NRPA’s collective efforts during the past year were recognized at the annual Loudoun Dulles Green Business Challenge awards gala held October 29. The fifth-annual challenge saw 77 businesses from Loudoun County and the Dulles area of northern Virginia participate, with 29 companies achieving the Platinum level. Of these, NRPA was selected as the winner of the Commercial Business Category over three other finalists.
The Green Business Challenge is a friendly points-based competition and certification process that challenges and encourages businesses to implement more efficient and sustainable practices. Participation also demonstrates leadership, an eye toward improving the bottom line, creating a healthier work environment for employees and minimizing the environmental impact organizations have on their communities.
This was the second year for NRPA’s participation, with the association achieving Gold in 2013, and the staff really put in the extra effort to make the cut for the top level. A dedicated Green Team led the charge, which resulted very favorably once all of the improvements were added up.
The Challenge focuses on five specific categories: Education and Outreach, Energy, Water, Waste and Transportation. Here are some highlights.
Energy: NRPA’s facilities team upgraded the HVAC control system, added LED lighting, optimized building operating parameters, confirmed the proper electrical schedule with the utility company and added timers to building exhaust fans.
Education and Outreach: The entire staff continues to educate communities through our focus on Conservation, Health and Wellness, and Social Equity, and the association also sponsors the NRPA Green School, which graduated our second cohort this past February. We have successfully completed five Parks Build Community campaigns demonstrating the transformative value of parks and recreation on the health and vitality of communities across America. We also conducted in-house Lunch and Learns and had speakers come in and talk with staff about various sustainable practices we could implement both at work and home. Our favorite activity was our Earth Week program, which included a carpooling day, two waste-free lunches and seminars, planting more than 25 trees on our site and helping a local nature preserve with annual clean-up and maintenance.
Water: NRPA implemented a green cleaning program by ceasing the use of all bleach-based products and installing a chemical dispensing system to accurately mix chemicals and reduce the amount of water used. We installed automatic flush heads in our accessible bathroom stalls and conducted another water audit to identify opportunities for conservation and ensure proper maintenance.
Waste: NRPA staff volunteered to give up our office trash cans to encourage more focus on recycling office waste. This encouraged staff to get up and move to several central waste containers, reduced the number of trash bags used and cut back on labor to empty the waste as well. We conducted a waste-stream analysis and met with the Loudoun County Office of General Services to review local regulations and ordinances to ensure we were in compliance.
Transportation: We completed the NURIDE transportation survey, hosted a Loudoun County Transportation Department presentation on commuting options, eliminated our company fleet vehicle and hosted monthly staff meetings with a green lunch to reduce by 120 the number of trips staff take for each event.
Additionally, NRPA initiated an app in Charlotte for the 2014 annual conference with great success and did not print our large onsite program. We also implemented electronic membership renewals on the website, stopped using a paper grant application system and automated NRPA store order processing.
The hard work and fun in achieving this goal was well worth the effort, and we are extremely proud of this great achievement. We look forward to continuing our sustainable efforts and competing in the 2015 Green Business Challenge.
Ted Mattingly is NRPA’s Director of Facility Services.