Environment & Sustainability
Objectives
Riverbed aims for its products and services to be of the highest quality. Because Riverbed is committed to conducting its business sustainably and responsibly, we seek to minimize the negative impacts of our activities, products, and services. We encourage our suppliers, affiliates and partners to do the same.
Our goal is to source and use materials that are legally secured, sustainably manufactured, made without use of illegal or forced labor, and traded freely on the open market. Riverbed products should be legally and ethically produced with active concern for the people involved in the manufacture and distribution as well as for the environment from which the materials originate. Offices and manufacturing processes should be clean and efficient, minimizing greenhouse gas emissions and minimizing waste of energy, water, and resources – including the time of employees. Recycled and recyclable materials should be used when feasible.
Additional information is available on the following areas of focus:
GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS
To combat global climate change, Riverbed’s strives to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions for which it is responsible. We are committed to reducing our impact immediately and exploring opportunities to mitigate our emissions going forward.
For example, Riverbed has taken steps in these areas to reduce greenhouse gas emissions:Use of electricity, natural gas, and water and the emissions of our buildings and rental office space.
- Riverbed’s headquarters achieved Platinum certification under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. LEED Platinum certification was based on a number of green design and construction features:
- Energy cost savings of 25 percent through an improved thermal envelope, high-efficiency fenestration, reduced interior lighting power density, reduced exterior lighting power, demand-control ventilation, and high-efficiency chillers and boilers.
- A 41 percent reduction in potable water use from a calculated baseline design through the installation of water-conserving toilets, urinals, and lavatory faucets.
- A minimum 2 percent glazing factor in 84 percent of all regularly occupied spaces, affording direct line-of-sight views for 99 percent of all regularly occupied spaces.
- The reuse/maintenance of 75 percent of the existing structural elements.
BUSINESS TRAVEL AND COMMUTING
Riverbed encourages use of public transit in certain locations through programs that allow eligible employees to use pre-tax dollars to purchase public-transit passes. Riverbed employees are permitted to work remotely and Riverbed facilitates teleworking by encouraging the adoption of remote collaboration tools. Teleworking and remote collaboration reduce employee commuting and business travel thereby helping to decrease the energy and greenhouse gas emissions related to such activities.
REUSE AND RECYCLING
Riverbed facilities, including our headquarters, have recycling programs in place. Such programs include composting and recycling of food waste. Riverbed further strives to minimize the environmental impact of our products by providing comprehensive product EOL services for our hardware equipment. Riverbed has a longstanding partnership with a preferred recycling partner. Through our Trade Up and Trade In programs, customers can return Riverbed equipment for credit and recycle such products at no cost. Riverbed promotes awareness of these programs among our channel partner and customers, and has adopted programmatic policies to incentivize our channel partners to trade up and trade in hardware products.
REACH: REGISTRATION, EVALUATION, AUTHORIZATION AND RESTRICTION OF CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES
The aim of REACH is to improve the protection of human health and the environment through the better and earlier identification of the risks posed by chemicals. REACH also places greater responsibility on industry to manage the risks from chemicals and to provide safety information on the substances. It is the strictest law to date regulating chemical substances. All of our hardware product lines have been tested and proven to comply with the REACH restrictions against harmful chemicals. Riverbed and its suppliers continuously review the actual European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) Candidate List of Substances of Very High Concern for Authorization for additions and updates, and act accordingly in compliance with REACH regulations.
ROHS: DIRECTIVE ON THE RESTRICTION OF HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES
To ensure that our products meet the latest RoHS directive standards (which restrict the use of toxins like mercury and lead in electrical equipment), we have an active compliance program that involves our own dedicated compliance staff that performs extensive checks for compliance throughout our supply chain. We work with our key suppliers and partners to ensure that certain environmentally harmful materials are not used in the manufacturing of our products. We are in compliance with the RoHS directive on products shipped to the EU.
WEEE: WASTE ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT DIRECTIVE
Riverbed is WEEE compliant and has partnered with highly respected environmental firms to encourage the collection, treatment, recycling, and recovery of our hardware products. The goal of WEEE is to reduce the amount of electrical and electronic equipment being produced, and to improve the environmental performance of businesses that manufacture, supply, or use such items. For more information on WEEE, batteries, and packaging take back please click here.
