by Brianna Crandall — May 26, 2014—On May 22, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized more than 400 federal facilities, from national parks to government office buildings to research laboratories, for their efforts to reduce the environmental impacts of facilities across the country.
As part of the Federal Green Challenge (FGC), more than 400 federal facilities representing nearly 1.6 million federal employees are leading by example by taking steps to reduce the federal government’s environmental impact in 2013, resulting in an estimated cost savings of more than $42 million to U.S. taxpayers, says EPA.
The environmental impacts of these actions are significant; by increasing recycling and composting alone in 2013, the participating facilities had the equivalent impact of taking 196,000 cars off the road for one year. In addition, fuel and natural gas reduction efforts at these facilities had the equivalent impact of taking 21,000 cars of the road for one year, notes EPA.
A national effort under EPA’s Sustainable Materials Management Program, the FGC allows federal offices or facilities to pledge participation in reducing the federal government’s environmental impact and recognizes outstanding efforts that go beyond regulatory compliance and strive for annual improvements in selected target areas (Waste, Electronics, Purchasing, Water, Energy and/or Transportation).
Within these areas, additional accomplishments by participants included: diverting more than 500,000 tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) and construction and demolition (C&D) waste from landfills and reducing fleet distance traveled by 16.5 million miles. Agencies report their improvements to EPA, demonstrating the financial and environmental benefits of their actions.
For the second year in a row, EPA is recognizing facilities for improvements made within one year.
The 2014 National Awardees are:
Overall achievement – highest overall level of performance
- The National Benefits Center, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Lee’s Summit, Mo.
Improvement by target area – highest increased percentage over previous year
- Waste: Naval Base Coronado, U.S. Navy, Department of Defense (DOD), San Diego, CA
- Electronics: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Department of Energy (DOE), Oak Ridge, TN
- Purchasing: Brookhaven National Laboratory, Office of Science, Department of Energy (DOE), Upton, NY
- Energy: Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, U.S. Marine Corps, Department of Defense (DOD), San Diego, CA
- Water: Nez Perce National Historical Park, National Park Service, Department of the Interior (DOI), Spalding, ID
- Transportation: Bonneville Power Administration, Department of Energy (DOE), Portland, OR
Data collected from the challenge shows that FGC participants sent 1,765 tons of end-of-life electronics to third-party certified recyclers, minimizing environmental impacts—including water and energy use, releases to air and water, greenhouse gas emissions, and land-use impacts by making decisions informed by the full life-cycle perspective.
For a complete list of this year’s awardees and more about the program, visit the 2014 Federal Green Challenge Award Winners Web site.
