ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY REPORT - ROCKLINE Europe

ENVIRONMENTAL
SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT
2011

Energy Greenhouse
Gas
Solid
Waste
Landfill
Rate
Waste
Water
Transportation
Environmental Sustainability Mission Statement
Rockline will take positive steps to develop
environmentally sustainable processes, products,
packaging, and raw materials throughout the
supply chain that will deliver long-term value for
our customers, communities, and associates.

1
Contents
Location & Sales
Introduction
Profile
Aspirations
Stakeholders
Energy
Greenhouse Gas
Wastewater
THREE TIER VISION
3
5
7
9
11
13
15
17
KEY METRICS
Energy Use
Greenhouse gas emissions
Wastewater
Total solid waste - coffee filter units
Total solid waste - wet wipe units
Landfill Rate
Transportation
Solid waste
Landfill
Transportation
Product level scoring
Culture
Raw materials
Suppliers
Management systems
Looking ahead
Short term — annual goals. Rockline sets annual sustainability targets, as a way of measuring
our progress from year to year. These goals are small, incremental steps toward sustainability.
They are intended to be challenging but achievable, and will keep Rockline pointed in the
right direction.
Medium term — multi-year goals. Rockline’s current multi-year goals are set for our fiscal year
2015. Just beyond the horizon, these more ambitious goals give shape to where Rockline is
headed in a strategic sense.
Long term — aspirations. For the long term, Rockline has delineated a series of sustainability
“aspirations” — our hope for what a completely sustainable Rockline might look like, at
some unknown point in the future. This is the biggest of big-picture thinking, and what we
hope is a very bold statement for our company.
19
21
23
25
27
29
30
31
33
KEY ACHIEVEMENTS
Surpassed 2015 energy reduction goal of 15%
Surpassed 2015 landfill rate goal of 5%
Reduced wastewater year on year for the first time
KEY CHALLENGES
Increase in Scope 3 transportation emissions year-on-year
Climbing solid waste figures in our coffee filter business
Wastewater figures are higher than FY 2009 (base year) levels
Letter from the President
Rockline’s commitment to environmental sustainability remains strong. Over
the past year we have worked hard to create a culture of sustainability by
elevating the visibility of our program among our associates and reinforcing
the importance of sustainability, as we have previously done with our safety
and quality programs.
A major part of this cultural change is our internal Sustainability 101 training program, which we began
last year as a way to introduce our employees to the principles of sustainability and to give them an
opportunity to offer their ideas and input. Through this training program we have received hundreds of
ideas for sustainability initiatives from every corner of the company.
From the beginning, Rockline’s commitment to sustainability has been driven by two motives: First, it
is important to our stakeholders that we measure and improve our environmental impact. Second, it is
the right thing to do — both for the environment and for our business.
PRIORITIES
In 2010, we published our three-tier strategy
for improving our environmental impact. In
the short term, we set our sights on reducing
our carbon footprint, wastewater, solid
waste, and landfill rate. We accomplished
many of these goals, diverting 989 metric
tons of waste from landfill and reducing
our greenhouse gas emissions by 1,413
metric tons. And, for the first time since
we implemented our program in 2008, we
have reduced our year-on-year wastewater
disposal, eliminating 7,920 cubic meters of
non-product water use.
As you will see in this report, we also have
a set of long-term guiding principles we call
our Aspirations. A key priority over the past
year was to take substantive steps toward
creating ecologically intelligent products. We
have made significant progress toward this
goal by creating tools that allow our product
NEXT STEPS
We are now one year closer to achieving our 2015 goals. The efforts of our manufacturing facility
Green Teams have paid off, and I am confident that 2012 will bring more success. At the same time,
we also have a lot of hard work ahead of us, as we strive to integrate our product scoring tool and
continue to enhance our sustainability efforts.
Welcome to our third annual report – we appreciate you taking the
time to read about our program, and hope you will contact us with
any questions you may have.
developers to better evaluate and compare the
impact of different materials and designs.
CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
In the coming years, Rockline will face many new
and unique challenges. Consumer preferences
continue to evolve, and government agencies
are tightening their regulation of marketing
claims on products’ environmental impact. Rising
energy and household costs influence the way
our customers make their purchases and set their
priorities. The same rising costs also influence our
decisions as a business, and in this regard, our
efforts to reduce energy use and waste couldn’t
be more important.
Even in a world of continuous change, however,
some things are constant: Rockline will continue
to build upon a foundation of integrity and
transparency, we will adapt to the transforming
marketplace, and we will remain committed to
reducing our environmental footprint.
President
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Global
LOCATIONS
PRIMARY USERS
Retailers, drugstores,
convenience stores,
institutions, grocery
stores, supermarkets,
mass merchandisers,
and club stores.
CATEGORIES
Antibacterial
Baby
Baking
Disinfecting
Food Service
Health and Beauty
Household
Incontinence
Global
SALES
NORTH AMERICA
Canada
Jamaica
Mexico
Puerto Rico
United States
CENTRAL AMERICA
Costa Rica
El Salvador
Panama
SOUTH AMERICA
Argentina
Chile
Colombia
Ecuador
Trinidad and Tobago
Venezuela
EUROPE
Austria
Belgium
Czech Republic
Denmark
England
France
Germany
Greece
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Norway
Northern Ireland
Poland
Portugal
Republic of Ireland
Russia
Scotland
PRIMARY BRANDS
3 4
Slovakia
Spain
Sweden
Wales
ASIA
China
Hong Kong
Japan
South Korea
OCEANIA
Australia
New Zealand
21 Billion Individual Wipes and 22 Billion Individual Filters
®
®

Welcome to
ROCKLINE’S
ANNUAL REPORT
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Rockline Industries’ 2011 environmental sustainability report. Over the past year
we have begun many exciting initiatives that have resulted in big achievements in key areas.
The purpose of this report is to update our stakeholders on the status of these efforts.
BOUNDARIES
In this report, we have included information about all of the operations over which Rockline
exercises financial control, with the exception of two minor subsidiaries, Rockline Netherlands
B.V. and Rockline Trading Hong Kong. These divisions represent less than 1 percent of our
global business activities and environmental impact. We have also excluded Soshio (HK)
Industrial Co. Ltd., our Chinese manufacturing partner, as we do not exercise financial control
over their operations.
SCOPE
The greenhouse gas emission data in this report is comprised
primarily of Scope 1 and 2 activities. The Scope 1 and
Scope 2 data is derived from our manufacturing facilities and
business offices. This report also contains a limited amount
of Scope 3 data (greenhouse gas emissions from outbound
shipping of our finished goods
to customers).
METHODOLOGY
Unless explicitly indicated otherwise, all data, figures, and charts cover the period of our
fiscal year ending in 2011, which runs from July 1, 2010, to June 30, 2011. The data in this
report have been collected from invoices and statements of account sent to Rockline by
our utilities providers and other vendors. We have calculated our carbon footprint using
the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Standard, as well as emissions coefficients from
the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) and the United Kingdom
Department of Farm, Environment, and Rural Affairs
(UK DEFRA). The specific uses of the relevant
coefficients are noted in the appropriate places later
in this report, but for consistency, we have used the
same coefficients when comparing more than one
year’s worth of data. This is our third annual report.
Our previous report was published in December 2010,
covering our fiscal year 2010 (July 1, 2009, to June 30,
2010).
CONTACT
We welcome and appreciate all inquiries
pertaining to our environmental
sustainability program.
5 6

