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Dulles Glass and Mirror's Environmental Policies

As an environmentally-conscious company, we continually strive to minimize our ecological footprint. We are a local business and have a strong stake in preserving our area’s natural resources! We have long maintained policies for providing a safe and healthy workplace, protecting the environment, and conserving energy and natural resources. These practices have beneficially served both the environment and our business over the years, and provided the foundation for the following corporate objectives:

Provide a safe and secure workplace by ensuring that personnel are properly trained and have access to appropriate safety and emergency equipment.
Be an environmentally responsible neighbor within our community, and act promptly and responsibly to correct incidents or conditions that endanger the health and safety of the public and/or the environment. Issues will be reported promptly to the proper authorities, and all affected parties will be notified as is appropriate.
Implement practices for the conservation of natural resources, utilizing such methods as reusing and recycling materials, reducing waste, and purchasing recycled packaging and other materials.
Manufacture and promote products that are nontoxic, energy efficient, environmentally-friendly, recyclable, and/or otherwise safely disposed of.
Use manufacturing processes that do not adversely affect the environment, including developing and improving operations and technologies to minimize waste; prevent air, water, and other pollution; minimize health and safety risks; and dispose of waste safely and responsibly.
Commitment to meeting or exceeding all governmental laws, regulations, and other requirements which relate to safety, health, and the environment.

Every employee and every contractor on Dulles Glass & Mirror premises is expected to follow this policy and to report any environmental, health, or safety concern to Dulles Glass & Mirror management.

Online Business

By shopping our online store, you the consumer may actually be helping prevent CO2 emissions. Most shopping excursions involve multiple trips to and from the store for "browsing" and purchasing, plus any returns. Online deliveries generally involve fewer trips, and include many items being delivered in the same general area.

Additionally, cutting down on cars using the roadways is always a good thing – as we in the traffic-ridden DMV can attest! Fewer cars mean less air and noise pollution, resulting in fewer headaches for local residents!

Glass Recycling

Unlike certain plastics and other synthetic materials, glass can be safely and efficiently recycled when marred or broken. Dulles Glass & Mirror offers complementary glass recycling for all our customers (though it should be noted that we do not provide services for transportation of broken glass).

Furthermore, with glass there is less need to worry about issues like ground water contamination or carcinogenic residue due to the breakdown of toxic substances. Glass is easy to maintain and clean. This means that less time and chemicals (i.e. paint, harsh cleaning products) will be necessary for upkeep.

Reusing Packaging

When packaging glass, certain things cannot be avoided; like, for instance, the sheer amount of materials necessary to protect such a fragile material. However, whenever possible Dulles Glass & Mirror reuses all shipping materials. This includes boxes, peanuts, packing paper, etc. We also make it a point to custom fit our packaging to our products so as to not create excess waste.

Glass Cleaning Products

Dulles Glass & Mirror uses and sells ClearShield Cleaning Products. ClearShield products are both effective and environmentally-friendly. Clearshield's mission, as stated on their company website, is to:

"…offer a complete range of innovative and environmentally-responsible solutions for the long-term protection, maintenance and renovation of glass and to support our customers' efforts in creating and marketing high-quality, Low-Maintenance/Easy Clean Glass."

Limescale and mold are the scourges of any glass shower. ClearShield products help protect showers from mineral and bacterial build-up. Additionally, the chemicals used in the ClearShield solution are all non-toxic and EPA approved. However, even the most benign product is best used in the smallest possible doses/quantities. ClearShield products last longer than many of their competitors; this cuts down on both wasted energy and chemical run-off.

Scrap Metal Recycling

Though not as often as glass, Dulles Glass & Mirror does occasionally deal with metal, be it for frames or casing. Scrap metal is defined as "any item made of 51% or more metal". Any left-over metallic shards or discards that meet this definition are compiled and recycled in accordance with the laws and regulations of the state of Virginia. This includes both ferrous and non-ferrous materials.