Boeing employees are constantly improving the way we design and build our products — by making them more efficient, cleaner, safer and higher quality. Tapping into employee ideas and enthusiasm is how Boeing makes improvements in any area of the business, and it’s no different for the environment. Every day, employees come up with innovative ideas for how to improve environmental performance — of our products, supply chain and operations.

Through thousands of employee teams, as well as dozens of volunteer-based Green Teams, Boeing employees are finding ways to reduce energy and water use, and the generation of solid and hazardous waste.

For example, last year a 20-member employee team that seals the inside of wing fuel tanks on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner™ found a way to reduce its waste. In the past, the team consumed 50,000 AAA- and AA-size batteries a year to power headlamp flashlights. By switching from disposable to rechargeable batteries, the team now uses just 400 batteries a year, reducing its battery waste from 18,000 pounds (8,200 kilograms) to approximately 2,000 pounds (900 kilograms) a year.

This is just one example of the hundreds of environmental improvement projects that employee teams completed in 2013. Last year, more than 70 projects competed for Boeing’s annual conservation awards.

Boeing employees also take seriously their stewardship role in the community, to make the places where we live and work cleaner and better for all. In 2013, more than 20,000 Boeing employees took part in Earth Day events at 65 Boeing sites in 14 countries.

Tapping into employee know-how and enthusiasm for environmental improvement is a critical means of achieving our 2017 environmental commitments, and Boeing aims to continue increasing employee engagement to make those improvements.