Environmental Care

Careful stewardship of the earth and its resources

Our Guiding Principles

Copesan’s commitment to Environmental Care is the guiding foundation of our business. This means we hold ourselves accountable for minimizing pesticide use and making choices that reduce our ecological footprint. Above all, it means protecting the safety and health of our clients and their communities.

We embrace accountability by taking specific, proactive measures to solve pest issues within the context of our natural ecology, even in the absence of government regulations.
We minimize our overall pesticide load by using solutions which require the least amount of material, generate the least amount of waste and create the smallest impact on the environment.
We reduce our ecological footprint by aggressively exploring and implementing alternatives to pesticide use.

Environmental Care is the philosophy underlying all of Copesan’s service programs. Our goal is to unite effective pest management and ecological accountability in order to protect the safety and health of our clients and their employees, and to help protect the integrity of our clients’ brands. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is the backbone of our approach to Environmental Care and has three components:

Prevention

We are proactive. We work to detect, prevent and eliminate pests at an early stage through inspection, monitoring and preventative measures.

Selective Solutions

We use non-chemical measures such as sanitation, structural modification, physical controls, preventative maintenance and changes in human behavior to manage pests. When it becomes necessary to apply a pest management material, we choose those that will solve the problem with the least possible impact on human health and the environment after all other options are exhausted.

Technical Expertise

We have the largest team of highly trained technical experts in the industry who possess degrees and professional credentials in entomology, biology, sanitation and related fields. Through them we are continually discovering and implementing new and more effective methods and materials.

Our Strategy

On every service, for every client, Copesan emphasizes quality, consistency, collaboration and respect for the environment. We provide Integrated Pest Management (IPM) solutions based on a culture that: is committed to knowledge; has a foundation of innovation and a core value of improving the world today and into the future. As such, our pest management approach to Environmental Care is a five-step process.

Client Collaboration

Pest prevention and environmentally responsible solutions require thoughtful dialogue, a committed partnership and ongoing communication. Our history and experience with our clients demonstrate that the most effective initiatives are those that have been a collaborative effort between our team and our clients’ team. From this collaboration, aggressive, innovative and proactive IPM strategies can take shape.

Advanced Education

Learning occurs when people adjust performance based on new information. As a central component in Copesan’s Environmental Care, education is critical for both our personnel and that of our clients.

At Copesan, we hold ourselves accountable to the best interests of our clients, developing and continually improving our environmentally responsible IPM approach.
Our technical expertise makes Copesan uniquely qualified to bring specialized pest management and pest prevention training to our service team and clients. Our Learning Management System (LMS), e-learning and customized learning opportunities specific to Environmental Care, help further reduce the need for material applications for our clients.

Prevention

Preventative practices and activities create conditions that make it difficult for pests to survive and prosper. In IPM, prevention is the single most effective way of protecting health and safety and preserving our natural ecology. To develop the best prevention program for your facility, our service specialists concentrate first on inspecting your property. We then work with you to customize a program based on sanitation, maintenance, environmental modifications, and incorporating exclusion, trapping or physical removal as needed to control pests without the use of pesticides. While our first response is to provide immediate relief to any pest issue, the core of our preventive approach is centered on using smarter alternatives to pesticide applications, providing permanent solutions rather than chemical-based programs that, in reality, can provide only temporary relief from pests. In fact, Copesan’s Technical Committee (CTC) meets regularly with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and government regulators to discuss trends, issues and environmentally responsible solutions.

Selective Solutions

Materials chosen for use in client facilities are selected for their efficacy and minimal environmental impact. In order to leave as small an environmental footprint as possible, we give preference to naturally occurring materials and processes. Since these materials come from the earth, we are merely using them and not creating anything new to be added to the environment. When equally effective, we choose the material and method which best meets the guidelines for Environmental Care and remains within the framework nature gave us. When pesticide applications are required to address a specific pest issue, we:

choose products and applications that are effective and low risk; low-odor, low-volatility and non-permanent; and naturally ecological
strive to reduce waste by using environmentally-friendly methods which keep materials out of the environment
give preference to materials and application methods that are target specific, minimizing non-target risk
prioritize partnerships with product manufacturers committed to sustainability and the environment
make absolutely no “routine” pesticide applications
target breeding sources to eliminate all insect stages with the least pesticide and reduce the amount of hazard to the environment
use non-threatening materials (such as insect light traps) wherever possible to control insects with the least environmental impact

Sustainable Stewardship

In order to ensure the most effective, most environmentally conscious service at each facility, it is critical that we leverage our technical expertise, the monitoring of program efficacy and the collaboration with our clients to enable innovative strategies. Copesan’s dedication to sustaining our environment and practical operational efficiencies has fueled the continuing enhancements of our data collection, information management and learning management systems. Documenting our services provides an effective method of tracking material usage as well as non-chemical solutions, to ensure that we live up to our environmental commitments in every facility. In addition, our ability to implement specialized exception reporting, issue tracking and pest activity trending can be used to address deficiencies that may contribute to pest activity and drive forward long-term, permanent solutions to pest issues.