Sustainability Policy

02/23/2009

Polaris, Inc. is committed to promoting our clients' green, sustainable, and energy-efficient products and services while we minimize the carbon footprint of our own company.

Our Facility:

The physical environment contributes in a number of ways towards our environmental impact and we have taken a number of measures to control our footprint. At our Springfield, Oregon headquarters:

• Our office space was designed to make the best use of natural, outdoor light.
• All offices are equipped with motion-sensor switches (they turn lights off when the room is idle) with energy efficient bulbs throughout the office.
• Low- and no-VOC paints were specified and used on the office interior.
• Our office is located on a major bus line and bus passes are provided to employees at no charge.
• A convenient and secure bike area is provided to employees for locking bikes during the day.
• Our offices have a “smart” heating and cooling system that uses less energy during non-business hours, which uses less electricity and natural gas.

Practices:
Our company has developed processes that encourage staff to reduce waste and preserve resources:

• We maintain a comprehensive recycling program for paper, plastics, glass, metal, inks and other recyclable material.
• For our own internal use, we purchase recycled paper and print double-sided on paper whenever possible.
• Working with commercial printers, we require our client’s work be printed on on recycled-content paper using non-petroleum based inks.
• Reduce travel (and fossil fuel consumption) by conducting a majority of remote client meetings on-site via phone and web conferencing.
• When traveling long distances, staff travels by train (lower carbon footprint) rather than airplane when possible.
• All of our employee handbooks, policies, written procedures and forms are stored in an online, easily updated, electronic library (Wiki) that all staff can access. This eliminates the use of paper for these traditional needs.
• Our administrative staff reduces unwanted junk mail by contacting direct mail solicitors and asks to be removed from their mailing lists.
• In our shipping/receiving department, we reuse boxes and shipping materials that are sent to us whenever physically possible.

Our Clients:
Not only do we encourage our clients to produce marketing materials on environmentally-friendly materials, we go further and actively look for companies with green or sustainable products or services. In the scope of the world, we are a fairly small company and utilize very few resources. We know that our greatest impact on resource consumption is through the companies and organizations we assist to become more successful.

Thus our reach goes beyond our staff and the walls of our office. Among our many clients (past & present), most are reaching out to one more of these markets:

• Residential & Commercial Green Building (Materials and Services)
• Energy Efficiency (Design and Implementation)
• Photovoltaic (PV) Energy Production
• Recycling Services & Waste Prevention
• Organic Food
• Reclaimed or Reused Materials

We also refrain from working for companies with practices that affect the environment in irresponsible ways. We are clear that helping progressive organizations find profitable markets within the emerging green economy is how Polaris will make our greatest contribution.

See our Green and Sustainable Clients page to learn more.

• 4660 Main Street, Building C, Suite 400-2
• Springfield, OR 97478
• phone 541.762.1100
• fax 541.762.1095