Sustainability
Team Green: Environmentally Friendly Practices at Hussey Seating Company
Hussey Seating Company isn’t sitting on the sidelines when it comes to implementing environmentally friendly business practices. William Hussey might not have thrown around words like reduce, reuse and recycle in 1835, but they were concepts he lived by and believed in. While we talk about sustainability, he talked about saving our seed corn. What we call reducing waste, he called good old Yankee thrift. Respecting the landscape we live in—and the hard work and wellbeing of the people we work with—has always been in our DNA and part of our heritage.
At Hussey Seating, we know we can help save our environment without sacrificing quality. This commitment to environmentally friendly business practices has taken many forms over the years as standards and technology have changed. Hussey Seating thrived during the reduced circumstances of the Great Depression and sustained our business by changing our product lines during World War II. In the 1970s, as the nation became more environmentally aware, we had already laid walking trails and planted a tree farm on our beautiful Maine campus. Today, going green means developing environmentally friendly paints and finishes, sourcing sustainable woods and metals, going beyond local and national regulations in clean manufacturing and waste disposal, and making deliveries on time while reducing our carbon footprint. We reduced our air emissions by 90% while tripling our seating business, so we know green business is good business. Hussey seating solutions come in a wide range of colors—but every day our seats get greener.
Our sustainability initiatives were awarded the Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence in 1997 and again in 2001. Hussey Seating was recognized for upgrading our automatic paint system to reduce paint by 50%, eliminate harmful toluene and switch to environmentally friendly all-acetone solvents that are recovered and reused. We also switched to a greener UV resin wood compound in our wood processing operation. The result? Reducing VOCs by seven tons per year, and reducing wood processing VOCs by 50 tons per year.
In the last several years, Hussey Seating has committed to further reducing hazardous pollutants and reducing waste. These environmentally friendly changes include:
- Banning use of all CFCs in spray mechanisms
- Reducing production of VOCs from 100 tons in 1996 to less than five tons today
- Reducing xyelene use from two tons to .06 tons per year
- Switching to environmentally friendly paints and glues
- Recycling 83% of non-hazardous solid waste, while the rest is disposed of at a licensed waste-to-energy facility
- Reducing the amount of hazardous waste generated by 85%, and
- Reducing energy consumption by switching to environmentally friendly lighting and greener, more efficient motors.
At Hussey Seating, our commitment to sustainability goes beyond environmental awareness. As a thriving, family-owned business with deep roots in our native state of Maine, Hussey Seating is also helping to sustain our local and national economy. As companies continue to reduce payrolls and manufacturing jobs disappear, our seating solutions support more than audiences. Hussey Seating solutions support good jobs, and a wonderful way of life.
Want to learn more about how your Hussey Seating purchase supports environmentally friendly business practices, a vibrant economy and good manufacturing jobs? Contact your local Hussey Seating expert today.
