Good for the environment and good for business
Paul Rak, the President and founder of VeriForm, knew that he could be doing things more efficiently at his plant in Cambridge, ON. But he had no idea how rewarding the results would be.
Beginning in 2006, Paul invested $46,000 in a range of small-to-medium changes to the equipment and operation of his plant. The result? Veriform cut its greenhouse gas emissions by more than 70% while growing its business.
And to seal Veriform’s reputation as the greenest metal fabricator in North America, Paul buys carbon offsets for the remaining emissions, making Veriform officially carbon neutral.
The double opportunity
The thing that really shocked Paul was that these upgrades also resulted in annual operating and maintenance savings to the tune of $135,000 - with most of the plant upgrades paying themselves off in under 6 months.
Paul says the move saved his business. It’s made Veriform more competitive, earned the company anticipated savings of $1.42 million over 10 years, and allows him to support a 24-strong staff.
How do we encourage all businesses to find these types of efficiencies?
Nobody knows a business better than the owner and its employees. When businesses are engaged in identifying their own pollution-cutting and cost-saving innovations, the results are going to be good. Veriform did that with the help of Sustainability Co-lab, which serves as a clean innovation incubator for local business.
Accelerating clean innovation in Canada means helping businesses develop their own custom solutions. Government and the private sector can both have roles to play in that.
Find out more with our latest work on accelerating #CleanInnovation in Canada.
ALSO: Read about VeriForm’s green transformation on its website.
