SUSTAINABILITY BEST PRACTICES

We are pleased to highlight these case studies of organizations in our region that have adopted sustainable strategies. Please send us your best practice examples and/or innovative ideas that illustrate how we find solutions that are good for people, profits, and the planet and we'll post the best ones here.

State Government

State of Massachusetts Environmentally-Preferable Purchasing Program
Massachusetts has one of the leading programs in the country to orient government purchases of products and services towards environmentally-preferable products. From 1992 to 2004, government purchases of recycled products went from about $5 million to over $100 million annually. Learn more from the presentation Marcia Deegler, Environmental Purchasing Program Manager, gave at SSNE’s Sustainability 101 for Government workshop in April 2006:  link to pdf

State of Massachusetts State Sustainability Program
With occasional help from SSNE, Massachusetts has an active program where state agencies and colleges are implementing Sustainability Action Plans to commit to and adopt tangible actions to reduce pollution, save energy, and more. Learn more at: http://www.mass.gov/envir/Sustainable/default.htm

Maine Step Up Program
Maine's Department of Environmental Protection has adopted an innovative program to encourage companies in the state to pursue sustainable strategies. Learn more at:
http://www.maine.gov/dep/oc/stepup/

Local Government Initiatives

City of Springfield, MA

Springfield pursued an aggressive sustainability strategy on many fronts including brownfields redevelopment, environmental justice, surface waters, street trees, and green building. But what happens where there are major changes in the political and economic context? How can a sustainability initiative can survive and evolve? Learn more from the presentation Katie Stebbins, Dpty. Director of Springfield Economic Development Dept. gave at SSNE’s Sustainability 101 for Government workshop in April 2006:  link to pdf

Town of Arlington, MA
"Sustainable Arlington" has helped the town of Arlington become the first in Massachusetts to pass a local ordinance mandating new and substantial renovations of town-owned buildings have a goal of LEED silver certification (a national standard for "green buildings"). Learn more at: http://www.massclimateaction.org/arlington.htm

Small Businesses

The People's Pint: A Brewery and Restaurant in Greenfield, MA
The co-owner's of The People's Pint, a brewery and restaurant in Greenfield, MA have long been committed to acting in a sustainable manner. Along with their beer and freshly made sodas, they serve mainly seasonal, organic local produce (with their own root cellar to store local vegetables long into the winter), compost all kitchen, brewery, and food waste, and recycle nearly all trash. Its compost is returned to the farms and gardens of its 50 (plus) local suppliers, and eventually returns to the restaurant as food. The brewery truck runs on biodiesel.

The restaurant is so frugal with resources it has yet to fill one barrel of trash in a busy night. In addition, The People's Pint was able to pay off it's initial debt 3 years ahead of schedule, has one of highest employee retention rates in the industry, spends no money on marketing or advertising, pays it's lowest paid staff well above living wages, and is very active in helping address the core issues of its community.

Advanced Marine Technologies: A Manufacturer of Fertilizer, New Bedford, MA
This company has created a patented process to take waste from seafood processing plants and transform it into an organic, environmentally friendly products. Learn more at: http://www.organicgem.org/0000/about.php

Large Businesses

Guilford of Maine - Interface Fabrics Group
Guilford of Maine has two factories in Guilford, ME and East Douglas, MA. Their company has been pursuing a sustainability strategy to reduce pollution, decrease energy use, increase recycling and more.
Learn more at: http://www.interfacesustainability.com/

Pratt & Whitney - Greening Airplane Design and Manufacturing
Pratt & Whitney, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation in Connecticut, has focused on integrating green design into the life cycle of its engine from design through end of life. Learn more at: http://www.pratt-whitney.com/about_ehs.asp

Fleet Bank/Bank of America
Fleet Bank has been a regional leader in adopting sustainable practices, brownfield redevelopment programs, in risk assessment and in other programs. Bank of America has been active in forest practices, climate change and more. Learn more at: http://www.bankofamerica.com/environment/

Not-for-Profits/Social Ventures

The Intervale in Burlington, VT
The Intervale is 'a network of farms, programs and ventures that are restoring agricultural land, providing jobs, healthy food, and clean energy to our community'. Learn more at:
http://www.intervale.org/Overview.htm#ventures

Artists for Humanity in Boston, MA
Artists for Humanity offers youth hand-on opportunities to explore the arts and learn skills of professional artists, all in their new LEED-certified high-performance building. Learn more at: http://www.afhboston.com/Information/index.html

ReStore: Home Improvement Center, Springfield, MA
This not-for-profit accepts donations of building materials and sells them to low and moderate income residents at a discount, while helping revitalize the community in an area dominated by heavy trucking and industrial use. Learn more at: http://www.restoreonline.org/index.htm