Lacks Furniture launched its recycling program on Earth Day 2008. As part of our philanthropic efforts, we are now recycling over 90 percent of our recyclable waste.

Transforming the cardboard, styrofoam and plastic used to ship furniture from landfill trash into renewable materials has been a rewarding activity for us and will put us on a sustainability path by reducing our environmental footprint – an important issue in the public’s eye today.

Each month we compress and bale tons of cardboard and plastic, and melt down expanded polystyrene, into recyclable material. Our Styrofoam-melting machine melts solid material into a heavy paste that can later be reused in materials such as computer casings and plastic bags.

Our efforts to date have saved several hundred tons of trash from being thrown in local landfills. Our next step: recycling particleboard, which makes up another 5 percent of our recyclable waste. We also plan to reach out to the community to spread the word about the benefits of recycling.

Our new consciousness toward the environment through our recycling program has become one of our best ways of giving back to the community. Lacks CEO Lee Aaronson has developed a green culture within our company starting with our distribution center. We hope to spread that green culture through the company and our stores, from Laredo to Brownsville.