News Release: Presidio Trust Awarded Honorable Mention for U.S. EPA Resource Conservation Competition
08/26/2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 26, 2013
MEDIA CONTACT: David Yogi, yogi.david@epa.gov, (415) 972-3350
SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announces the Presidio Trust as its 2012 WasteWise “Federal Government Partner of the Year” Honorable Mention recipient. The Presidio Trust is recognized for its efforts to reduce and compost food waste, and recycle and reclaim demolition materials for use in new construction projects.
“Presidio Trust’s efforts alone will save the organization over $215,000 and remove the equivalent of 334 households’ annual CO2 emissions from the air,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “EPA is proud to recognize the efforts of the Presidio Trust to ensure their operation’s environmental impact is as small as possible.”
As part of its efforts, the Presidio Trust:
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reused wood from re-foresting and deconstruction projects in the Presidio—part of the federal Golden Gate National Recreation Area—to create park benches and new elements for building renovations;
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reused material onsite (such as gravel, top soil, sand, architectural elements, hardware, lighting, furnishings, etc.) that was collected from construction, renovation and demolition projects.
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diverted 100% of green waste generated from Presidio gardening, landscaping, and forestry projects;
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increased the amount of food waste it diverted from landfills by 47 percent from 2010 to 2011, bringing its total diversion rate to 69 percent;
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reduced its total waste by 24 percent in 2011; and
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recycled a total of 4,447 tons of materials (equivalent to avoiding the annual CO2 output of 1356 automobiles) and made 626 tons of compost in 2012.
The Presidio Trust has been an EPA WasteWise partner since 2000, and has won sustainability awards in 2001 and 2007.
EPA’s WasteWise program was launched in 1994 to help organizations and businesses reduce municipal and industrial wastes. Organizations can join WasteWise as a partner, endorser, or both. Partners demonstrate how they reduce waste, practice environmental stewardship, and incorporate sustainable materials management into their waste-handling processes. Endorsers promote enrollment in WasteWise as part of a comprehensive approach to help their stakeholders realize the economic benefits to reducing waste.
WasteWise is something that I mention at all of my Training Seminars. It is a good tool to use when reducing the waste (including but not necessarily exclusive to hazardous waste) at your facility.
For more information on EPA’s WasteWise program, please visit: http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/