Member Spotlight: Inpro Corporation

In honor of Zero Waste Month last month, we’re thrilled to highlight the zero waste achievements of a wonderful WasteCap Member company and valued partner: Inpro Corporation. 

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Inpro is an industry-leading architectural product manufacturer based out of Muskego, Wisconsin. As a company, quality and environmental stewardship are at their core. 

They aimed to become net zero compliant by 2025. Thanks to their consistent efforts, they’ve reached new heights this year, already achieving this goal three years ahead of schedule.

“Waste audits were key to understanding our waste stream and the content of materials being sent to landfills,” say Jess Jenkins, Inpro’s Environmental and Technical Project Specialist, and Mark Alan, Inpro’s Senior Vice President of Product Management and Development. “Performing the audits allowed us to determine benchmarks and tracking methods for a variety of waste materials which in turn provided a method of prioritizing the changes we needed to make.”

Check out more of Mark and Jess’s insights below on the zero waste process, the many benefits of waste reduction for businesses and their communities, and what’s next for sustainability at Inpro.

What changes did you implement this year to reach zero waste?

Our team had been solely focused on finding secondary uses for our production scrap along with separating recyclables from our waste stream, which we found to be challenging.  We were making some progress, but the pace was slow.   
Once we reached out to learn how other local companies are achieving success toward zero waste to landfill, we widened our focus to include production yields and determine methods of reducing our production scrap. By applying six sigma methods, we found several opportunities to lower our material scrap and take credit for diverting it away from landfills.

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Why should companies be working to reduce waste?

The obvious answer is that it’s the right thing to do for our environment, but the extent of benefits is far more reaching. We’ve improved production methods by increasing our yield and reducing our raw material consumption, which reduced our overall cost. Another benefit was the level of employee engagement. Our employees WANT to be involved and contribute to waste diversion.

Inpro has established an Environmental Management Team to help further its goals. How are you working to sustain zero waste operations, and what’s next for 2023?

Achieving zero waste to landfill is not a one-and-done exercise.  The EMS team has established tracking methods and monthly reporting which allows our company to take action and remain current with the goal. Additional initiatives have also been identified and prioritized as we continue our efforts.

Now that we’ve reached a compliant level, we will pursue the GBCI TRUE certification.

In addition to this major milestone, Inpro is proud to celebrate their commitment to sustainability in business through many other accomplishments and initiatives.

• They received the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) “Recycling Excellence Award” for their commitment to diverting waste from the landfills. 
• Last year, they were also the first organization in the state of Wisconsin to achieve Fitwel Certification, demonstrating their commitment to the health and well-being of all employees. 
• They are ISO 9001: 2015 and ISO 14001:2015 certified to provide the best products possible, while also being mindful of the environmental impacts of our manufacturing processes.
• They are a “Tier 2” Wisconsin Green Tier Company via the Wisconsin Sustainable Business Council, as well as active Members of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), Green Building Initiative (GBI), and Health Product Declaration Collaborative (HPDC). 
  
  

Join the conversation on your journey to zero waste, and become a WasteCap member today!

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