WHO WE ARE
ORGANIZATIONAL PROFILE
Rockline Industries is a privately-held
manufacturer of wet wipe, coffee filter,
and baking cup products. Founded in
Plymouth, Wis., in 1976 by Ralph Rudolph,
Rockline has grown to become a global
enterprise, employing 1900 people
worldwide. We are proud of the hard work
and customer loyalty of the past 35 years
that has enabled our company to grow
from a single facility in Wisconsin to six
facilities worldwide.
In 1992, Mr. Rudolph passed control of
the organization to his son, Randy, who is
our current president. The elder Rudolph
continues to serve as the Chairman of the
Board of Directors. Rockline is a familyowned
company with its headquarters in
Sheboygan, Wis.
Rockline’s environmental sustainability
program was started in 2008. The
need for a sustainability program was
obvious: Earth’s population has grown
exponentially in the past four decades,
and with exponential growth comes an
1970
1976
Rockline was founded by Ralph H.
Rudolph in Plymouth, Wis.
1976
Our headquarters moved from
Plymouth, Wis. to Sheboygan, Wis.
exponential need for resources like clean
water, food, fuel, and consumer goods of
all kinds. As business and industry work to
meet this growing demand, we have seen
unprecedented levels of carbon emissions
and waste.
Many consumers have become aware
of this trend, and are demanding that
corporations begin to do business in a
more environmentally friendly manner.
Rockline’s customers and communities are
no different. As a result, Randy Rudolph,
Rockline’s president, commissioned an
executive-level environmental sustainability
steering committee to formulate Rockline’s
response. Over the past three years, this
committee has established the framework
of sustainability at Rockline by setting goals,
tracking progress, and working to ensure
Rockline does its part to become a better
steward of the environment.
1989
Purchased our Springdale,
Ark., facility
1992
Ralph Rudolph passed control of the
company to his son and the current
president, Randy L. Rudolph
1996
Acquired Monteville, N.J.
facility which manufactures
coffee filters
MISSION:
Rockline will take positive steps to develop
environmentally sustainable processes,
products, packaging, and raw materials
throughout the supply chain that will
deliver long-term value for our customers,
communities, and associates.
Rockline Industries Environmental Sustainability Steering Committee
Ron Kerscher Sr. V.P. of Sales & Marketing
Rich Rudolph V.P. of Sales & Marketing
Nick Santoleri V.P. of Manufacturing - Wet Wipes
Lorraine Crosbie EU Retail Sales Director
Dave Deising Director of Marketing
David Cook Contract Manufacturing Services Sales Director
Joshua Eldridge Global Environmental Sustainability Coordinator
2000
Rockline made its first interna-
manufacturing facility in Redditch,
England
2004
Engaged in a partnership with
Soshio (HK) Industrial Co. Ltd.
2006-2009
Operated a manufacturing
plant in Zaltbommel,
Netherlands
1980 1990 2000 2010
2008
Purchased our newest facility in
Booneville, Ark.
7 8

Who we
ASPIRE
TO BE
In 2009, Rockline Industries designed a set of aspirations that we defined as our
“ideal end state.” After we received feedback from our stakeholders over the
year, we have decided to maintain these aspirations but treat them like any other
goal — measurable and achievable. The difference with our aspirations is that
while our short- and mid-range goals have specific time frames attached, the time
it will take for us to realize our aspirations is undefined.
We will continue to set targets in the direction of our aspirations, but we also
recognize that when we attain these long-term goals, it does not mean our work
is done — only that we’ll need to regroup and aspire to be better yet.
FOSSIL FUEL INDEPENDENCE
Rockline wants to move away from fossil fuels toward clean, low-carbon energy.
Use energy more efficiently.
Show preference for low-carbon fuels.
Adopt alternative and renewable energy sources.
Eliminate sources of energy use.
CREATE VALUE, NOT WASTE
Rockline wants to minimize waste and its impact on the environment.
Design waste out of our system.
Increase manufacturing efficiencies.
Divert solid waste from landfill.
Investigate alternative waste strategies like reuse, recycling, and energy recapture.
Eliminate sources of wastewater from our operations.
ECOLOGICALLY INTELLIGENT PRODUCTS
Rockline wants to make and sell products that sustain the environment in the long term.
Make products that perform using less material.
Use materials that come from natural sources and recycled inputs.
Incorporate chemicals that are safe for human health and the environment.
Eliminate packaging and choose packaging materials that are more recyclable by consumers.
Metric UOM FY ‘11 Actual FY ‘15 Goals
MJ/std -19%
Over the past year, Rockline made
significant progress along the journey
towards our aspirations – much of which
is covered in detail later in this report.
Throughout this report, as in past
reports, you will notice that quantitative
transparency is a cornerstone of our
program. We have made a public
commitment to not only set specific,
quantitative goals, but to report our
progress against those goals. The table
shows our progress to date against our
2015 goals; all of the metrics use 2009
as the baseline year.
9 10
Energy
GHG Emissions
Wastewater
Solid Waste
(filters)
Solid Waste
(wipes)
kg
CO 2 e/std
L/std
kg/std
kg/std
-12%
+2%
-3%
-12%
Landfill Rate %
-7.0
Transportation
kg
CO
2
e/tkm -1%
STD = One standard unit of 1,000 pieces
-15%
-15%
-5%
-5%
-20%
-5.0
-10%

