Burlington City Hall to reduce its waste!

admin — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:56:36 +0000

On September 17, 2009 city staff, with the help of Chittenden Solid Waste District (CSWD), sorted through one day’s worth of City Hall’s trash and recyclable materials. The goal of this exercise was to discover if city employees properly sort recyclables and trash, and if enough compost is generated weekly to justify beginning a composting program in city facilities. As employees started sorting through trash cans, it quickly became evident that a large portion of what they found was not “TRUE TRASH” and should have been recycled or composted. In fact, in terms of volume, the results of this exercise showed that 1/3 of the materials found in the trash bags were recyclables (33 gallons), another 1/3 could have been composted (32 gallons) and only 1/3 was true trash (32 gallons).

A month-long pilot project has been developed to help educate city staff, reduce the amount of trash generated and hopefully save the city money. This pilot project started with an education session with CSWD to ensure that employees are knowledgeable with regards to recyclables and compostable materials. Next week, trash cans will be removed from individual offices and only a very few trash cans will be located in general and public areas along with compost bins. The hope is that if employees have get up and walk a few feet to dispose of something, they will them be force to make a conscious decision about where to sort their disposables.

Once this pilot complete, staff will report back to the Burlington Sustainability Action Team (BSAT) with the results. If successful, this program could be implemented in all city departments/facilities. The BSAT will be in charge of developing a department-wide approach to waste reduction.

Burlington making headways with the implementation of its Environmental Purchasing Policy (EPP)

admin — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:54:53 +0000

September 2009 – This summer, Burlington Mayor Bob Kiss endorsed the City’s new Environmentally Preferred Purchasing (EPP) policy to help save the City money while helping the environment. EPP or “green purchasing” is buying products or services that have a lesser or reduced affect on human health and the environment when compared with competing products or services the serve the same purpose. Drafted over many months by the Mayor’s Burlington Sustainability Action Team (or green team), this policy reflects the city’s commitment to human and environmental health, and wise and effective use of city funds for all its operations.

In mid-June, 23 City purchasers from 12 departments gathered to review the policy and begin implementation. Assisting them was Dr. Kevin Lyons, a nationally recognized EPP specialist and Director of Purchasing at Rutgers University, along with Jessica Frank, the city’s CFO Executive Secretary. Since that initial training, several departments have been working together to purchase office supplies through Jessica Frank every two weeks, reducing significantly the truck travel by our supplier as well as elimination of packaging waste.

And while the policy expresses the city’s commitment to “green” purchasing, green purchasing isn’t new to Burlington. Last year Fire station #2 transitioned to Green Seal Certified cleaning products including glass, carpet and tile cleaners and to washroom towels and toilet tissue made with 100% recycled fiber. “Although initially doubtful” says Captain Tom Costello, “we’re satisfied with these new products and are happy to have made the switch. We hope others will follow suit and consider buying ‘green’ whenever possible.” The Parks and Recreation Department has been using these and other “green” products for several years.

Burlington Environmental Preferable Purchasing (EPP) Policy

Burlington Climate Action Plan

Burlington City Hall to reduce its waste!

Burlington making headways with the implementation of its Environmental Purchasing Policy (EPP)