Sustainability

Preserving the environment through all aspects of our business and focusing our efforts on improvements that matter and make a meaningful difference.

Vision For Sustainability

How we operate our business today has a direct and long-lasting impact on the world tomorrow. We are committed to understanding and managing our environmental impact so that we can make a meaningful difference.

Sound environmental practices are integrated into all aspects of our business activities. We embed our Environmental Policy into our business practices at each stage of the product life cycle to sustain environmental preservation as well as corporate profitability.

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Long-Term Environmental Sustainability

Eliminating unjustified, unnecessary, and inconsistent business processes in order to make more effective use of natural resources and energy and reduce waste.

Waste Disposal

  • Helmer is a zero landfill facility. All waste is sent to a transfer station where it is sorted and recycled. All batteries, pallets, cardboard, and scrap metal are recycled as well.
  • Manufacturing operation produces zero hazardous waste.
  • Powder paint reclamation resulted in dust reduction of 95%, paint reduction of 65% and disposal reduction of 99%.

Energy Consumption

  • Auto-sensor faucets and motions sensor lighting in offices and manufacturing floor conserve resources.
  • Set-back controls are used on all HVAC equipment, raising or lowering temperature according to occupancy.
  • T-5 lighting, used in the warehouse, reduces electrical consumption by 50%.

Efficient Use of Natural Resources

  • Stainless steel is used in the production of products for its longevity and recyclability.
  • Lasers result in 15% reduction in the amount of steel used annually.
  • Sustainable, recycled paper is used.
  • Corrugated cardboard packaging materials are used which can be reused or recycled.
  • Wood pallets can be reused or recycled.
Sustainability - Practices

Promoting Business Practices that Reduce Environmental Burden

The environmental burden does not stop with our improvements to business practices within the facility. Helmer promotes activities that will reduce the burden on the environment throughout all of our business processes: design, procurement, production, sales, distribution, recycling, and disposal.

Employees are educated and familiarized on our environmental policy.

Sustainability - Compliance

Compliance with Environmental Regulations

The development of environmentally-conscious products and systems provides compliance with environmental-related regulations and adherence to the provisions of all official agreements and commitments.

Designing energy efficient refrigeration technologies such as OptiCool™ and AdvanceCore™ not only reduce energy usage, they reduce heat output, decrease the carbon footprint, and meet every-changing energy standards such as the U.S. Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP), EU F-Gas Initiative, Paris Climate Agreement, and Montreal Protocol.

Additionally these systems use natural refrigerants which are environmentally friendly, having no impact on ozone depletion and a very low Global Warming Potential (GWP) grade.

Sustainability - Portfolio

Sustainable Products

Helmer sustainable products, including GX Solutions cold storage equipment and Pro Line platelet storage systems, take advantage of our energy efficient refrigeration technologies. Creating energy efficient products reduces heat output, decreases the carbon footprint, and helps meet ever-changing energy standards.

Designing and developing products in a way that minimizes the use of natural resources and our impact on the environment is integral to our commitment to make the world more sustainable. By designing sustainable products, we can help customers reduce health and environmental impacts as well as reduce costs over the product lifecycle.

Sustainability - Goals

Environmental Management System

We continue to monitor and improve our policies and activities by setting environmental goals and measuring results regularly to maintain our agility to continuously improve.

Helmer Scientific was awarded the Indiana Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence in Pollution Prevention in 2019. These awards recognize Indiana’s leaders who have implemented the most innovative, sustainable, and exemplary programs or projects.

Helmer eliminated over 3,899 pounds of refrigerant charge, over 5,000 tons of CO2 equivalent, and over 5,300 pounds of hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants annually. In addition, Helmer has reduced energy usage by over 31,000 kilowatt hours per day, and reduced raw materials used such as steel, copper, and aluminum by over 70 tons. The initiative also resulted in dramatic energy savings across our installed base of products.

Sustainability - Partners

Indiana Partner for Pollution Prevention

The Partners for Pollution Prevention (Partners) was founded by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) in 1996 to partner with Indiana companies who were interested in participating in a forum to discuss and share pollution prevention successes and ideas for new pollution prevention policies and programs.

Part of the process that lead to Helmer becoming a partner was the exceptional environmental, health, and safety records that Helmer has maintained. Helmer also signed the Partner Pledge, certifying that the company is working toward meeting the requirements of the Pledge, and will continue to operate with the Pledge’s goals in mind.

Read more about the Partner’s Program