STAKEHOLDERS
CUSTOMERS
An organization’s true environmental
impact is not limited to internal processes
and products; it is an aggregate of
emissions and waste generated throughout
the supply chain. As our customers
continue to drive sustainability in their
own organizations, they look to us to drive
similar efforts within ours — all with a
goal of delivering a more environmentally
sustainable product to the consumer.
ASSOCIATES
When we say sustainability is the right
thing to do, we believe it to be true in
all facets of our organization, including
our associates. We expect all of our
associates to be committed to reducing
waste, improving efficiency, and adding
value to the products we manufacture. In
order to ensure we can continue to offer
valuable employment opportunities in
the future, we must place an emphasis on
sustainable business practices today.
SUPPLIERS
In addition to our operations, our
environmental impact extends back into
our supply chain. At Rockline, we work
to design supply chains and products that
deliver a better environmental value to the
consumer, and we depend on our suppliers
to adopt sustainable business practices to
help us make these efforts successful.
COMMUNITIES
Rockline is a manufacturing company
with over 2 million square feet of
manufacturing, warehousing and office
space globally. We have an obligation
to the communities in which we operate
to ensure we do our part to make them
livable, clean, and safe. We can do our
part by reducing our emissions and
handling waste in such a way that it is
reused, recycled, and sent to landfill
only as a last resort.
Our stakeholders were identified in 2009 by our
environmental sustainability steering committee.
In the past two years we have engaged our
stakeholders in a myriad of ways. We have
integrated environmental sustainability metrics into
many of our supplier reviews and have engaged
suppliers in designing their own programs. We have
engaged our customers and play an active role in
many of their sustainability programs.
We welcome all questions and
comments regarding our program
from our stakeholder group.
11 12

13
ENERGY
The energy we procure is used in the
conversion of finished raw materials into
consumer packaged goods, including wet
wipes, coffee filters, and baking cups. The
following tables illustrate our energy usage
over the last three fiscal years.
RISKS
The energy that Rockline uses is largely
derived from nonrenewable sources. As with
any nonrenewable commodity, the risk is that
at some point in the future, that commodity
will cease to exist and any processes
dependent upon it will cease to exist as well.
In short, dependency upon nonrenewable
energy sources is the very definition of an
unsustainable practice. The limited supply
of nonrenewable fuels, combined with
volatility in both price and supply, produces a
substantial risk for Rockline.
OPPORTUNITIES
Energy reduction makes great sense as a
sustainable business practice. There are many
affordable energy efficiency technologies
available, and many new technologies
are on the horizon. These technological
advancements are attractive capital
investments because they both decrease the
cost of operations and have short payback
periods. Alternative sources of renewable
energy are also emerging. Though most of
these are currently cost-prohibitive (given the
moderate scale of energy consumption at
Rockline), we continue to keep a finger on the
pulse of alternative energy opportunities.
Electrical 2009
Electricity
All totals are in gigajoules (GJ)
Thermal
Natural gas
2010 2011
Change Not to scale.
–4%
85,784
85,056
82,546
2009
Change 2010 Not to scale.
–30%
54,152
51,168
37,878
No. 2 fuel oil
All totals are in gigajoules (GJ)
–2%
2,135
1,528
2,084
Vehicle 2009
Propane (LPG) –51%
6,338
Motor diesel
Motor gasoline
All totals are in gigajoules (GJ)
–32%
–47%
14,424
362
ENERGY
2011
INITIATIVES
Our Springdale, Ark., facility installed high output fluorescent
lights in their warehouse. They are currently trialing various
energy efficient prototypes in the manufacturing area.
In Sheboygan, Wis., facility temporary vestibules are put up
outside of factory access doors to minimize the amount of
heat lost when our associates enter and leave the building
during the winter months.
Our Redditch, U.K., facility is six years through a 10-year
project to replace the facility’s roof insulation, which will
provide for better heat retention in the winter months.
Our Springdale, Ark., facility revamped its compressor
room. During an audit last year, it was discovered that
they were generating significantly more compressed air
than was required to meet their manufacturing needs. The
new system uses fewer compressors and has resulted in a
significant energy reduction.
Our Springdale, Ark., facility purchased an ultrasonic air
leak detector. It has reduced the time to find air leaks from
several hours to a few minutes. They use the detector as
part of a quarterly air leak detection program.
Our Booneville, Ark., facility installed a new air compressor
with a Smart Air Management (SAM) system that will allow
for more control of compressed air use. The previous system
ran nonstop, consuming an unnecessary amount of energy.
4,277
10,917
209
2011
Change 2010 Not to scale.
3,077
9,802
191
GOAL -15
ACTUAL
GOAL COMPLETED
-19
Geothermal Heating and Cooling
In what is perhaps the largest single environmental initiative
in Rockline’s 35-year history, our Blue Mountain Lake facility
in Booneville, Ark., recently completed the installation of a
geothermal heating and cooling system. The system, which
went online in June 2011, reduces the facility’s dependence on
electricity, which is derived largely from nonrenewable sources.
Geothermal heating and cooling utilizes the relatively constant
temperature of the Earth’s surface to heat a given space during
cool seasons and cool the same space in hotter seasons. This
natural heating and cooling cycle partially replaces the use
of electricity and natural gas in conventional HVAC systems,
thus reducing our consumption of nonrenewable energy and
greenhouse gas emissions from climate control.
Cynthia Totton, the green team lead at Blue Mountain Lake,
has witnessed the system’s installation over the last two years.
“We’ve seen the construction and a lot of work going into this
new system,” Totton said. “We’re excited to turn it on!”
“I’m also looking forward to the climate control for our product
and people,” Totton added. “It gets extremely hot down here!”
During the summer months, Booneville averages 94 degrees
Fahrenheit, and often has days over 100 degrees.
Our Blue Mountain Lake
facility has been a leader
in the implementation
of large scale
environmental projects.
Cynthia Totton and Keith Smith
14

