Davey Tree Flipbooks

Chemical Use Protecting Bee Populations Pesticide use is of significant concern to many companies, NGOs and investors. Neonicotinoids, in particular, may negatively impact pollinator health and the overall environment. Several studies have linked neonicotinoids to declines in bee populations, including honey bees. Davey Tree shares our clients' and the public's concerns regarding the threatened bee population, and we strive to reduce our impact. To protect these important insects, the Davey Institute has conducted research to contribute to non-traditional pest control. The Davey Institute also added a non-traditional pest control section, which outlines our approved chemical list and policies, to our Plant Health Care booklet. Davey Tree educates clients on performance expectations and use of additional cultural controls when using any non-traditional pest control products. We also developed Nature Clock (patent pending), which pinpoints timing of pest vulnerability to determine the most effective time to apply pesticides. HIGHLIGHT STORY 19 We establish action plans to ensure compliance with federal, state and local regulations. Our district managers and our safety department collaborate to discuss policy implementation, promotional literature on our environmental programs and training for our employees and clients. Further, our "Train the Trainer" program includes 600 Davey Tree instructors, each of whom is charged with teaching field employees about our environmental policies. To build in further accountability, our environmental program office regularly produces environmental audit reports to executive management regarding Davey Tree's waste, water use and chemical use. The environmental programs office annually reviews our policies to ensure they align with technological advances, environmental regulations and new management systems. Due to the nature of our services, our fleet accounts for a large portion of our environmental footprint. For this reason, we report environmental metrics on both a fleet and facility level for our North American footprint. A subset of our total footprint serves as a proxy for our facility footprint. We report this dataset in terms of small, medium and large facilities. We hope to collect data from additional facilities in future years. CHEMICAL USE Chemical use and pesticides are among our most significant environmental issues. We continually evaluate their safety and thoughtfully choose the products we use. Our clients are also concerned with this topic and we regularly respond to their questions about safe pesticides, chemical use and the reduction of chemical pesticides. Our efforts include: Research of pesticide management practices, materials and alternatives to traditional pesticides Operational policies and procedures to ensure the safe storage, handling, transportation, application and disposal of all pesticides, including the use of closed loading systems and the use of returnable, recyclable or refillable containers when possible Educational information regarding Davey Tree pesticide programs and procedures for employees, clients and the public

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