At Suncoast, we’re known for our commitment to the communities we serve. But people may not realize that our community efforts also extend to caring about the environment.

We strive to be eco-friendly for the same reasons we volunteer and give back. Because all of these things help strengthen our communities and make the world better.

Here are some of the reasons why we’re eco-friendly and tips for how going green may help you as well!

Energy Efficient Buildings Help Save Money

As a financial institution, saving is an important part of who we are. So our energy efficient buildings are good for the environment and they help us save a lot of money!

We have solar-powered service centers and corporate buildings. Our service centers that use solar power are an average of 80% more energy efficient than a service center that uses traditional power.

Want to know what that means for our electric bills? Our solar-powered Wauchula branch had a monthly electric bill of only $11.89 in May 2016. A branch that size that uses traditional energy would cost us about $2,800 a month for electricity. Amazing, right?

Many of our energy efficient practices have also helped us save money. Simply changing the light bulbs in our Member Care Center parking garage from incandescent to LED saved us 25% in energy and electricity a month.

Shredding Help Prevent Identity Theft

In our corporate offices and our branches, shredding documents is a must to help protect sensitive information. But we also use this practice to help the environment through our partnership with Secure On-Site Shredding.

All of the documents we shred are recycled and repurposed into new paper products. It’s secure and eco-friendly!

We pass these benefits to our members as well. Suncoast offers Free Member Shred Days at various branches throughout the year. Members can shred confidential information like bills, tax forms, financial data and medical statements for free during these events.

The combined effort from our offices and our members makes a major impact. In a recent year, our branches, offices and Shred Days shredded 531 tons of paper. That is over one million pounds of material that got recycled!

Partnering with Experts Helps Increase the Impact

One of the ways that we’re able to make a positive environmental impact is by partnering with experts in different green initiatives. For example, we work with the Florida Department of Transportation to clean up local roadways through Adopt-A-Highway and Adopt-A-Road.

When we needed carpet, we partnered with Interface to purchase 2,500 square yards of recycled carpet. This purchase led to 27 tons of verified greenhouse gas emissions reduction credits. That is the equivalent of keeping 2,780 gallons of gasoline and 54,464 lbs. of greenhouse gas emissions out of the environment!

Through our partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation, we helped plant 60 million trees across the country. We also partner with the Better Building Challenge from the U.S. Department of Energy to help reduce energy usage.

We also understand that even with reducing our energy consumption, we still use a lot of energy. That’s why we balance our carbon footprint by partnering with validated and registered green to offset our energy usage to remain carbon neutral and use 100% green energy.

If you’re interested in going green to save money and make a difference, there are plenty of experts available to help you. And if you need financing to help fund your green initiatives, we can help!