GREENHOUSE
GAS
ELECTRICITY
Rockline’s electricity is sourced from public utilities. To
determine our emissions, we utilize factors published
by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and
the U.K. Department of Environment, Farm, and Rural
Affairs (DEFRA). Each emissions factor is based on the
mix of fuel sources used by the power plants in the
region where our facilities are located.
THERMAL ENERGY
Rockline’s two primary thermal fuels are natural gas and
No. 2 distillate fuel oil. (The latter is used only at our
Montville, N.J., facility.) To determine our emissions
factors, we utilize factors published by the International
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Rockline procures
these fuels from public utilities or traditional commercial
suppliers. The same factors are used for all of our
facilities.
VEHICLE FUELS
Rockline vehicle fuels, which include conventional
motor diesel and conventional unleaded gasoline,
are procured from local suppliers. We utilize IPCC
emissions factors to determine our emissions. The
same factors are used at all of our facilities.
GHG Emissions
Scope 1 (on-site)
Scope 2 (remote)
Total
2009
2011
Change 2010 Not to scale.
–37% 4,713
4,097
2,966
–4% 17,816
17,652
17,110
–10% 22,529
21,741
20,328
–12%
0.551
0.521
0.487
All totals are in metric tons (MT), except the per-unit totals, which are in kilograms (kg).
GHG
GOAL -15
ACTUAL
-12
RISK
The risks associated with our greenhouse
emissions exist on a macro and micro scale.
The risks of greenhouse gasses on a macro
scale — globally and long-term — are still
too nebulous to quantify, at a specific level,
the risk they pose to our business.
At a micro level, carbon taxes, energy
taxes, cap-and-trade schemes, and other
similar emissions regulations pose a risk
to our business in the form of additional
costs. Rockline currently falls below the
threshold for most proposed legislation,
though many of our suppliers could be
subject to new legislation and pass their
costs to us in the form of higher prices.
OPPORTUNITIES
Opportunities exist in the form of energy
reduction and increased use of alternative
fuel sources. Rockline believes that energy
reduction is currently our best strategy for
reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. As
technology develops, however, renewable
energy sources may become more viable and
more import than efficiency measures.
INITIATIVES
As noted above, energy reduction initiatives
reduce our carbon footprint. Rockline has
taken steps to switch to energy sources that
are more efficient:
Our Springdale, Ark., facility purchased
battery-electric forklifts.
Our Montville, N.J., facility recently purchased
its first battery-electric forklift. Although the
facility still has some propane forklifts, this
purchase is the first in an effort to phase out
propane.
Our Booneville, Ark., facility installed a
geothermal heating and cooling system which
went online in June 2011.
LIGHTING REDUCTION - LED
Energy reduction initiatives are perhaps the best way for
Rockline to meet both our energy use and greenhouse
gas emissions targets. As a result, each of our facilities
has undertaken efforts to reduce energy consumption
from lighting. One of our largest facilities, Blue Mountain
Lake (BML) in Booneville, Ark., has undertaken the task of
transitioning the lighting in its manufacturing and chemical
mix facilities from halide light fixtures to high-efficiency
LED high bay fixtures.
Previously, the BML facility’s prodouction area was lit by
125 400-watt halide lights, each of which burned 24 hours
per day. These halide lights were replaced with 150-watt
DuroLite fixtures manufactured by Dialight. The transition
took place over a 6-month period from July 2010 to
December 2011.
The benefits were apparent as soon as the project was
completed. “Employees have noticed that it is cooler, and
they like the light produced by the LEDs better than the
old lights,” says Nick Santoleri, Rockline’s vice president
of global wet wipes manufacturing. “It’s not only more
uniform, but the crisp white light is easier on the eyes.”
The ease of installation was another benefit. “The
installation went very smoothly with minimal interruption to
our manufacturing process,” says Santoleri. “The beauty
of it is that the new fixtures use all standard plugs, so there
was no need for re-wiring during the retrofit.” In addition
to the reduction of energy, the new lights reduced the heat
load, thus reducing HVAC requirements by 5 percent. This
represents a significant capital savings to the project.
The Booneville facility also houses one of Rockline’s
distribution centers. In conjunction with the lighting
upgrade, the distribution center (DC) also underwent a
transition to high efficiency fluorescent (HEF) lighting with
motion sensors. The measure has already reduced energy
consumption in the DC by 75% compared to FYE 2009.
Following the success of the BML program, Rockline’s
other Arkansas facility, in Springdale, also transitioned its
warehouse to high-output fluorescent lights.
15 16
Nick Santoleri

WASTE
WATER
WET WIPES
Rockline defines wastewater as any water that is not a
component of the products we manufacture. For our
wet wipe products, water is a major component of the
lotion—in some cases, over 99 percent.
The majority of the lotions found in Rockline products are
manufactured on-site in our chemical mix departments,
though a small percentage of the lotions come in
portable, reusable totes and are pumped into the
production lines directly. Because the amount and type
of lotions used in our products are largely determined
by our customers, we have chosen instead to focus on
increasing the efficiency of our water use, an area over
which we have more direct, operational control.
COFFEE FILTERS AND BAKING CUPS
Our coffee filter production uses considerably less water
than wet wipes, and there is no water contained in the
finished product. The main source of water use in our
coffee filter operations is steam, which we use as a
processing aid to give our basket-style coffee filters and
baking cups their distinctive “fluted” shapes. No water is
used in the production of cone-style filters.
QUALITY AND EMPLOYEE CONSUMPTION
Outside of finished goods, we use water for a range of
other purposes. Our products undergo extensive quality
testing before we ship them for public consumption,
and many of these tests require water. Furthermore, we
Water Usage
2009
2011
Change 2010 Not to scale.
Incoming water
+1.3%
179,152
189,016
181,504
Water used in products –.01%
104,198
102,957
103,566
% of water used in products –.02
58.2%
54.5%
57.1%
Non-product water use +4.3%
74,955
86,058
78,138
+2.1%
1.832
2.061
1.870
All totals are in cubic meters (m3), except for per-unit water use, which is in liters (L).
WASTE
WATER
GOAL -5%
ACTUAL
+2%
regularly clean and sanitize our equipment, and this
also requires the use of water. Rockline will never
sacrifice quality to save water, but focusing on more
efficient water use, even in testing and cleaning, is
nevertheless a priority.
RISKS
A global scarcity of inexpensive, easily accessible
freshwater could pose a risk in the long term as it
is a major component of our operations, including
the single largest ingredient in our wet wipe lotions.
Additionally, even though our manufacturing
facilities are currently located in areas with abundant
freshwater, risks such as higher costs and capital
expenses could arise if we expanded our operations to
areas with poor access to freshwater.
OPPORTUNITIES
Rockline’s largest opportunity to decrease wastewater
exists in our manufacturing processes. In 2010, for
the first time since our program’s inception in 2008,
we saw our wastewater usage decline. One major
initiative that contributed to this decline was a timed
meter that was installed on a flushing system at our
Sheboygan, Wis., manufacturing facility. Previously,
the system had run around the clock, while the meter
ensures that it now runs in short, controlled intervals.
In addition, as part of the mandatory sustainability
training course that all Rockline associates must
complete, we challenge our associates to look for
and report areas where water is running without a
meter and to identify processes where water can be
conserved.
INITIATIVES
Our Redditch, U.K., facility has begun a formal
review of lotion flushes which are a part of machine
changeovers between products.
Wastewater at the U.K. facility
Reducing wastewater has historically been a challenge
for Rockline. Though we were able to reduce our usage
this year compared to our fiscal year ending in 2010, we
have been unable to beat our baseline usage from our
fiscal year 2009.
One bright spot in wastewater reduction at Rockline
comes from our Redditch, U.K., facility. Wastewater
usage at the U.K. facility was down 35 percent this year
as compared to last year, and the facility is halfway
to meeting its 2015 goal of a 5 percent reduction.
“Reducing liquid changeovers per standard unit has
been the key to driving down our wastewater figure,”
says Bill Goodall, green team lead for the U.K. facility.
It deserves mention that under Bill’s leadership, the
U.K. facility has established itself as a leader in our
environmental sustainability efforts. The U.K. is on track
to meet all of its 2015 goals, and saw improvements in
key areas across the board.
”Everyone on our team deserves recognition,” says
Goodall. “All of our accomplishments this year would
not have been possible without their effort and
commitment to our program.” The U.K. became the first
Rockline plant to utilize waste-to-energy incineration,
sending its non-recyclable waste to power a local
concrete kiln. Furthermore, the U.K. has experimented
with a variety of innovative initiatives, including painting
a hallway white to reduce lighting requirements and
locking or removing some trash cans to encourage
associates to dispose of waste in the proper bins.
Through our monthly green lead conference calls, our
other facilities have begun considering ways to adopt
many of these initiatives — a combination of innovation
and information-sharing that is sure to help us meet our
increasingly aggressive organizational goals.
17 18
Bill Goodall

