College Recognized for Environmental Stewardship, Sustainable Business Practices
The Maryland Green Registry presented the 2016 Leadership Award to the College of Southern Maryland for outstanding contributions to environmentally responsible and sustainable business practices at the annual membership and awards event on June 14 at the World Trade Center in Baltimore.
“CSM recognizes the efforts of our staff to encourage sustainability and help protect the environment,” said CSM President Dr. Brad Gottfried. “We are honored to be recognized for our hard work and leadership.”
Over the past few years, the College of Southern Maryland's Environmental Sustainability Committee set annual environmental performance goals and achieved many projects that led to this recognition.
“Our achievements were a collaborative effort by students, faculty, and staff. With student support, the college installed a filtered water filling station on each campus saving more than 10,000 water bottles from going into the landfill as of this June,” said ESC Chair Tony Jernigan, vice president of Financial and Administrative Services.
The College has also conserved energy by installing a green roof on the Prince Frederick Campus and LED lights on all campuses. Other initiatives resulted in waste reduction from the increased use of electronic forms and applications, imaging software, and the reduced laboratory waste through the use of microscale experiments as well as reduced the amount of chemical procurement though centralized purchasing procedures.
Speaking at the awards event, Maryland Department of the Environment Secretary Ben Grumbles said, “The organizations we are honoring are true leaders in showing the way toward an environmentally sustainable future and a thriving economy in Maryland. The two go hand-in-hand, shown by the $104 million in annual savings for Green Registry members.”
Grumbles also said that through the efforts of the more than 500 Maryland Green Registry members, the state has reduced 539,000 pounds of hazardous waste and 12.1 million pounds of non-hazardous waste from reaching landfills, has recycled 710 million pounds of waste, has composted 9,629,000 pounds of material, has reduced 2.75 million gallons of wastewater, conserved 154 million gallons of water, has saved 474 million kilowatts of electricity and has reduced carbon emissions by the equivalent of 2.76 million metric tons.
The Maryland Green Registry recognizes organizations that have shown a strong commitment to implementing sustainable practices, demonstrating measurable results and continually improving environmental performance.
For more on the CSM Leadership Award, visit http://www.mde.state.md.us/marylandgreen/Documents/College-of-Southern-Maryland.pdf.
For information on the Maryland Green Registry, visit http://mde.maryland.gov/MarylandGreen/Pages/Home.aspx.
For information on CSM's environmental sustainability initiatives, visit http://www.csmd.edu/about/environmental-sustainability/index.html.
Maryland Green Registry Leadership Award winners represent a variety of facility types and sizes, but all have several key factors in common that contribute to their success: an organization-wide commitment to environmental performance; a green team that meets on a regular basis; and annual environmental goals and measurement of results. Past winners can be viewed on the Registry website.