Month: March 2023

CINCINNATI, March 9, 2023 /3BL Media/ – Cintas Corporation (Nasdaq: CTAS) is nearing completion of a multi-year companywide LED lighting transition project to help reduce facility-focused energy use and support the company along its Path to Net Zero.

Cintas’ 475 facilities throughout the United States and Canada fulfill the needs of its four business divisions. These field locations, distribution centers and corporate facilities combine for about 23 million square feet of space that requires heating, cooling and appropriate lighting.

Cintas identified an opportunity to decrease energy use by installing LED lights at its older, more energy-intensive locations, and initiated the company-wide LED transition project in FY’19.

Cintas’ Quality and Engineering Team completed LED installations at more than 125 locations by the end of the company’s fiscal year 2022, and entered the current fiscal year with fewer than 50 target facilities remaining in the current phase.

“We’ve already installed LED lighting in over 6 million square feet of space in our facilities, which is poised to reduce our annual energy use by almost 23.3 million kilowatt hours going forward,” said Christy Nageleisen, Cintas’ Vice President of ESG.

More than 27,000 incandescent and fluorescent lighting fixtures have been swapped out, and the energy savings generated by the LEDs represents more than 16,500 metric tons of CO2 emissions averted annually.

>> VIDEO (YouTube): Cintas Uses LED Lighting Conversions to Reduce Energy Requirements

A Strategic Plan

The lighting transition project is part of Cintas’ strategic ambition to achieve Net Zero GHG emissions by 2050.

“We’re not waiting until 2050 to start,” said Mark Bolen, Cintas Vice President of Quality & Engineering. “We’re looking at all avenues to see where it makes the most sense, where our dollar has the best return, and it’s not just lighting. It’s being better environmental stewards.”

Cintas reduced its energy consumption intensity by 7.9% from FY’21 to FY’22, which included the expanding impact of the LED lighting transition project.

A Comprehensive Approach

Cintas’ facility-focused energy reductions go beyond LED lighting conversions.

“Sustainability and energy efficiency plays a key role for us, primarily because our products are delicate and they require a lot of attention that we provide to our customers,” Bolen said. “Engineering is constantly looking at ways to find equipment that is more reliable – more energy efficient – to ultimately reduce our reliance on energy.”

To that end, Cintas is exploring opportunities to test solar technology. Working with the state of New Jersey, Cintas identified the opportunity to install its first solar-powered system at the company’s Rental location in Piscataway, N.J.

The project is underway and is expected to be fully installed and operational in the late spring of 2023. Once online and connected to the energy grid, Cintas’ first solar system installation will allow the company to evaluate its year-round performance and compare the costs with traditional utility-based energy sources.

Cintas’ Engineering Team and its Facility Team area also evaluating other energy- and water-reduction capabilities for its existing and future facilities.

Some Cintas facilities currently have various energy-reduction technologies installed, including entrances with multiple doors, timing mechanisms on the HVAC and lighting systems, water-flow reducers and thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO) roofs and ceilings made of lighter-colored materials to reflect radiant heat.

Additionally, all new Cintas buildings constructed since 2017 have been built with LED lighting systems installed. This includes external LED lighting configurations that create zero light spillage (also known as photometric pollution) at Cintas’ property boundaries.

As a result of the Path to Net Zero and the company’s overall Operational Excellence and Reliability initiatives, Cintas is also investigating the potential benefits of standardizing facility plans that incorporate a consistent set of energy-reducing technologies across all Cintas operations.

Learn More about Cintas’ ESG Journey

Cintas 2022 ESG Reportcintas.com/esgESG is Central to CintasThe Spirit is the Difference

About Cintas Corporation

Cintas Corporation helps more than one million businesses of all types and sizes get Ready™ to open their doors with confidence every day by providing products and services that help keep their customers’ facilities and employees clean, safe, and looking their best. With offerings including uniforms, mats, mops, towels, restroom supplies, workplace water services, first aid and safety products, eye-wash stations, safety training, fire extinguishers, sprinkler systems and alarm service, Cintas helps customers get Ready for the Workday®. Headquartered in Cincinnati, Cintas is a publicly held Fortune 500 company traded over the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol CTAS and is a component of both the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and Nasdaq-100 Index.

Media Contacts:

Lizz Summers, Cintas Director of Corporate Affairs | summerse2@cintas.com, 513-972-2859

Originally published in Tapestry’s 2022 Corporate Responsibility Report Report

Since its launch in 1993 with a collection of six essential handbags, kate spade new york has always been colorful, bold and optimistic. Today it is a global lifestyle brand that designs extraordinary things for the everyday, delivering seasonal collections of handbags, ready-to-wear, jewelry, footwear, gifts, home décor and more. Known for its rich heritage and unique brand DNA, kate spade new york (ksny) offers a distinctive point of view and celebrates communities of women around the globe who live their perfectly imperfect lifestyles.

We believe that women’s mental health is a critical component of their empowerment. Our work in women’s mental health started in 2013 with our work in Rwanda through on purpose and since that time we have expanded our partnership working to empower women and girls with mental health resources globally.

We aim to reach 100,000 women and girls globally with access to empowerment and mental health resources by 2025.

At kate spade new york we believe that good mental health is a fundamental human right for everyone and we are uniquely positioned to make positive change and impact for women and girls’ mental health. With our social impact work, we aim to address a truer, fuller spectrum of a woman’s joy by putting mental health at the heart of our women’s empowerment work.

In 2021, kate spade new york and its Foundation invested $3 million to support the empowerment and mental health of women and girls with 25 partners globally. In addition, we have continued to use our brand platform to help destigmatize the topic of mental health and bring resources to our employees, customers and community. We aim to reach 100,000 women and girls with access to empowerment and mental health resources by 2025.

SUPPORTING THE BROADER COMMUNITY 

For the second year running, ksny partnered with The Trevor Project, the world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ+ identifying young people. The partnership included: 

A global shopping event, which reached a maximum donation goal of $157,275. An internal employee Thank-A-Thon, where employees wrote thank you cards to Trevor Project volunteers, who provide direct support to 150,000+ LGBTQ+ identifying youth each year. ksny matched donations during the Trevor Project’s end-of-year campaign, aiding the non-profit in reaching its goal of raising $100,000. For more on the reach and impact of ksny social impact work, please read the 2021 Social Impact Report.

On World Mental Health Day, ksny launched a co-branded text line with our partners at Crisis Text Line and Kids Help Phone Canada. To connect with Crisis Text Line or Kids Help Phone Canada for free, 24/7, text-based mental health support, text KSHELPS to 741741 in the U.S. or 686868 in Canada.

PARTNERSHIP SPOTLIGHT: ON PURPOSE RWANDA 

Since 2013, ksny has partnered with Abahizi Rwanda, an independent, employee-owned, B Corp-certified handbag manufacturer based in Masoro, Rwanda. Abahizi Rwanda employs more than 250 women, providing full-time employment, health benefits and a full spectrum life skills program including access to mental health support for all employees.

In April 2021, ksny continued to broaden its impact in the community of Masoro, Rwanda, through our on purpose initiative by partnering with Isooko Community Development, a Rwandan non-profit dedicated to women’s and youth health, education, and economic access. In 2021, ksny contributed $177,000 to Isooko, which in part helped to fund the construction of the Masoro Sport and Learning Center. Abahizi Rwanda is located in Masoro. It’s important to not only invest in women but also the communities they call home, for sustainable, long-term impact.

Read more about ksny’s social impact work