Environmental Management Systems
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The EPA's Environmental Science
Center (ESC) recently received their Environmental Management System
Certificate of Registration. ESC is the first civilian Federal
facility to be registered under the ISO14001 international standards
for environmental management systems.
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At the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive, we are working
to help each Federal agency develop and implement an Environmental Management
System (EMS).
An EMS makes sure that that an organization’s environmental
priorities and interests are taken into account in all planning and management
decisions.
This helps agencies to better carry out their mission and
to be better environmental stewards.
Case Study: Beltsville Agricultural Research Center
Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Beltsville, Maryland, is
the largest and most diversified agricultural research center in the
world. It has over 6500 acres of land, hundreds of buildings and more
than 1200 staff.
The Center is currently implementing a comprehensive Environmental Management
System that has real actions and real targets. Some of their achievements
to date have been:
- reducing the energy needs of the facility;
- cutting down on miles traveled
by staff;
- increasing efficiency of the facility by closing smaller buildings
and relocating staff to be closer to each other;
- diverting over 100 gallons
of wastewater to a recycling water tank system - saving $20,000 per
year in water costs;
- using treated wastewater effluent to irrigate trees and
shrubs;
- increasing the use of “green” products by switching
to biobased hand cleaners and wheel greasers, citrus-based degreasers,
and
biodegradable disinfectants and cleaners;
- using recycled tiles and carpet
replacements with soya-based backing for recent renovations.
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The Beltsville Agricultural Research Center now fuels all its vehicles
and much of its equipment with biodiesel, a soy-based substitute
for petroleum-based diesel fuel. |
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