2. Our Commitment to the Environment
Deeply embedded in our corporate identity is a strong
desire to improve every aspect of our business and
operations. As part of this focus on continuous
improvement, we are committed to reducing the
impact our operations have on the environment.
CDW has long been conscious of our impact on the
environment, in particular with our energy
consumption, and we have taken significant steps to
effectively manage our energy consumption and
lessen our environmental impact. Although we have
been environmentally conscious, we know we can do
more and our pledge is to work harder to conserve
natural resources and to reduce the environmental
burden of waste generation through our
Environmental Responsibility Policy.
Our Environmental Responsibility Policy outlines our guiding principles:
• CDW considers the impact of its operations on the environment and takes appropriate
steps to minimize such impact, including the communication of this policy statement
to persons working for and on behalf of CDW
• CDW strives to comply with the spirit and letter of laws and other relevant
requirements regarding the protection of our environment and prevention of pollution
• CDW is dedicated to conformance with the requirements of ISO 14001 and to the
continual improvement of its Environmental Management System by establishing and
meeting environmental targets and objectives
3. On Earth Day in 2008, CDW launched a campaign urging coworkers to Reduce, reuse, and
recycle. Titled beGREEN, the campaign was rolled out to coworkers via a company wide
email and gift for all coworkers: a reusable water bottle complete with the new beGREEN
logo and made out of recycled materials. Coworkers responded to the campaign with
suggestions, ideas and questions from Day One. It is the first formal program in CDW’s
process of becoming even more environmentally responsible. Coworker feedback has been
positive, and the level of participation, measured by coworker email traffic and participa-
tion in campaign programs, has been beyond our expectations.
Business and coworkers go hand in hand at CDW. Allowing coworkers to take part in the
campaign through volunteering as a beGREEN Ranger and seeing the positive changes at
CDW is resonating with everyone. Coworkers can see they are making a difference, and
are letting us know about it. Behind the whole campaign is a cross functional, and
cross-level, and cross-location team of coworkers who contributed to execute the campaign,
the beGREEN team.
Since its inception in 2008, beGREEN has grown its volunteers of coworkers to over 100
participants. The beGREEN team now oversees beGREEN Captains and beGREEN
Rangers located in over 15 CDW locations nationwide. The Captains and Rangers are em-
bedded into each locations culture to ensure consistency and integrity of the beGREEN
program, but yet they represent the individual characteristics of each location. The cam-
paign focuses on several areas of improvement: beGREEN education for coworkers, com-
munity awareness, recycling, resource conservation, and ISO14001:2004 registration.
4. Protecting the planet’s resources is important to current and future generations, and CDW
is committed to exploring new ways to minimize our impact on the environment. In
addition, environmental focus as an element of business strategy continues to grow in
today’s world. As more Americans shift their purchases and loyalty to companies that
embrace eco-friendly initiatives, it is imperative that CDW continue to embrace innovative
ways to conduct business in an environmentally-friendly way.
We aspire to become an industry leader in environmental responsibility, because it’s the
right thing to do, and it makes good business sense. We’re proud of the strong recycling
and energy saving efforts that CDW has in place, but we recognize there is more we can
do. As our environmental programs evolve, we will continue our efforts to recycle, in both
our offices and distribution centers, continuously improve, and provide education to our
coworkers to embrace green principles in our work and at home.
The following pages include the initial measurements of the impact our operations have on
the environment. As we grow into our environmental management system, we will only be
able to improve on the already solid practices we have in place today and measure them
more effectively. We look forward to supporting our environmental systems and will
ensure CDW remains committed to embracing sustainable strategies and environmental
initiatives across the company.
Sincerely,
CDW beGREEN Team
5. Here are some highlights of what we’re doing
right now to make a difference:
Resource conservation:
• Our Distribution Centers are equipped with automated control systems that only
run when the space is occupied. We have motion controlled high bay lighting; the
lights dim to half power when no motion is detected during operating hours.
• Our offices are on an environmental climate control system to ensure we don’t waste
power when the offices are not occupied.
• We monitor our energy usage and look for opportunities to lessen that usage. For
example, we have upgraded to energy efficient lighting in our distribution centers
and corporate headquarters as needed, greatly reducing our energy needs.
• Our Western Distribution Center in Nevada uses desert landscaping to save water
and reclaimed water to cool the building.
• CDW encourages the use of reusable containers for drinks for coworkers, offering
them incentives in the café for using them. Every new coworker receives a mug at
orientation to help promote the program.
• Day cleaning was implemented throughout the Illinois offices. This allows the
HVAC system and lights to be turned off earlier in the night.
