December 2007 USDA Headquarters Green Team Updates

Greening the Holiday Celebrations: USDA employees found many ways to green their holiday celebrations. Many of the holiday lights in the headquarters complex used energy savings LED bulbs instead of the older incandescent lights.

The Christmas tree in the Yates Building entrance was lit up with LED lights

The Christmas tree in the Yates Building entrance was lit up with LED lights.

The Forest Service hosted a “No Waste” Holiday party. Party-ware was non-petroleum based and compostable. The used plates, plastic glasses, and utensils were collected in recycle barrels for shipment to compost facilities.

Photo1 of Forest Service No Waste Party Photo2 of Forest Service No Waste Party

Photos of Forest Service No Waste Party

The Departmental Administration Brunch also highlighted sustainable practices including the BioPrefered Program and USDA Organic certified breakfast items.

DA’s Shana and Magda pour USDA Organic juice at the brunch Biobased plastic plates and utensils were used.

DA’s Shana and Magda pour USDA Organic juice at the brunch. Biobased plastic plates and utensils were used. The grand prize for the drawing was a basket full of organic treats, energy efficient compact florescent light bulbs, and other items.

The Greening of the Food Service is continuing. The USDA Food Service is a high profile vehicle to highlight sustainable practices and USDA programs and initiatives. On December 5, Departmental Administration staff met with Sodexho to discuss possible initiatives to continue efforts to provide sustainable food service operations. Sodexho provided a presentation of greening food services at some of Sodexho’s other locations. The collection of food trimmings for composting at the Beltsville Research Center is going well. Efforts to collect the used compostable food trays has had mixed results. Many patrons unfortunately prefer throwing the trays away instead sorting them out for composting.

We are currently diverting about 1,000 pounds of food trimmings and compostable food trays a week from the dumpster

We are currently diverting about 1,000 pounds of food trimmings and compostable food trays a week from the dumpster.

Energy Management Updates

The next Green Team Meeting will be on January 24 at 12:30 p.m. in Room S-310. The main subject will be updating the Headquarters Complex’s Energy and Water Management Strategic Plan. With big reductions in appropriations for Building Operations and Maintenance, the implementation of the plan will be an important vehicle to reduce operations cost. Energy is the largest operating cost in the headquarters complex. Due to unexpected deep budget cuts in building operations this year for the headquarters complex, energy management will become critical.

A major element of our strategic plan is the Utility Energy Savings Contract with Washington Gas. Operating cost savings identified in a recent energy audit include installing summer time boilers for food operations, lighting retro-fits, and chiller replacements.

The latest issue of the USDA News includes a nice article about the USDA Unplugged. The article can be viewed at http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?contentidonly=true&contentid=Vol66_No6_Article1.xml

Recycle News:

On December 19, DA staff visited the Recycle World facility in D.C. to learn how we can improve our recycle program at the Headquarters Facility. A photo write up of the site visit can be viewed at http://www.usda.gov/da/HQs_GreenTeam/WorldRecycling.pdf This facility handles many of the recycled materials in the city. Learn what happens to all the paper, cans and bottles that are placed in the recycle bin. A virtual tour of the USDA Headquarters Recycle Center can be found at http://www.usda.gov/da/HQs_GreenTeam/USD_HQsRecycleCenterTour.htm

With all the holiday vacations, the recycle numbers all fell compared to November. 12 ½ tons of white paper, 8 tons of mixed paper, 7 tons of newspaper, 5 tons of cardboard and 2,700 pounds of commingled (bottles and cans) and 3,000 pounds of compostable waste were collected. Overall, we are exceeding the goals of E.O. 13423. In November we had recycle rate of over 40%.

The recently installed solar powered BigBelly trash compactors are doing well. Not only do they reduce our labor cost, but they attract attention to solar energy.

The Park Service joined the Headquarters Green Team in our inspection of one of our BigBelly solar compactors

The Park Service joined the Headquarters Green Team in our inspection of one of our BigBelly solar compactors this morning. OBSI staff joined us to provided feedback on the Big Bellies. After two months the OBSI staff loves them. The BigBellies work great so far and they don’t have to worry about finding dumped car parts or being surprised by rodents feasting in the food waste.