Cox Reaches Goal of Zero Waste to Landfill in 2024

Cox has announced the achievement of its ambitious goal to send Zero Waste to Landfill by 2024. Cox is the first U.S.-based, enterprise-wide service company to be verified by GreenCircle Certified as achieving a 92% waste diversion rate. This achievement meets Zero Waste USA’s definition of a zero-waste business.

“When our Chairman Emeritus Jim Kennedy set us on the path to zero waste, he did so because he knew it was a way we could positively impact our communities and our world,” said Alex Taylor, chairman and CEO of Cox Enterprises. “Since then, virtually everyone in our company has contributed in one way or another. Reaching this goal required us to make major shifts in how we do things, but we knew it was important for our planet and future generations. I want to thank everyone who helped — it all mattered, and it’s making a big difference.”

Why it matters

The zero waste achievement of 92% diversion is nearly triple the national average of 32%. Since 2013, accepting the challenge, Cox employees have kept more than 750 million pounds of waste out of landfills. That is the equivalent of 10 million reams of copy paper, organic waste equal to 60 million apples, and the same amount of metal used to build more than 4,000 vehicles.

What Cox is doing in Southern Arizona

• In Tucson, our main office at 1440 E. 15th St is a zero-waste location and was a big contributor in helping Cox reach its enterprise goal.
• Cox Tucson recently donated $7,000 to Tucson Village Farms and Cox volunteers planted trees.

Digging deeper

• Cox provided a net benefit of $340 million to the business while reducing waste, working closely with recyclers and sustainability vendors to find new, innovative ways to eliminate waste and contribute to the circular economy.
• Since 2020, Cox has been on a journey to green its consumer packaging, transitioning to recycled content, soy-based ink, and curbside recyclable packaging.

“Getting to zero waste would not have been possible without the dedication of each employee who not only helped us recycle in our offices but also found new ways for us to do business more waste-free,” said Southern Arizona Market VP Lisa Lovallo. “Our Arizona employees have supported multiple changes big and small, ranging from conference room lights on motion detectors, to composting food and recycling nontraditional waste. We’ve come a long way since this project began in 2013!”