SOLID
WASTE
SOLID WASTE
Waste is literally the inefficient use of
resources, and when it occurs, it drives up the
cost of the products Rockline produces. For
this reason, Rockline focuses on measuring,
reducing, and eliminating waste from our
manufacturing processes to provide better
value to our customers.
Rockline defines solid waste as all waste
leaving our facility regardless of how it is
generated or handled. For example, our
coffee filter production generates a high
amount of waste because the round filters are
cut from square sheets of paper. Even though
the paper scrap is recycled, it is still considered
waste, because a truly efficient process would
use all of the paper. In short, while recycling
waste is better than landfilling it, it would be
better still not to have anything to recycle at
all.
RISK
Solid waste represents virgin natural resources
that are harvested but ultimately unused or at
least utilized in a less-than-optimal manner. As
the demand for virgin raw materials continues
to escalate with growing populations and
economies around the world, key resources
may soon become scarce or even nonexistent.
As the scarcity of virgin raw materials increases
so costs will increase as well, lowering the
FILTERS
SOLID
WASTE
GOAL -5
ACTUAL
demand for our products relative to substitute
goods.
OPPORTUNITY
As long as waste exists, there is opportunity
to reduce it. Rockline’s environmental
sustainability program tracks solid waste
monthly and has goals set to reduce scrap at
each facility. Every step Rockline takes toward
reducing solid waste relieves a portion of the
demand placed on natural resources and makes
our products more attractive economically.
INITIATIVES
Our Sheboygan, Wis., facility rebuilt a coffee
filter production line and reduced solid waste
by 66 percent.
Our Montville, N.J., facility is rebuilding a coffee
filter production line to increase efficiency and
reduce scrap.
Solid waste represents virgin
natural resources that are
harvested but ultimately
unused or at least utilized in
a less-than-optimal manner.
-3
GOAL -20
ACTUAL -12
Business unit
Coee lters
STEPHEN BENDE AND SOLID WASTE
When it comes to reducing solid waste and landfill rate, Stephen Bende, the production operations
manager at our Montville, N.J., coffee filter facility, has some significant challenges. “Rockline has
been making coffee filters a long time, and the scrap rates are fairly predictable,” says Bende.
But this familiarity hasn’t stopped our New
Jersey plant from making significant strides in
its waste reduction efforts. For instance, two
years ago, the facility was sending a 40-yard
load of waste to landfill every week. Today, they
only send a load to landfill once every two and
a half months. And they aren’t stopping there:
Bende and his team are hard at work finding
solutions for the remaining landfill waste.
They’re even getting some local recognition for their efforts. In November 2010, the Morris County
Municipal Utilities Authority of New Jersey recognized Rockline’s New Jersey facility with an award
for its recycling efforts. “According to the township of Montville, which nominated Rockline for the
award, Rockline New Jersey is in a class by itself among local businesses for its waste-handling and
recycling procedures,” says Bende.
Many of the staff at the New Jersey facility are personally committed to sustainability. When the
township’s recycling coordinator helped Bende find a nearby recycling center that would take all of
the plant’s old computers at no cost, Bende used his own truck to transport the equipment to
the center.
This commitment to sustainability is producing results. New
Jersey’s landfill rate has dropped for three years in a row and
hit a new low in 2011 at just over 1 percent.
19 20
Wet wipes
2009
2011
Change 2010 Not to scale.
–5.9%
12,013
11,328
11,309
–3.2%
0.537
0.515
0.520
–5.2%
8,424
8,255
7,983
–12.1%
0.454
0.417
0.399
Totals are in metric tons (MT). Per-unit totals are in kilograms (kg).
Stephen Bende

LANDFILL
LANDFILL
LANDFILL
GOAL -5
ACTUAL
GOAL COMPLETED
Ideally, Rockline would like to eliminate solid
waste entirely from its production processes, but
where this is not yet feasible or cost-effective,
Rockline’s goal is to handle waste in a way that
has the smallest impact on the environment.
Rockline has a three-tier prioritization system
for handling waste: Recycling, waste to energy
incineration, and landfill. Through the first two
tiers, we hope to derive the greatest benefit
from scrap material and prevent it from reaching
landfill.
Our landfill avoidance initiatives are captured in
the landfill rate metric. To calculate our landfill
rate, we divide the amount of waste sent to
landfill by the total amount of waste leaving our
facilities (which includes landfilled waste as well
as recycled waste, waste incinerated for energy
recapture, and waste donated for reuse). The
resulting metric is expressed as the percentage of
waste diverted from landfill.
-7
OPPORTUNITIES
The greatest opportunity Rockline has in
diverting waste from landfill is finding consumers
downstream who value our waste. In 2011,
we met with numerous companies who could
consume our waste for a variety of uses. Our
Arkansas facilities have partnered with a company
that takes our solid waste, separates plastics
and other materials for recycling, and uses the
remainder of the material for waste-to-energy
incineration. Over the next year, Rockline will
continue to examine avenues for repurposing our
solid waste.
INITIATIVES
Our Booneville, Ark., facility completed installation
of a baler system which will be used to separate
solid waste materials and help divert recyclable
materials from landfill.
Our Sheboygan, Wis., facility has partnered with
a local plastic molder to divert an estimated 120
tons of plastic waste annually from landfill. The
plastic waste is ground and used in co-injection
products.
Our Redditch, U.K., facility has increased its wasteto-energy
incineration efforts by relocating their
compactor and restricting traditional disposal of
burnable waste in their warehouse. Landfill waste
pickup has reduced to appointment pickups due
to the infrequent necessity of landfill disposal.
Disposal method
Landfilled
RISK
“Energy recapture and recycling gives a secondary
purpose to waste that would have otherwise been
There are two closely related risks associated
landfilled.”
21
with landfilled waste: First, both geographic
space available for landfills and the desirability
of landfills are decreasing. Second, as both
space and desirability decline, landfill costs will
rise. Fees associated with landfill have already
affected our U.K. facility. If a similar system was
implemented in the United States, the costs
associated with our solid waste disposal would
have a substantial negative financial impact.
Michael Gray Joel Slank
Over the next year, approximately 3,500 metric tons
of solid waste from the Springdale and Booneville
facilities will be diverted from landfill. Though
Rockline has designed landfill out of its waste
disposal practices, potential landfilling could occur
in the event of unforeseen disruptions of service.
Should this occur, Rockline will be transparent with
our stakeholders regarding our landfill usage.
22
Recycled
Landfill rate
2009
2010 2011
Change Not to scale.
–22%
7,971
7,240
6,251
–3%
12,466
12,196
12,156
—
0
148
884
–7
39%
37%
32%
All totals are in metric tons (MT).
Landfill rate is the percentage of total solid waste that was sent to landfill.
implemented processes to divert 100 percent of
Our Sheboygan, Wis., facility began shipping
their waste from landfill. Through a partnership with
plastic nonwoven waste to a packaging company, Cassville, Mo. based Marck Recycling, all waste
who uses the material to produce fuel pellets. leaving those two facilities will either be recycled or
Our Sheboygan, Wis., facility purchased a bailer incinerated for energy recapture. The energy that is
which will allow us to divert an estimated 200 captured from incineration will typically be used to
tons of plastic stretch wrap annually. Stretch wrap power homes and businesses in the Tulsa, Okla., area.
is used the palletization process and is the clear
plastic used to hold loads together.
Our Sheboygan, Wis., facility began recycling
printer toner cartridges.
ZERO LANDFILL
Designing waste out of our processes and
products is one of Rockline’s core sustainability
aspirations. Unfortunately, we’re not there yet,
and as a result, we must handle the waste from
our operations in a way that is best for the
environment and our stakeholders.
This year, two of our manufacturing facilities—
in Springdale, Ark., and Booneville, Ark. —
“Taking the Springdale facility to zero
landfill hasn’t been easy, and it has required
a lot of hard work from many of our
associates,” said Michael Gray, the facilities
manager of Rockline’s Springdale plant. “I’m
proud of this accomplishment as we do our
part to divert our waste from landfill.”
Both Springdale and Booneville expect to achieve
zero landfill status by October 2011.
“While reducing waste at the operations level is
a high priority, we must ensure that the waste we
produce is disposed of responsibly,” says Joel
Slank, the general manager of the Springdale plant.

