LANSING, Mich. – Green Dealer Support (GDS), a national sustainability counseling organization, awarded Crippen Buick GMC Mazda Volvo (Crippen) with green dealer certification today. Crippen is the first dealership in Michigan to receive this award, which demonstrates the dealership’s commitment to creating a green environment for its employees, customers and the community.
“Crippen Buick GMC Mazda Volvo is committed to operating in the most environmentally responsible way possible,” said Crippen President Jeff Crippen. “We made this commitment because it was the right thing to do for our employees, customers and community. I challenge other businesses in the Lansing area to look at what we’ve accomplished and see the benefits of being more environmentally conscious.”
Crippen has reduced its annual energy usage by 30 percent, paper usage by 20 percent and waste by 1250 cubic yards, enough to fill125 standard dump trucks.
In addition Crippen has switched to using environmentally-friendly waterborne paints and will recycle 9 tons of rubber, 7 tons of scrap metal, 11,700 gallons of motor oil, 286 batteries, 655 gallons of antifreeze and 7135 oil filters this year.
These reductions were made possible by Crippen’s Green Team, which is a six-person cross-departmental team dedicated to developing and executing green efforts, educating employees and enforcing environmental programs and procedures at the dealership.
The Green Team worked for more than seven months to meet a percentage of 92 standards to get certification. The standards fell into the following categories: Water, energy, purchasing and waste, air and environment.
“Crippen Buick GMC Mazda Volvo showed us a strong commitment throughout the entire process to reach green dealer certification,” said GDS CEO Chuck Golden. “It was clear from the beginning that they wanted to send a message that they wanted to play an important role in protecting the local environment.”
GDS is a national organization that helps dealerships reduce their impact on the environment. GDS uses a two-pronged approach, assessment and implantation, to help dealerships meet their goals. Dealership assessments are conducted by a qualified GDS team to identify opportunities and set priorities. Assessments require a minimum of 8 hours to complete. GDS implementers then establish a dealership green team to work together to manage the priority list, educate employees and work to meet the goals established in the assessment. Implementation typically lasts six months or more. For more information visit www.greendealersupport.com.
In addition to achieving green certification, Buick GMC announced this week that Crippen was named the recipient of the Mark of Excellence 2010 Dealer Recognition Award. This is an accomplishment is reserved for only a select few outstanding Buick GMC dealerships and is a symbol of exceptional performance for sales and customer satisfaction excellence.
Crippen, located in Delta Township, is the local Buick, GMC, Mazda and Volvo new and used Car, Truck, and SUV dealership and proudly serves the Lansing, DeWitt, Okemos, Grand Ledge, Detroit, Holt, and Charlotte areas. For more information visit www.crippencars.com.
