Under a new Corporate Sustainability Challenge, Stamford building owners are being asked to benchmark their “green” practices ”“ and organizers hope to extend the challenge to other municipalities.
The initiative was developed by Sustainable Stamford and the Southern Connecticut chapter of the Building Owners and Managers Association International (BOMA).
Stamford pilot program participants include New York City-based Malkin Properties L.L.C., which owns the First Stamford Place and Metro Center office buildings; the Ashforth Co., which owns multiple locations on Summer Street; and Greenwich Hospital, which has a location in Stamford on West Main Street.
Upon completion of the program, those participants will be eligible to receive a year”™s worth of free, single-stream recycling from the city of Stamford, freeing them from having to separate various papers and plastics into separate bins.
Participants will also be recognized in the fall at BOMA”™s annual awards ceremony for achievements in the land development and building management industries.
In early 2011, the challenge will be open to all building owners throughout southern Connecticut, and Sustainable Stamford will open it to all Stamford building owners.
The aim is to produce facility environmental policies that have a real impact in reducing waste and improving communities, according to Keith Crosby, chairman of the Southern Connecticut BOMA sustainability committee.
“There”™s so much ”˜green-washing”™ out there,” Crosby said. “We decided we would take a challenge and issue it out to the mayors and municipalities, then get them to issue it to (building owners).”
Each property owner plans to benchmark their energy and water consumption for one year, and adopt a series of sustainability policies targeting:
- waste reduction;
- sustainable purchasing;
- low-mercury light bulbs;
- pest management;
- storm water quality;
- smoking;
- the use of green cleansers and cleaning practices; and
- carpooling and telecommuting.
The list also includes so-called light pollution at night, which environmentalists say in addition to wasting energy cuts into the quality of life by creating glares and eliminating starry vistas.
Companies can significantly cut down on their light pollution by shading outdoor lights to illuminate only areas where light is actually needed such as along walkways, according to Kristine D”™Elisa, a principal with Greenwich-based R.S. Granoff Architects P.C. and volunteer director of the Corporate Sustainability Challenge for Sustainable Stamford. Another underutilized strategy is to schedule cleaning crews for daylight shifts, she added, allowing lights to be extinguished at night.
“Light pollution may not matter to Wilton, but it really matters to Stamford,” D”™Elisa said.
Separately, Stamford scheduled its recurring electronics recycling day for Saturday, May 15, which is open only to town residents and not commercial businesses.