TRANSPOR-
TATION
TRANSPORTATION
Rockline evaluates the environmental
impact from its transportation operations
by measuring greenhouse gas emissions
from the outbound transport of finished
goods. Rockline utilizes all major modes
of transportation to ship finished goods,
including truck, rail, ocean, and air freight.
Section 6.4a Outbound Shipping
Outbound Shipping
Truckload
Less than truckload
Rail
Ocean (container ship)
Air
Total
Change
-22
-35
+50%
-64%
-13%
-22%
All totals are in thousands of tonne-kilometers
Section 6.4c Outbound Shipping Footprint
Outbound Shipping
Truckload
Less than truckload
Rail
Ocean (container ship)
Change
–22%
–35%
+50%
-64%
2009
89,626
32,134
19,002
21,520
48
162,330
2009
7,708
3,310
608
280
Bars indicate relative change only.
2010 2011 Not to scale.
75,997
25,958
25,443
16,808
27
144,233
69,804
20,900
28,430
7,830
42
2010 2011
6,536
2,674
814
219
127,006
6,003
2,153
910
Bars indicate relative change only.
Not to scale.
For each of the shipping modes utilized,
Rockline has established a per-tonnekilometer
greenhouse gas emissions factor.
The factors for all modes are based on
published sources, with the exception of lessthan-truckload
(LTL) shipping. As there is no
standardized method of estimating carbon
emissions from LTL shipments, Rockline adds
a 20 percent premium to the truckload factor
to account for the extra distance that LTL
shipments usually travel.
25.00%
102
29
Air
-13%
16
25
11,935
Total
-23%
10,258
9,193
0.074
Per tonne-kilometer -1.6%
0.071
0.073
All totals in metric tonnes (MT) of CO2-equivalent emissions, except for per-unit totals,
which are in kilograms of CO2-equivalent emissions.
Rail as a Percent of all Truckload
All items for which Rockline supplies (on average) more
than two pallets per month must be ordered in full-pallet
quantities.
All items for which Rockline supplies (on average) less
than two pallets per month must be ordered in full-layer
quantities — not in case-by-case amounts.
Rockline’s customer service advocates work with customers
who purchase these items to ensure the alignment of pallet/
layer quantities.
Ship intelligently – Rockline’s logistics team is
constantly seeking new ways to reduce fuel
consumption and optimize shipments. A few of the
ideas introduced this year are:
Partnering with one of our Canadian customers to
make shipments more efficient. Previously, Rockline
shipped finished goods from our manufacturing
facility in Springdale, Ark., to a warehouse in Toronto,
where the customer forwarded them to its distribution
centers throughout Canada. Today, we bypass the
Currently, outbound shipping is the
22.50%
This initiative is designed to reduce LTL utilization, which
Toronto warehouse and ship directly to the customer’s
only component of Rockline’s Scope 3
20.00%
consumes approximately 20 percent more fuel than tradition
distribution centers, resulting in an estimated 30
emissions for which we have developed a
17.50%
long-haul modes of transportation.
percent reduction in fuel consumption.
comprehensive tracking system, and the
15.00%
only component for which we have set
reduction goals. In the future, as standards
for Scope 3 emissions continue to develop
12.50%
10.00%
Ship efficiently – in order to favor more efficient modes of
transportation, Rockline continued to build upon the poolpoint
warehouse network we established in 2010. This year,
Partnering with our U.S. customers to optimize
shipping quantities. When we discovered that two of
our largest U.S. customers were utilizing LTL shipping
and our sustainability program continues to
7.50%
pool-point shipments increased 90 percent. Pool-point
on a regular basis, we encouraged their replenishment
expand, we will determine whether to begin
5.00%
shipping avoids the inefficient hub-and-spoke model of LTL
teams to order in larger quantities less often. This
measuring additional Scope 3 emissions.
2.50%
by consolidating shipments that are destined for the same
solution was made possible by co-warehousing
0.00%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
geographic region. Only after the shipments arrive in the
products from our different manufacturing facilities
RISKS
The primary risk associated with today’s
2010
Months
2011
region are they broken apart and given to local LTL carriers.
This minimizes the use of long-haul LTL shipments. This year,
in centralized locations, which enabled us to deliver
within the required lead times.
modes of transportation is the increasing
Rockline completed its objective of establishing a national
23
scarcity of fossil fuels, which is causing the
network of pool-point locations.
24
Percent of Weight Shipped via Rail
TRASPOR-
TATION
GOAL -10
ACTUAL
-1
cost of transportation fuels to rise. The majority of Rockline’s
transportation is handled via heavy trucks and tractor-trailer
vehicles, which use conventional motor diesel. The rest of
our freight operations (air, rail, and ocean freight) also rely
heavily on fossil fuels.
OPPORTUNITIES
The opportunities for reducing the environmental impact
of our transportation operations fall into three primary
categories:
Ship less – both inbound and outbound
Ship efficiently – favor efficient modes over less efficient ones
Ship intelligently – leverage logistical solutions to reduce fuel
consumption.
INITIATIVES
Ship less – Optimizing raw materials and outbound
shipments to ensure trailers are full will help reduce the
frequency of shipments Rockline makes. This year, we
introduced our Transportation Efficiency Initiative to our
customers. The initiative works as follows:
Along with pool-point shipping, Rockline also
increased its utilization of intermodal shipments by
64 percent. Intermodal shipments combine truckload
pulls with rail freight to make long-distance shipments
more efficient: By utilizing rail freight in place of
standard trucks, Rockline can cut greenhouse gas
emissions on identical shipments by up to 50 percent.

