REI has a financial and environmental interest in reducing the amount of waste we create in our operations. While we want to reduce our total amount of waste, we also want to make sure that what we generate is destined for recycling rather than landfills.

Our aspiration is that by 2020 REI will be a zero waste to landfill organization. In other words, all the waste generated by the company will be recycled or repurposed.

At this time, we recycle 67 percent of our retail waste by volume—82 percent by weight. In order to make progress toward our zero waste aspiration, we have identified the following three goals to accomplish by 2009.

1. Reduce waste to landfill for all locations by 50% from our 2006 baseline
2. Eliminate hazardous materials from our waste stream
3. Recycle 75% of all the paper we purchase for operational use.

REI's Waste Baseline Data

Making Improvements to Reduce Waste