To help minimize our environmental footprint and improve environmental practices in our office-based operations, Cisco focuses on four key operational issues:

• Reducing water consumption and promoting the use of recycled water
• Improving local air quality
• Purchasing and disposing of food in a sustainable manner
• Prudently managing waste and hazardous materials

 

Reducing Water Use

Water conservation is part of Cisco’s larger commitment to a cleaner environment. From an operational perspective, Cisco’s impact on water availability and quality is an important local issue. Conserving water in regions where it is scarce and maintaining water purity ensures that more of this critical natural resource is available to neighboring communities. By minimizing our demand for water, Cisco can also save and reinvest these utility costs.

Wherever appropriate, Cisco reduces water consumption and uses reclaimed water for landscaping and similar applications. In California alone, we are saving more than 81 million gallons of water each year as a result of our water conservation efforts. Our headquarters in San Jose, California, uses only recycled water for landscape irrigation and fountains, representing approximately 30 percent of our 700,000 cubic-feet of water consumption. We installed smart water controllers that employ web-based technology to automate and optimize watering schedules using weather forecasting data and horticultural science.

In San Jose, we installed faucets with solar-powered sensors that help minimize both water and energy consumption. We have also completed installation of 473 waterless urinals throughout the campus, which we estimate save 11.8 million gallons of water a year. Following the success of this program, we plan to install these appliances at other Cisco sites next year.

Initiatives at other Cisco locations include the installation of 450 low-flow sink aerators and 88 low-flow shower heads at our Research Triangle Park facility. We expect that these measures will reduce water used in sinks by over 30 percent and water in showers by over 20 percent per year.

 

Improving Local Air Quality

To help improve regional air quality near our headquarters in San Jose, Cisco is cooperating with the California Air Resources Board by avoiding the use of gasoline-powered lawn mowers during days when air quality is poor, known as Spare the Air Days. During FY08, Cisco refrained from using mowers a total of 292 hours when air pollution levels were highest.

 

Sustainable Food Services

Cisco’s North American cafeterias provide Cisco employees with healthy food options through sustainable and socially responsible business practices. By partnering with Bon Appétit Management Company, a leader in sustainable food service, Cisco is acting on its commitment to support our employees' health, local agricultural economies, and the environment.

Cisco’s sustainable food purchasing initiatives date back to 1999 with the establishment of Bon Appétit’s Farm to Fork program. Through this companywide initiative to purchase food locally, Cisco helps promote the local farming community while supporting sustainable farming and harvesting techniques.

Most recently Bon Appétit launched its revolutionary Low Carbon Diet program, which highlights the impact of food and climate change, and aims to reduce Cisco’s greenhouse gas emissions with meals that are:

• Regional: By purchasing all meats and vegetables from North American farms, we reduce the emissions associated with long-distance transport and food refrigeration.
• Seasonal: By planning menus that use fresh ingredients that are available locally and in season, we reduce the demand for energy-intensive food production that, for instance, uses heated greenhouses for cultivation.
• Proportional: By serving appropriate serving sizes, we encourage healthy eating while reducing food waste and packaging.

The Low Carbon Diet program dovetails with Cisco’s Healthy Planet, Healthy You program. The Low Carbon Diet program has not only been a tremendous success, it has also positioned both Cisco and Bon Appétit as progressive pioneers in their respective industries.

Other programs that help support Cisco’s sustainable food initiatives:

• Cisco campuses in San Jose, California, and other North American locations host programs for composting and recycling food wastes where municipal facilities are available to process these materials. During FY08, the food waste separation program at Cisco’s San Jose, California, campus diverted more than 1621 tons of food waste that otherwise would have been sent to local landfills. The waste was then turned into compost and made available for purchase by gardeners.
• For our cafeterias, we seek to procure nontheraputic-antibiotic-free meat and poultry, seafood from certified sustainable fisheries, and ”Certified Humane“ eggs.
• Cisco’s facilities in San Jose and Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, recycle waste vegetable oil. This vegetable oil is converted into biodiesel fuel used to power traditional diesel vehicles.
• In the United Kingdom, all coffee is ”rain-forest aware,“ and all fish are sourced from an ecologically aware supplier.

 

Managing Operational Waste

Responsible operations is a concept that applies to all areas of Cisco’s business, including our office environments. Globally our recycling rates have increased, while the program on our San Jose campus showcases best practices. For example, by providing separate containers for paper, aluminum, plastic, and glass, our maintenance staff ensures that most recyclable materials stay out of landfill. Our offices and facilities throughout the Americas consistently divert at least two-thirds of waste from landfill. At our San Jose headquarters alone, our diversion rate exceeded 80 percent in FY08.

 

Composition of Cisco’s Waste Stream

Cisco’s Waste Reduction and Recycling Program is a key component of Cisco ISO 14001 certification and our global environmental policy. We routinely collect and recycle many items, including batteries, CDs and diskettes, beverage containers, trash, wood and pallets, cardboard, mixed paper, confidential waste, packaging materials, toner cartridges, compost, polyurethane foam, landscape waste, mobile phones, and construction waste. We estimate that the amount of energy saved by recycling these items, rather than manufacturing new ones, amounts to 35 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) annually.

We have put the following programs in place to redeploy useful equipment, reduce waste, and recycle what cannot be reused:

• Waste reduction and recycling: Cisco is committed to minimizing waste that is destined for landfills by reducing, reusing, and recycling as much waste as possible. Another important aspect of this effort is ensuring that all our waste and recovery vendors adhere to Cisco’s waste disposal requirements. To eliminate nonbiodegradable plastics from Cisco’s cafeteria waste stream, our San Jose campus has replaced plastic utensils with utensils made from potato starch, and now uses take-out containers made from compostable corn starch. Additionally, the San Jose campus began a program to send waste through a sorting facility prior to landfill in order to capture additional compostable materials from break rooms and restrooms. Scientific Atlanta and Cisco South Korea now offer filtered water on site rather than bottled water to reduce plastic waste.
• Supply Chain Field Operations Recycling: This program helps employees reuse, reduce, and recycle their personal and work-related electronic products. In FY08, 53 Cisco sites around the world collected 148 metric tons of electronic products, 6 tons more than the previous year.