TORRANCE, Calif., Oct. 18, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- For the eighth time this year, Virco Mfg. Corporation (AMEX:VIR), a leading producer and supplier of contract, commercial, education and hospitality furniture, has been selected to receive a major environmental honor. On this occasion, Virco will be presented with a Keep America Beautiful National Award in the category of waste minimization.
"Keep America Beautiful has a distinguished history of working to improve our environment," said Robert A. Virtue, Virco's President, Chairman and CEO. "We at Virco are proud to be recognized by such a well-respected organization."
Virco's resource recovery initiatives include the recycling of steel, plastics, cardboard, paper products, wood dust and related items. Since 1989, Virco has recycled more than 150,000,000 pounds of materials.
As a complement to its conventional recycling endeavors, Virco has developed other creative waste minimization programs. For instance, the company sells scrap melamine hard plastic to a vendor which uses this material to sandblast the skins of commercial aircraft. Had efforts not been made to find such a vendor, Virco's hard plastic scrap would have been sent to a landfill.
Virco's extensive environmental efforts also involve community outreach. In this context, the company assists 25 schools in the vicinity of its Conway, Arkansas, facility with their cardboard recycling programs. This includes picking up the cardboard from each school, preparing and conveying it to the processing contractor, then returning all proceeds from the transaction to the participating schools.
In addition to its Keep America Beautiful National Award, Virco has received the following environmental honors for 2002:
- A WasteWise Program Partner of the Year Award from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in recognition of the company's recycling and resource recovery achievements;
- A WasteWise Program Climate Change Partner of the Year Award from the EPA. This award reflects the environmentally friendly design -- especially regarding greenhouse gas emissions -- of Virco's new Conway, Arkansas facility;
- A 2002 Best Paper Recycling Award from the American Forest & Paper Association for Virco's waste minimization, recycling and community outreach efforts as these relate to paper and cardboard products;
- An Evergreen Award from the General Services Administration in honor of Virco's many recycling and waste reduction accomplishments;
- An Award of Excellence from the Keep Arkansas Beautiful Commission, which also recognizes the company's recycling and resource recovery programs;
- The 2002 Green Contractor Award from the Coalition for Government Procurement in honor of Virco's environmentally responsible manufacturing procedures;
- A 2002 Waste Reduction Awards Program commendation from the California Integrated Waste Management Board for recycling and waste reduction achievements.