INX International Ink Co.’s office in Sacramento, CA, USA has become the second company in Sacramento County to earn Platinum certification as a Sacramento Sustainable Business (SSB). The 9,000 square-foot facility, which provides ink blending, technical support services and warehouse space to customers throughout northern California, successfully passed a rigorous audit conducted by the Sacramento County Business Environmental Resource Center (BERC).

The new Platinum certification is the highest level in the SSB program and comes four years after INX attained Gold level status. SSB promotes businesses that initiate voluntary actions to prevent pollution and conserve resources. BERC was established in 1993 as a one-stop, non-regulatory Permit Assistance Center to help Sacramento County businesses understand and comply with federal, state and local environment regulations.

“We received Congressional Recognition and an Honorable Mention last year from the California Legislature Assembly, not only for achieving the Gold status but also for maintaining it the last four years. This year, we set a goal to achieve the new Platinum level,” said Jacob Sheaffer, general manager of INX Sacramento.

“In order to succeed, we needed to improve on what was already in place and to create new sustainable practices, which will be used by other Sacramento companies as measures to help them become greener companies. Our achievement was made possible because it was truly employee driven. Jonathan Troup, quality system coordinator and lab technician, and Dan Jones, lab technician, organized the branch efforts. They did a fantastic job in taking the time to get all of our employees involved. This truly was a branch project supported by everyone.”

In the SSB program, businesses are evaluated in six categories: energy conservation, water conservation, pollution prevention, solid waste reduction, green building and transportation/air quality. Overall business practices, physical facility features and equipment were among over 210 items that applied to INX as part of a checklist subjected to an extensive inspection.

According to the company, INX designed its Sacramento facility with environmental concerns in mind. The company chose low-emission building materials, recycled content carpets and furnishing, and skylights and tinted windows to reduce interior lighting requirements and offset heat gain. The company also installed a high-efficiency HVAC system, and recycles more than 95% of used laboratory materials to help reduce its carbon footprint and waste disposal costs.