news from the
warehouse
Costco in Lewisville, Texas, housed a family whom were survivors of 1992’s Hurricane
that had fled from New Orleans for two Andrew—helped a member load several
weeks. “When I heard about a family in need semi-trailers full of water, toiletries and food
through my son’s schoolteacher, I wanted to for delivery to Biloxi. The employees also col-see if there was any way I could help them,” lected donations, matching the member’s
says Munoz, who lived near the epicenter of donations pallet for pallet.
the 1994 earthquake in Northridge, Many Costco employees continue to vol-California. “The thing this mother and her 5- unteer at shelters housing flood victims, and
year-old daughter really needed was a place to some have adopted families, buying children
stay. It was just natural for us to open our back-to-school suppliesand clothesand help-home to them.” ing with housing and other basic needs.
Roy DeLoach, business marketing repre- Costco’s headquarters in Issaquah,
sentative at the Costco in Arlington, Texas, Washington, also responded to the relief
helped with the spiritual and emotional needs efforts, immediately donating $1 million to On September 2, the Myrtle Beach, South
of the hurricane victims. An ordained minister, the American Red Cross. Carolina Costco teamed up with the
DeLoach worked with Victim Relief Ministries “Hurricane Katrina created the most cata- American Red Cross and a local radio sta-
and Victim Relief Chaplains ( www.victimre- strophic disaster in the history of our nation,” tion to raise money for Katrina victims.
lief.org) at the request of the American Red says Jim Sinegal, Costco’s president and CEO. Three popular radio personalities, Mad
Cross, assigning chaplains to shelters in Texas. “The extent of suffering and misery has been Max, Abby and Jersey Boy, did a live
His warehouse manager paid his wages for sev- devastating to us all as we read and watch broadcast in front of the Building. Costco
eral days so he could continue helping hurri- events unfold. As we grieve for our country- provided hotdogs, chips, soda and water
cane victims. men, -women and children, I know we can that the radio personalities cooked and
In Florida, Costco employees—some of count on our entire Costco family to help.” C served for six hours, raising $7,000.
AFFORDABILITY AND VERSATILITY have
made printers more popular than ever at
home and in the office. But with this boom
has come a huge problem: the disposal of
spent inkjet and toner cartridges. It’s estimated that 1. 5 million printer cartridges go to
landfills each month.
At home, place the empty cartridge in the
packet and drop it in the mail. The st re am . T h ey h av e v alu e to r ec y cle r s.” lio n g al lo ns a y ea r, ac co rd in g to W Bi R ec y cli n g
postage is already paid. Inkjet and toner cartridges are proving to of Chatsworth, California.
incsiodsetco
sed-
blem
➤ Online, go to costco.com and click on
“Office Products,” then “Recycle Ink and
Toner” to print a postage-paid, preaddressed label. Place the empty cartridge
or cartridges in a package, attach the label
and mail it.
KEN BROMAN
➤ If you have a larger toner cartridge to recycle, box it (in the original container, if you “The plastic used in these cartridges can
still have it), affix the label and mail it. You take more than 100 years to decompose,”
can also order free boxes from costco.com points out Green Treks Network, an environ-for bulk shipments. mental awareness organization in Philadel-
“This is an easy way for members to get phia. “Excess ink and toner can also filter into
rid of used cartridges,” says Shannon Axthelm, our water supply.”
who oversees the program for Costco. “There’s Also, manufacturing new inkjet and toner
no reason for them to end up in the garbage cartridges requires oil—more than 375 mil-
Solving the u
cartridge pro
Costco is making it easy for members to
dispose of empty ink and toner cartridges by
offering a new recycling program. The free
program is available in the warehouses and
through costco.com. Here’s how it works.
➤ In the warehouses, go to the ink and
toner area and pick up a return packet.
➤ If you have several empty cartridges, pick have a serious impact on the environment. “There are many good reasons to recy-up a postage-paid, preaddressed label. Estimates vary, but it is believed that only cle,” says Shannon. “We invite our members
Package the cartridges, attach the label about 10 percent of the used cartridges are to take advantage of this convenient new pro-and mail it. recycled. That leaves millions in landfills. gram at Costco.”—Tim Talevich
