Molex wins Arkansas Sierra Club Award for Environmental Efforts

“Preserving the global environment is an important part of being an outstanding corporate citizen,” said Joel Eurich, Global Environmental, Health & Safety (EH&S) manager, Molex Incorporated. “We must carefully consider environmental impacts during the design and manufacture of our products to ensure we are doing our part to continually improve our environmental performance.”

Molex recycles 91% of all the waste that leaves its Maumelle location. The facility has been leading environmental initiatives since 2005, when it received ISO 14001 certification in support of improving environmental performance. To date, over 90 % of Molex’s facilities are certified to ISO 14001.

Beginning with the recycling of white paper, mixed paper, aluminium cans and corrugated cardboard, the facility found alternative ways to use the waste, for example, in fuel and energy programmes. To encourage employee participation, the facility partnered with the Arkansas Children’s Hospital and developed “Cans for Kids” with all proceeds from aluminium can recycling going to the hospital. In 2008, Molex reduced the plastic waste from its injection moulding process by 350 tons (317 tonnes) per year by partnering with another company that was able to reuse scrap plastic material in their manufacturing. The same year, the facility implemented a programme to reclaim electroless copper and nickel, pulling 200 to 250 tons (181 to 226 tonnes) per year out of the landfill stream.

In addition to the Arkansas Sierra Club Award, Molex has received of a great deal recognition for its sustainability initiatives. Molex was named as the 2007 Corporate Recycler of the Year by the Arkansas Recycling Coalition and as the 2007 Corporate Conservationist of the Year by the Arkansas Wildlife Federation. In April 2008, the Maumelle facility was nominated as a top-five finalist for the Arkansas Environmental Stewardship Award by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality