There is only one Earth. We must be vigilant in the ways we treat this precious God-given planet of ours. To this end, CARDONE has been operating in an environmentally responsible manner since we first opened our doors in 1970. Truth be told, protection and conservation of the common environment is fundamental to who we are.
This didn’t happen by accident. As Michael Cardone Jr. has said, "Remanufacturing was a green industry before green was popular." We view our impact on the environment through the lens of social responsibility, not just profitability. As stewards of the Earth, we have developed our remanufacturing processes following the principles of sustainability—reuse, recycle, and refurbish.
MERA is a growing network of manufacturers, suppliers, and professional services firms—operating in the automotive and heavy-duty, high desert off-road sectors—that promotes the environmental, economic, and product performance benefits of remanufactured goods.
Michael Cardone Jr. helped found MERA to advance the remanufacturing industry, while mutually benefiting our world and the businesses aligned to protect it.
CARDONE’s business model is, by its very nature, environmentally enriching.
Several thousand tons of used parts (cores) that would normally end up in a landfill are returned to us each year. The remanufacturing process only requires roughly 15 to 20 percent of the total energy and material it takes to manufacture new parts—a savings equal to 16 million barrels of crude oil, which is enough oil to fill up the Empire State Building—twice. And for good measure, CARDONE uses environmentally safe chemicals and production processes.
Every CARDONE product is built to the same quality standards as original equipment manufacturers. With our advanced technology, we don't just replace components as needed. Many times, our engineers improve upon the original products. They do this by pinpointing inherent weaknesses and designing custom processes to strengthen our product. We’re often making the part better than new, keeping parts in the car and out of the landfills longer.
In the last decade, CARDONE has regularly earned the Pennsylvania Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence—an annual recognition of state leaders, businesses, municipalities, and institutions that benefit Pennsylvania’s environment and economy through innovative green technologies and environmental management.
Stormwater runoff is a serious environmental issue around urban areas, especially in historic cities like Philadelphia. When rainwater falls on roads, parking lots, buildings, rooftops, and other impervious surfaces, it doesn’t soak into the ground.
The resulting runoff can create additional stress on urban stormwater sewer systems, as well as contribute to flooding issues in nearby streams and waterways. Runoff can also cause increased pollution levels of those waterways. As the rainwater spills off paved surfaces, it can pick up and carry nitrogen, phosphorus, bacteria, oil, grease, pesticides, and metals.
With our corporate headquarters located on 60 acres with significant amounts of impervious surfaces, we knew what we had to do. CARDONE made a commitment to implement a comprehensive stormwater management system that would impact Philadelphia for good.
Following months of planning and cooperation with the City of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Water Department, CARDONE began to implement the system in March 2013. Now complete, CARDONE’s stormwater management project is the largest of its kind undertaken in the City of Philadelphia to date.
So far, more than 2.6 million square feet of impervious surface areas are being treated for stormwater mitigation throughout our headquarters. The new system will be able to manage up to 1.38 inches of stormwater per storm, which exceeds the existing standards in the City of Philadelphia by nearly 40 percent.
Through this new stormwater management system, CARDONE will be able to hold approximately 5 million gallons of stormwater in on-site cisterns that will be released incrementally into the city’s stormwater drains.
The project proved to be a significant undertaking.
It required relocating more than 17,000 cubic yards of earth, installing 5,200 feet of pipe, and laying 12,000 tons of stone.
The effort was worth the cost. We estimate 83 percent of materials purchased for the project were sourced from Philadelphia suppliers or Philadelphia-based companies. Around 75 percent of the disturbed earth and material from parking lots have been recycled for other uses at our facility.
The project earned us the Watershed Corporate Steward award. And while significant in its own right, this project is just a part of CARDONE’s broader and ongoing commitment to clean water initiatives and environmental sustainability.
CARDONE EARNED THE WATERSHED CORPORATE STEWARD AWARD FOR THE STORMWATER MANAGEMENT AND MITIGATION SOLUTION, WHICH WAS IMPLEMENTED AT ITS 60-ACRE HEADQUARTERS IN NORTHEAST PHILADELPHIA.
In addition to recycled cardboard,
In addition to the tens of thousands of tons of discarded or unusable auto parts that CARDONE remanufactures, the company also recycles the waste and byproducts generated during the remanufacturing process. We call this the Ultimate Sustainability Solution.
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Content sourced from the CARDONE Industries archives, team members, and the book
Business with Soul by Michael Cardone Jr. unless otherwise noted.
