Water Conservation

Responsible water use is critical throughout the U.S., especially in water-stressed areas like our Phoenix location. Discover used 67.2 million gallons of fresh water in 2021, a savings of 25 million gallons year-over-year, with the majority coming from our facilities’ plumbing and landscaping needs in addition to the at-home workforce impact in 2021 vs 2019 baseline. To reduce water use, we use low-flow fixtures such as faucets and flushometers in several locations. We also employ sustainable landscaping techniques, including using native plants that thrive in local climates—such as deserts—and xeriscaping to reduce the need for supplemental irrigation.

Minimizing Waste

In typical years, waste reduction—both from our administrative offices and through business transactions—represents a significant opportunity to reduce our environmental footprint. We follow a reduce, reuse, recycle philosophy to keep our waste output down.

• Our major office locations operate single-stream recycling programs with easily identifiable receptacles.
• We kept 162 tons of recyclable material and 60 tons of organic landscape waste out of landfills in 2021.
• Overall waste output dropped from 1,425 tons in 2019 to 279 tons with fewer employees on site in 2021.

While it is difficult to predict the number of individuals that will return to work on-site post-pandemic, we believe there will be fewer employees in the office compared to pre-pandemic levels and we expect this will lead to a continued proportionate reduction in non-recyclable waste.

Helping Customers Make an Impact

Product benefits and service options keep our environmentally conscious customers in mind.

• Paperless statements give customers less clutter and reduce cost, waste and emissions.
• Credit card customers can even redeem rewards to support Carbondfund.org, who will plant a tree for every dollar donated. In 2021, customers donated $342,000 in rewards to Carbonfund.org for 342,000 new trees.