Silver Star began its official journey to become a more sustainable company in April of 2008 by establishing a formal program. While the company has always been extremely supportive of the communities it serves and a sense of responsibility to its employees and customers to be mindful of its impact, there was not an official "sustainability program" in place.
Sustainability is a relatively new word, although the concept has always been around: be mindful of your environment, good to your people, and fiscally responsible. Silver Star has embraced the notion that in order to be truly successful, we must be strong in all three pillars of sustainability: social, economic and environment.
As a company, we felt that in order to truly change our operations to focus on these three crucial areas, we would need to change our culture and create a sense of accountability in our team. We have incorporated community participation and support of our sustainability initiatives into our job responsibilities. This program is around for the long-term and will continue to evolve as the technology around us changes. This is now simply how we do business.
2009 Sustainability Report
View a pdf version of our 2009 report.
Areas of Concentration
Waste Management 
We currently conduct quarterly waste audits, which provide us a general measurement of the volume of our waste. We initially analyzed our waste by “dumpster diving” to identify areas where we could reduce waste by reducing, reusing or recycling. From this effort, we expanded our recycling program company-wide and incorporated cell phones, electronics, packaging, copper, and more.
Accomplishments:
- Reduced the amount of disposable paper and plastic kitchen products we tossed by replacing them with reusable kitchenware.
- Created an awareness campaign replace print magazine and catalog subscriptions with digital versions when possible, utilize duplex printing, use the backsides of paper for printing if duplex is not an option, and to recycle.
- Replaced all loose paper towel holders in bathrooms with hard roll to reduce waste.
2010 Goal: Reduce paper consumption by 10% or 495 lbs.
Preferred Purchasing 
We are fortunate to have a Purchasing Agent on staff, who is dedicated to this program. We began by writing a preferred purchasing policy outlining that we should use environmentally-friendly products with the least shipping distance, whenever possible and reasonable.
Accomplishments:
- Replaced 100% virgin copy paper with 50% post-consumer waste paper.
- Replaced tri-fold 100% virgin paper towels with 40% post-consumer waste hard roll towels (in most locations)
- Purchase refurbished ink toners
- Replaced toxic chemical cleaners with environmentally-friendly alternatives
- Replaced 100% virgin toilet tissue with 60% post-consumer waste tissue.
2010 Goal: Investigate alternatives for floor polish, Ickie Pick solvent, packing material, batteries and office supplies.
Energy Consumption
This is one area where we had already started working to conserve. To date, with rebates from one electrical co-op, Lower Valley, we have replaced all of our florescent lighting with an energy-efficient equivalent. With recent upgrades in some of our telecommunications equipment, historically very energy intensive, we have been able to install more energy-efficient options. We are testing energy consumption used by computers, of which we have many as a technology company, and other electrical sources throughout our company as we look for additional ways to use less energy.
Accomplishments:
- Installed small windows in 18 garage doors in Driggs location, allowing for natural light
- Replaced all florescent lights in all offices, warehouses, and equipment huts
- Installed an energy management system called Control 4, offered by our Preferred Partner Prestige Media & Design, in our Executive offices.
2010 Goal: Reduce by 3%.
Water Conservation 
This is an area where we have not been able to gather very useful data, as we are on wells in most locations. Without a well monitoring system, we are using the data we have from one of our larger locations that is on City water to find areas for improvement. We attribute the majority of our water usage to irrigating our landscaping around our buildings. While we have not had an opportunity to make any significant changes in this area, we are working on a water conservation initiative this summer.
2010 Goal: Reduce by 15%.
Transportation
By nature our company vehicles are driven extensively, either to commute between corporate locations or to visit our customers.
Accomplishments:
- Installed a video conference system, provided by our Preferred Partner Prestige Media & Design, eliminating much of the traveling between Star and Teton Valleys.
- Encouraged employee carpool with a personal incentive program.
Areas of Exploration:
- GPS units in our fleet to increase efficient use of our trucks.
- Purchasing fuel efficient vehicles as we replace our pool cars.
- Instituting a policy to require use of a fuel-efficient vehicle for non-technician travel.
2010 Goal: Reduce vehicle miles driven by 10% or 69,880 miles.
Inner Social Investment
Silver Star has always taken pride in its rich benefit program and focus on developing its employees. Our sustainability program takes our investment in our team a step further by analyzing what is truly important to our employees and finding ways to improve in those areas.
Accomplishments:
- Surveyed employees to identify areas of strength and areas for improvement
- Created action items to improve in areas of weakness
2010 Goal: Improve employee satisfaction score by 1 point.
Community
Silver Star is known in its serving areas for its strong community support. Strong, healthy communities have always been a focal point for the company. In addition to our continued support of local organizations through the Caring for Community donation program, we added company-wide community service teams, which had an even greater impact through tangible projects.
Accomplishments:
- Completed 9 community service projects between Star Valley, Teton Valley, and Swan Valley
- Had 94% employee participation
2010 Goal: 100% employee participation.