Being a manufacturer and seller of natural health care products, we at Hot Sun Labs take our commitment to the environmental sustainability very seriously. I will restate part of our mission statement:

To conduct business in an ethical, fiscally responsible, and environmentally conscious manner.

I wanted to share with you some of our environmental consciousness, starting with the 3-R’s.

Reduce

Electricity usage:

• Use of inkjet printers, which use a lot less lower power than laser printers
• Website is run in a data center that utilizes Outside Air Cooling technology, which uses cooler outside air whenever possible rather than running A/C constantly
• Our website hosting company provides trees to developing countries to help build sustainable agroforestry
• Use of natural daylight for office illumination
• Use of LED and CFL light bulb technologies
• Aggressive power saving schemes for all of our office equipment

Fuel:

• Cycling to the post office for mail and supplies, whenever possible
• Buying supplies in large quantities to reduce the number of shipments we receive
• Consolidate purchases to reduce number of shipments we receive
• Consolidating trips for supplies

Supplies:

• Reduce paper usage by printing on both sides of the paper
• Using the smallest and least amount of packaging possible
• Providing our books in digital format (e-books), rather than paper
• Using inkjet ink is more environmentally friendly than polyester based laser toner

Water:

• Reduce water usage through longer production runs (fewer cleaning cycles for our equipment)
• High efficiency clothes washer reduces the amount water used for washing lab linens

Reuse

If you can’t reduce, then reuse:

• Reuse packing materials, such as packing peanuts and shipping boxes
• Reuse and repurpose office equipment and technologies
• Use of reusable items instead of disposable wherever possible, such as cleaning towels, lab clothing, and storage containers
• Use of rechargeable, environmentally friendly NiMH batteries (no heavy metals)

Recycle

If you can’t reduce or reuse, then recycle.  This is what we do:

• Purchase and use recyclable materials; all of our boxes and envelopes are recyclable
• Purchase and use of materials made from recycled materials, wherever practical
• Aggressive, obsessive recycling including electronic equipment, office paper, and plastic bags

We could do better and are continuing to improve.  Here are some of the things we are working on:

Why am I telling you all of this?

Not many companies are comfortable opening up about their operations.  Some of our operations, processes, and procedures are proprietary and secret, and will remain so.  However, we live in an age where people want transparency from the companies with which they do business.  Transparency, in many ways, helps to build trust in a company and it’s products.  We are building relationships with our customers, visitors, and communities and trust is the cornerstone of those relationships.

Mark’s Bottom Line

We are doing everything we can to minimize the impact our business has on the environment.  Some of them have a small impact, like using rechargeable batteries, and some have a larger impact, such as cycling to the post office.  If you have any ideas on how we can do even better, leave a note below.

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Here are just a few ways you can help the environment and save some money, too:

• Drive less, consolidate your errands
• Don’t let your car idle when waiting in your car
• Turn off lights when you leave a room
• Reduce what you consume
• Reuse whatever you can
• Donate reusable items instead of throwing them away
• Recycle whatever you can