Environmental Sustainability

Sunrise Credit Union is committed to making responsible decisions that will reduce our impact on the environment.

2020 saw the rollout of Docusign by Sunrise Credit Union's Information & Technology Department. DocuSign is an electronic document signing system that reduced the number of paper documents we produced. While it's difficult to quantify the reduction in paper usage, Docusign was used approximately 6,500 times in 2020.

Paperless banking with e-statements continues to reduce the number of printed pages Sunrise Credit Union provided to their members. As of December 2020, approximately 39% of our personal members receive printed statements in the mail monthly, resulting in roughly 26,735 fewer pages printed. Approximately half of Sunrise's business members take advantage of the e-statement option, resulting in about 5,584 fewer pages printed. Overall, the printing of roughly 32,319 pieces of paper has been eliminated through the e-statement option every month.

Sunrise Credit Union is committed to making responsible decisions that will reduce our impact on the environment. In 2020, Sunrise continued its move toward a paperless environment with our ATMs. The new ATMs allow for deposits without the use of envelopes and provide members with the option of printing a receipt for their transaction rather than it printing automatically. The transition to the new ATMs was completed in January of 2021.

Sunrise Credit Union greatly expanded virtual meeting platform usage during 2020, mainly due to the pandemic. Microsoft TEAMS became the program of choice for departmental use, especially for teams with members working at different locations or working remotely. The virtual meetings allowed Sunrise to reduce the carbon emissions footprint through less vehicle usage, and there was a considerable reduction in mileage incurred over the year.

There were lighting upgrades at the Melita and Shoal Lake branches in 2020, transitioning from fluorescent lights to LED lights throughout the branches. LED lights are energy-efficient, have a longer lifespan, are sturdier and are recyclable. Also, LED lights generate almost no warmth and are cool to the touch and can be left on for hours without incident or consequence if touched. LEDs reduce the potential for safety dangers, such as burns and fires. The Shoal Lake branch also installed a new photocell for their outdoor lights to only illuminate from dusk to dawn.

Sunrise Credit Union’s IT Department strives to perform environmentally friendly recycling of electronic products through the Electronic Recycling Association and the City of Brandon's e-Waste recovery program. The department’s initiative includes the recycling of computers, monitors, laptops, servers, printers, keyboards and printer cartridges.

In addition, Sunrise Credit Union continues to promoten and support of environmental initiatives and events in our communities.