Earth Day is an annual event celebrated on April 22, designed to bring people together to help support and protect our environment. Started in 1970, Earth Day has grown to include more than a billion people in more than 193 countries participating in a wide range of events coordinated through Earthday.org. Each year, organizers come up with an official theme for the day. The 2023 theme is “Invest in our Planet.”

This year, we’re excited to partner with the building materials company TREX to collect and recycle plastic film products in our branches and corporate offices.

For the next six months, each branch and corporate location will serve as a collection point for all thin plastic wrapping, including produce and grocery bags, shipping packaging, dry-cleaning bags, Ziploc bags, and more. Even better, the public is welcome to participate too!

To learn more about this program, and what is and is not accepted, please visit the Trex website https://nextrex.com/view/educate#materials1.

In addition, Carter Bank & Trust has worked hard to help limit our environmental impact in the following ways:

• Almost every building has LED lights, helping to reduce our overall energy consumption and Green House Gas (GHG) emissions by nearly 20% – 30% over the past 4 years.
• Old, overgrown, dead, or non-existing landscaping is being replaced with pollinator- friendly plants and local native plants, which are specific to each location.
• All building materials used during remodels have been verified to be non-toxic, environmentally friendly, made with recycled content, or made in the USA.
• CB&T helped to kick start the Eco Ambassadors Council (EAC) with 8 other companies in the Dan River Basin District, with a goal to protect our environment for the good of our local communities.
• CB&T created an internal Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) committee that meets every quarter to discuss what ESG means to us and ways that we will track and report progress made.
• CB&T created an internal GreenTeam,
• More and more CB&T documents are now electronic instead of traditional pen and paper, helping to reduce our paper waste and purchases significantly.
• HOT/COLD filtered water coolers are now being provided, along with reusable cups, to be used in all locations. The program is being released in phases, with every location slated to get a Quench water cooler over the next few months. With this program, we have the potential to reduce our plastic bottle waste by 166,560 bottles OR 649 metric tons of waste eliminated per year and we have the potential to save our employees $82,000+ by NOT having to purchase bottled or canned beverages for the office
• We invested in creating a Green Space within the Bassett community.
• In 2022, CB&T shredded 66,404 lbs of paper which equates to saving 565 trees from getting cut down to make new paper!

For ideas on how you can participate in Earth Day, click here.