than $200k in energy savings. The most popular action items included: replacing incandescent bulbs with CFLs or LEDs; recycling bottles, cans and paper; washing clothes on cold; adjusting home thermostats and shortening showers. While simple actions, these will make a difference!
What’s next for these Green Teams? The teams are working on projects to raise awareness among employees including: reducing paper and cup usage; turning off computer monitors; taking the stairs versus the elevator and much more. Our employees also continue to engage with local environmental community partners through volunteerism opportunities and are preparing for a company-wide celebration of Earth Month.
To learn more, visit our website, Making Connections That Matter, or our company blog, TWC Untangled. To learn about how our fleet is reducing it's footprint, go here.
