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Federal Employees Honored For Environmental Stewardship, Environmental Management Systems, and Biobased Products SpotlightedOn June 11, 2002, Federal employees from across the United States gathered in Washington, D.C., to accept White House "Closing the Circle" Awards for their achievements in pollution prevention, recycling, acquisition of green products and use of Environmental Management Systems. Twenty-six programs were honored for outstanding military and civilian facility efforts in the categories of Affirmative Procurement, Education and Outreach, Environmental Management Systems, Environmental Preferability, Model Facility Demonstration, Pollution Prevention and Waste Prevention, and Recycling. This eighth annual ceremony was held in the White House Eisenhower Executive Office Building. James L. Connaughton, Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, applauded the efforts of the award winners. "President Bush has called on the federal government to lead by example, to be a good neighbor, and to be a good steward. This year's Closing the Circle Award winners all have done a great job in answering his call by reducing the generation of waste, increasing the purchase of green products and services, and establishing effective environmental management systems." John L. Howard, Jr., the Federal Environmental Executive, added: "These winning efforts serve as models for other federal agencies and employees - and for states, local communities, businesses, and individuals." Because of the growing importance of biobased products as having many environmentally preferable attributes, U.S. Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary James R. Moseley announced that next year's Closing the Circle Awards will feature a new category to promote greater use of biobased products. The Federal Environmental Executive will work cooperatively with the USDA and others to increase Federal acquisition and use of biobased products and implement the new biobased products requirements in the recently enacted Farm Bill (the Agriculture, Conservation, and Rural Enhancement Act of 2002). Biobased products used by Federal agencies include soy-based inks, citrus-based and other biobased cleaning products, absorbents, ethanol, biodiesel, lubricants, compost, and mulch. Biobased products were featured at the reception following the awards ceremony in the Indian Treaty Room. The Council on Environmental Quality, the Federal Environmental Executive, and others throughout the Federal government are promoting greater Federal agency use of environmental management systems (EMSs) to incorporate environmental considerations into agencies' daily operations. Closing the Circle awards were presented for three exemplary EMSs that have helped the agencies better meet their missions: the NAVAIR Depot San Diego (industrial), Ms. Mary Wenzel of the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division (acquisition), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (agricultural applications). Through implementation of its EMS, the NAVAIR station alone reduced its air toxics emissions by 23 percent, containerized hazardous waste by 34 percent, ozone depleting substances by 56 percent, electricity consumption by 7 percent, and water consumption by 33 percent - and saved $800,000 in cost avoidance with hazardous material and waste and earned more than $100,000 from recycling. Ms. Wenzel developed and implemented the T-AKE Class ship program office EMS and ISO 14001 certification. This EMS ensures that environmental safety and health concerns are identified early in the ship design process and throughout the life cycle of the ship class. This ship class will produce approximately 70 percent less waste than the existing ships during at-sea operation - a reduction of 5.74 million metric tons per year, while decreasing annual shore disposal cost by more than $5 million. The Beltsville Agricultural Research Center is not just a traditional research facility concerned with addressing the consequences and by-products of research, but is also conducting broader research to solve environmental agricultural problems and incorporating the results into facility operations The center has increased its use of biobased products such as a hand cleaner and citrus-based degreasers, carpet made with a soy-based backing, and biodiesel fuel for fleet vehicles, backup generators and heating oil. The reuse of recycled water from the wastewater treatment plant has saved $20,000 per year with a return on investment for the cost of the recycling system in two years. The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) received the coveted Executive Order 13101 Agency Program award, given for just the second time, for its overall waste prevention, recycling, and affirmative procurement work. Among its many accomplishments, DOI has:
