Aluminum Is The New Plastic

Recently, GE Capital Americas embarked on a campaign to replace plastic water bottles with more cost-effective and eco-friendly water filtration systems. While the conversion to water filtration systems seems to fit perfectly with GE’s “Green is Green” mantra, the process also involved qualitative and quantitative analysis that would make any MBA proud.

Led by John Esposito and Dawn Cocks, the GE sourcing team researched the issues, presented a problem statement and business case, as well as provided both a macro-level analysis and a GE savings assessment. The solution they developed provided both cost savings and a positive environmental impact.

Over the past few months, stocks of bottled water in GE Capital offices have been gradually reduced and many employees have received aluminum bottles in their stead. This green initiative has been received with overwhelmingly positive feedback. In addition, the team plans to further educate employees through marketing campaigns focused on the environmental issues that plastic water bottles present globally.

Eco-Economics:

• Producing bottles for American consumption requires the equivalent of more than 17M barrels of oil, not including energy for transportation
• Transportation & refrigeration requires the equivalent of ¼ a plastic bottle of oil, per bottle
• Bottling water produces more than 2.5M tons of carbon dioxide
• It takes 3 liters of water to produce 1 liter of bottled water

Source: Pacific Institute

GE Economics: (based on consumption from one GE Capital office building)

• 765 employees consume and average of one bottle per day
• Cost per employee: $0.05/day for filtered H₂O; $0.29/day for bottled H₂O
• Total savings: ~$45K/year

Even a seemingly small change in employee consumption habits locally will lead to material results. If similar initiatives were launched globally, spanning all of GE’s 300,000+ employees, the environmental impact and cost savings would be significant.

Learn more about GE’s ecomagination here.

Posted by Jeff