PRODUCT
LEVEL
SCORING
Ever since Rockline first began taking steps
to become a more sustainable company,
we have known that our products place
a burden on the environment that is
comparable to our operations. At the
time, however, we had no easy way to
measure that impact in the same way we
could measure things like energy use,
water use, greenhouse gas emissions, and
solid waste — much to the chagrin of our
sales and marketing teams, who frequently
asked whether a given product change
made that product better or worse for the
environment.
At our annual sustainability summit in
2010, we began to rectify this problem by
conceptualizing a tool that could measure
the environmental impact of our products.
This tool, tentatively called a Green Score,
would help Rockline product managers
make educated decisions in product design.
In order to make the Green Score relevant
to our organization, we held a crossfunctional
team meeting that included
representatives from our purchasing,
product development, IT, sales and
marketing, and operations departments.
The meeting was facilitated by an external
consultant who would use the ideas and
principles from the meeting to design the
Green Score.
It quickly became clear that the process
of designing and implementing the Green
Score was as important as the Green Score
itself. As a result, we decided to design
and implement the Green Score in stages.
Each stage will incorporate greater levels of
detail across the life cycle of the product,
from raw materials to disposal. The first
phase of the Green Score was completed in
June 2011 and will be integrated into our
product development process.
PHASE I-A: DESIGN
The first phase of the Green Score allows
the user to view the environmental impact of
changes in nonwoven suppliers (based upon
supplier survey data collected in our fiscal year
ending 2010 and data in publicly available
reports), material fiber blends, and packaging
components. The Green Score takes into
account greenhouse gas emissions, energy use,
solid waste, and water use, and uses them to
generate a combined score, which ranges from
1 (greatest environmental impact) to 10 (lowest
environmental impact). The scores are based
upon Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) data for the
various fibers and polymers used in our products.
PHASE I-B: INTEGRATION
The Phase I design will be integrated into the
product design process with the goal that all
products are evaluated from an environmental
impact standpoint before being commercialized.
Over the next year, our goal is to evaluate
50 percent of all new products or major
modifications prior to commercialization.
PHASE II AND III
Future iterations of the tool are based upon
internal and external demand. The tool is
designed in such a way that more raw material
suppliers, more fiber variations, and more
packaging materials can be added. We also
have the capability to add more metrics, such as
landfill or biodegradability. We will decide how
to proceed with future versions using feedback
from our current implementation.
25 26

CULTURE
SITE COMMUNICATION
Integrating sustainability into our culture
requires consistent communication with our
manufacturing facilities. This year, our program
took advantage of two existing communication
tools at Rockline — our monthly newsletters and
our internal television network — to provide all
of our associates more information about our
sustainability program.
We started by adding sustainability content
to Rockline’s monthly newsletter. The
newsletter, which is distributed to each of our
manufacturing sites, contains articles about the
company’s performance, new projects, safety
and quality initiatives, and associate activities,
and is widely read throughout the organization.
In each issue, we’re now publishing an
informative and entertaining article that covers
a key sustainability metric, describing why the
metric was chosen and how it is measured.
Each article also includes the environmental and
financial ramifications of our efforts.
The objective is to clearly communicate the
consequences of wasting resources and assign
value to the waste in hopes that the reader
comes away with a fresh perspective and a more
sustainability-minded view of our operations.
“Increasing our environmental awareness
organizationally is a key to reducing our
impact,” says David Cook, a sales director in
Rockline’s contract manufacturing division, and
member of the corporate sustainability steering
committee. “Our customers and stakeholders
demand that we continually improve our
environmental performance. Communicating
the fundamentals of sustainability and the
impact our organization makes will only help us
get better.”
We also introduced a sustainability dashboard to
Rockline TV, the internal television network that
broadcasts important information to associates
SUSTAINABILITY 101
Sustainability 101 is an internal Rockline training
program, designed in conjunction with Lakeshore
Technical College in Cleveland, Wis., to educate
Rockline associates on a variety of sustainability topics.
The course, which lasts about two hours, includes an
overview of sustainability, a summary of the internal
and external factors driving our program, and a review
of our key operational metrics.
David Cook Kyleene Arias and Darryl Mrozinsky
at each manufacturing site. The dashboard,
which is customized to each manufacturing site,
gives our associates a summary view of how their
facility is performing against the organization’s
key metrics—whether each metric is below the
goal level (green), below last year but above
the goal level (yellow), or above last year (red).
The dashboard is updated monthly, and is also
posted in static form on “green boards” in each
manufacturing facility.
During the course, a number of activities
take place that allow the participants to
collaborate with one another and submit ideas
for sustainability initiatives. The instructor
challenges the class to look for areas where
waste is being created by processes that other
people may not see. In a class of about 20
associates, a number of unique and unexpected
ideas can arise.
“Every Rockline associate has a unique
perspective,” says Kyleene Arias, who helped
translate the course into Spanish and taught
Spanish-speaking staff. “Challenging people
to come forward with ideas about where
energy, water, or material is being wasted in
their area will help Rockline reduce its overall
environmental footprint.”
But the class isn’t just an avenue for soliciting
ideas — it’s also intended to build a culture
of sustainability at Rockline. For many years,
Rockline has had similar programs in place for
quality and safety, and today the principles
from those courses have become the standard
practice at our company. Our hope is that we
can eventually integrate sustainability at the
same level.
“Sustainability makes you think through
projects and processes with efficiency in
mind,” says Darryl Mrozinsky, the green team
lead for Rockline’s Sheboygan, Wis., facility.
“Educating and engaging our associates helps
us create a culture where we minimize waste
and focus on areas of inefficiency.”
Over the past year, all of our current associates
at each of our four U.S. facilities went through
the training program. Next year, we will
expand the use of the program: we will roll
it out to our Redditch, England, facility, and
also plan to integrate the course into the
orientation program that our human resources
department uses with all new associates.
27 28