The following are the 2002 Closing the Circle Award Winners by category: Affirmative Procurement - Military
Naval Air Engineering Station, Environmental Department "Affirmative Procurement Program at Naval Air Station, Lakehurst" Department of Defense, U.S. Navy Affirmative Procurement - Civilian Sandia National Laboratories, Green Purchasing Team "Sandia National Laboratories' Dedicated Contracts" Department of Energy Mr. Robert Woodside Northeast and Caribbean Region "Acquisition of Recycled Copy Paper" General Services Administration Education and Outreach - Military Fort Campbell, Environmental Division "Fort Campbell Education and Outreach, Where Knowledge Generates Action" Department of Defense, U.S. Army Education and Outreach - Civilian<br> Hanford Site P2 Program, Hanford Site Outreach & P2/WMin Team "Hanford Site Pollution Prevention Outreach and Education Program" Department of Energy Environmental Management Systems - Military Ms. Mary L. Wenzel Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division "Developing and Implementing an Innovative Cradle to Grave ISO 14001 Certified EMS for a Navy Ship Acquisition Program" Department of Defense, U.S. Navy NAVAIR Depot North Island, Environmental Improvement Team "Focusing on Continuous Environmental Improvement at the NAVAIR Depot, North Island" Department of Defense, U.S. Navy Environmental Management Systems - Civilian U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center "Environmental Management System at Beltsville Agricultural Research Center" Department of Agriculture Environmental Preferability - Military Hanscom Air Force Base, 66 Civil Engineering Environmental Flight "Environmental Preferability Initiatives at Hanscom AFB" Department of Defense, U.S. Air Force Environmental Preferability - Civilian Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Green Products Custodial Products Team "Greening our Custodial Products" Department of Energy Model Facility Demonstration - Military Fort Campbell, Public Works Environmental Division Pollution Prevention Branch "The PPOC, the Future of Environmental Management" Department of Defense, U.S. Army SIMA Mayport, Environmental Division "SIMA Mayport A Model Facility Demonstration" Department of Defense, U.S. Navy Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Newport Model Facility Demonstration Team "Going Beyond Compliance" Department of Defense, U.S. Navy Model Facility Demonstration - Civilian U.S. Coast Guard, Integrated Support Command Kodiak "Model Facility Environmental Program at Integrated Support Command Kodiak, AK" Department of the Interior, U.S. Coast Guard National Park Service, Employees of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore "A Decade of Environmental Leadership" Department of the Interior Environmental Protection Agency, New England Regional Laboratory "EPA New England Regional Laboratory: A Project in Integrated Sustainable Design" Environmental Protection Agency General Services Administration, New England Region "EPA New England Regional Laboratory: A Project in Integrated Sustainable Design" General Services Administration Recycling - Military NAS Whidbey Island, Navy Whidbey Recycle "Recycling and Composting is Our Way of Life" Department of Defense, U.S. Navy Mr. William R. Meinerding 88th Air Base Wing/Environmental Management Office "Outstanding Leadership of Wright Patterson AFB's Solid Waste and Recycling Program" Department of Defense, U.S. Air Force Recycling - Civilian Ms. Leanne Bryan Bureau of Reclamation Central California Area Office "New Melones Lake Recycling Programs" Department of the Interior Los Alamos National Laboratory, Actinide Process Chemistry Group (NMT 2) "Closing the Circle on One Problematic Nitrate Waste Stream at LANL" Department of Energy Waste Prevention - Military Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility Environmental Division "Our Future...Progress Without Pollution" Department of Defense, U.S. Navy Ms. Kathleen Stiles Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island "Successful Pollution Prevention at Parris Island" Department of Defense, U.S. Marine Corps Waste Prevention - Civilian U.S. Postal Service, Alabama District "Waste/Pollution Prevention Throughout the Alabama District" United States Postal Service U.S. Coast Guard, USCG Support Center Elizabeth City "Waste Prevention at USCG Support Center Elizabeth City" Department of Transportation, U.S. Coast Guard Agency Award - Civilian Department of the Interior "2002 Executive Order 13101 Agency Award" Department of the Interior ### Click here to return to Archives |
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