• The Western Distribution Center designed and built a control system for their
evaporative cooling system. The control system monitors inside and outside tem-
peratures and throttles the system up and down accordingly. In the Spring and Fall
the system is able to use outside air for cooling.
6. Recycling:
• We have a program in our Distribution Centers designed to recycle corrugate, plastic
packaging material, shrink wrap and wooden pallets.
• Our company wide recycling program provides a consistent
program throughout every CDW location.
• In 2009, we recycled 1,700 tons of corrugate. This resulted in
saving an estimated 5,510 tons of lumber, 33,618,893 gallons of
water, 3,688,341 pounds of solid waste and 68,735,000 BTU’s of
Net energy. 1
• In 2009, we recycled 230 tons of paper. This resulted in sav-
ing an estimated 850 tons of lumber, 5,110,338 gallons of water,
439,004 pounds of solid waste and 6,876,000 BTU’s of net en-
ergy. 1
• Our coworkers are invested in ensuring we provide services as efficiently and environ-
mentally responsible as possible. Our on-going monitoring and equipment preventative
maintenance practices ensure our buildings continue to operate at their highest efficien-
cies. As part of our environmental management system, we conduct in-depth internal
audits and self-assessments to support continual improvement. At CDW, success means
never being satisfied, this is especially true when it relates to conserving natural re-
sources.
Packaging and transportation:
• Our pick-pack shipping containers are made of the maximum allowable amount of post
consumer recycled material and are recyclable.
• Our pick-pack packing material is also recyclable.
• We are helping to reduce transportation and fuel usage by reducing the number of cata-
logs shipped, and by printing catalogs locally in Il-
linois. Approximately 95 percent of our catalogs are
printed locally, helping us leave less of a carbon
impact on the environment.
• We’re also focused on increasing capacity utiliza-
tion throughout our supply chain through updating
our Routing Guide with new performance stan-
dards, conducting quarterly business reviews with
suppliers and preferred carriers and working with
our vendors to reduce the number of shipments we
receive.
• Over 80% of our outbound carriers are enrolled in the EPA Smart Way Transport Part-
nership.
1.Environmental impact estimates were made using the Environmental Defense Fund Paper Calculator. For
more information visit http://www.papercalculator.org.
7. • We use manufacturer packaging wherever we can; more than 50 percent of our ship-
ments are sent in the original manufacturer packaging, instead of being repackaged in
new boxes by us. We are also redesigned our box estimation program to ensure we stay
best-in-class and use the least amount of packing and packaging necessary minimize
resource use while ensuring customer satisfaction. Today, our systems take into account
the dimensions and weight of product to maximize the amount of product put into one
box. We hope to enhance this program to include additional factors; we know minimiz-
ing the amount of packaging our customers receive is a concern, and we plan to address
it.
Renewable Energy
• In 2008, we began purchasing 100% green power for
our two data centers in the Madison, Wisconsin
area through the Madison Gas and Electric (MGE)
Green Power Tomorrow program.
• MGE now provides 100 percent of the both site’s
electricity from wind and solar, as an alternative to
the standard power mix of at least 60 percent coal
and 11 percent gas/oil. We are reducing our green-
house gas impact substantially by reusing the natu-
ral power resources of wind and sun.
• CDW is a participant in the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Green
Power Partnership program that encourages organizations to buy green power as a way
of reducing the environmental impact associated with purchased electricity use.
For more Information about CDW’s beGREEN program, please contact beGREEN@cdw.com or Nicole
Ross , nicross@cdw.com.
8. We are proud to acknowledge that CDW’s distribution centers are ISO
14001:2004 registered. The international standard for environmental
management systems. The certification has been awarded to the com-
pany's Vernon Hills, Ill. and North Las Vegas distribution centers and
attached offices.
“CDW has worked hard to develop a strong environmental policy and
benchmarks that illustrate our commitment to protecting the environ-
ment and providing our customers with a responsible, yet cost-effective
way of doing business," said Doug Eckrote, senior vice president of op-
erations for CDW. "This certification is a tremendous honor and vali-
dates the efforts of our coworkers to make CDW a better a corporate citi-
zen in the communities in which we live and work."
ISO 14001:2004 was established as an internationally recognized stan-
dard to which organizations apply for certification, and thereby acknowl-
edge an effective environmental management system (EMS). CDW's
EMS establishes a common reference for communicating environmental
management issues between CDW and its partners, customers, regula-
tors, and other stakeholders. Further, this system provides organiza-
tional structure, practices, procedures, processes and resources for im-
plementing, reviewing and maintaining CDW's environmental policy.
For more Information about CDW’s ISO14001:2004
certification, please contact ISO14001@cdw.com.