RAW
MATERIALS
IMPACTS
As the use of Life Cycle Analysis and LCA-style thinking
becomes more prevalent at Rockline, it is becoming
increasingly clear that the greatest portion of our products’
environmental impact is in the raw materials. At its core,
Rockline Industries is a converter that processes and
assembles raw materials into a final product. The energy
and emissions generated by Rockline’s operations pale in
comparison to the energy and emissions required to supply
those raw materials, such as extracting minerals, harvesting
timber, drilling for petroleum and other fossil fuels, and
converting all of these resources into usable raw materials.
Our most significant raw materials are:
Nonwovens, which are made of various fiber
blends, including:
• Polyester fibers
• Polypropylene fibers
• Cellulose-based fibers
Packaging:
• Corrugated cardboard and other
paperboard
• Mixed- and single-resin plastics, including:
• PET
• HDPE
• Polypropylene
• Various types of LDPE film
RISKS
Any industrial process or consumer product that relies on
fossil fuels is at risk. Consumption of petroleum-based
resources continues to climb, and the supply is fixed, or
possibly even declining. The majority of packaging and
a great number of the fibers used in our products are
derived from these increasingly scarce fossil fuels. If these
trends continue, our materials will become more difficult
and more costly to procure, driving up the cost of our
finished goods and reducing the value we provide to our
customers.
OPPORTUNITIES
Rockline has several opportunities to improve the
sustainability of its raw materials, and many of them
start with our primary suppliers. Rockline can:
• Evaluate and engage our raw material suppliers to
source and produce raw materials efficiently and from
sustainable sources, including certified sources.
• Reduce waste at the operational level, which will
increase the efficiency of our raw material usage (per
standard unit) and allow us to extract more value from
the same quantity of materials.
• Incorporate recycled and renewable inputs into our
products. This will reduce or potentially even eliminate
the demand for virgin raw materials, helping to stabilize
unsustainable consumption trends.
• Redesign key components like plastic tubs to be
lighter and use less material. Not only will this improve
our material use, but it will have downstream benefits
like helping to increase transportation efficiencies and
reducing the amount of municipal solid waste caused by
our products.
• Design products and packaging to be recyclable or
compostable. This, too, is an opportunity to reduce
municipal solid waste, as well as to provide value to our
customers who serve environmentally-conscientious
consumers.
INITIATIVES
This year, Rockline worked with an external
consultant to build a product-level scoring tool which
models trade-offs between various raw material
inputs to help us evaluate product design from a
sustainability perspective. Please see the Product
Scoring Tool section for more information on
this initiative.
SUPPLIERS
Supplier relations
IMPACTS
Given that the biggest environmental impact in
the life cycle of our products is in the sourcing
and processing of raw materials, Rockline must
look across the supply chain for improvement
opportunities and partner with its suppliers in
innovative solutions. Everything from the inputs
our suppliers use to the locations of their facilities
to the way they do business carries through the
life cycle and affects the sustainability of Rockline’s
products.
RISKS
Making products that are truly sustainable
throughout their life cycle depends more on
implementing sustainable practices across
the supply chain than any other aspect of our
program. If we fail to recognize our supply chain as
a significant factor in our products’ sustainability,
then we risk missing one of the biggest sources of
consumption throughout the life cycle.
OPPORTUNITIES
In 2010, Rockline surveyed the majority of our
suppliers around the globe. This information has
been used in developing the product scoring tool,
annual supplier evaluations, and in analyzing the
environmental sustainability maturity of our various
raw material types. We will take this analysis to
the next level in the upcoming year, developing
a more dynamic approach to both evaluating and
partnering with suppliers.
INITIATIVES
Since surveying our suppliers on the state
of their sustainability efforts in 2010,
Rockline has incorporated environmental
sustainability as a factor into a number of
our supplier reviews.
Rockline also worked with suppliers
who had no environmental sustainability
program to begin the process of tracking
key sustainability metrics and normalizing
these metrics for production volume.
We will continue to expand our efforts
with suppliers where possible to bring
a heightened sense of awareness about
sustainability — and in so doing, plant the
seeds for sustainability to grow within our
supply chain.
29 30

MANAGEMENT
SYSTEMS
IMPACTS
The culture of sustainability at an organization — everything
from the emphasis that senior management gives to
sustainability to its presence in the day-to-day lives of our
associates — goes a long way toward determining the success
of our sustainability program. Rockline can set goals, plan
for life-cycle assessments, and build product- and processimprovement
tools, but if these components are never
implemented, our efforts are for naught. In short, people
drive sustainability. They lead efforts to make us a better
manufacturer, they start the discussions with customers and
suppliers about positive environmental change, and they bring
the insights that help drive our company forward.
RISKS
Without a viable culture of sustainability, we risk being all
talk and no action. We must consistently strive to keep our
associates engaged and aware of sustainability if we wish to
see continuous improvement in our organization. Additionally,
unless we push ourselves to become consistently more
sustainable, we risk failing to meet our customers’ increasing
expectations, and we risk losing a key competitive advantage.
OPPORTUNITIES
With employee engagement, we can always do better. The
biggest opportunity we have at Rockline is to develop effective
and motivational methods that make sustainability personal
and achievable for our associates, so that they become the
biggest advocates for a greater culture of sustainability.
INITIATIVES
Sustainability Training. This year we
implemented our Sustainability 101 training
program. Please see the Culture spread for
more details.
Green Teams. Each of our manufacturing
facilities has a green team, headed by a green
lead, which is responsible for tracking and
implementing site initiatives and communicating
updates about each site’s progress to its
associates. The green leads also meet with the
global environmental sustainability coordinator,
logistics, and IT on a monthly basis to discuss
updates on initiatives and metrics, and share
information across the entire company.
Site communication. Please see the Culture
spread for details on the various efforts made
this year to keep our associates engaged and
educated in environmental sustainability.
Ken Borowski
31 32

LOOKING
AHEAD
Thank you for taking the time to read our third annual
sustainability report – our hope is that you hve a better
understanding of how Rockline is doing its part to ensure our
planet can sustain future generations.
In last year’s report, our company set ambitious, multi-year
sustainability goals for the first time. Although we still have
a few years left to achieve these goals — they come due in
2015 — we have already made significant progress on many
of them. We are proud of our achievements, and strongly
believe we’re headed in the right direction.
We’re also looking forward to the coming year — we have
many initiatives in play that will help us get another step
closer to achieving all of our 2015 goals. These initiatives
include the integration of a Sustainability 101 training course
into our new-associate orientation; implementation of a new
product sustainability scoring tool; and a continued focus on
our operational metrics such as energy use, greenhouse gas
emissions, and solid waste.
Based on past experience, we know the upcoming year will
bring both success and failure. But we believe
that if we remain determined, we will eventually
realize not only our goals, but an environment
that is better and more sustainable than before.
As always, we look forward to your feedback.
The ongoing conversation we have with our
stakeholders keeps us honest—and often sparks
creative new ideas for our program!
All the best,
Josh Eldridge
Global Environmental Sustainability Coordinator
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ENVIRONMENTAL
SUSTAINABILITY
changing our
environmental
footprint®