Congratulations to the Campus Services Division, the most recent Notre Dame division to earn Green Office Certification.
“Green Office Certification for the Campus Services Division presented some interesting challenges and great opportunities,” said Sarah Misener, director of the Division. “Employees of the various diverse departments of this division teamed together to achieve the points necessary to achieve either a two- or three-leaf award for their area. As a result, they are more aware of ways to practice ‘green’ habits at work and at home, and are taking pride in the fact that they are contributing to the achievement of Notre Dame’s sustainability goals.”
Notre Dame’s Campus Services Division is responsible for many integral services. Its offices include: Custodial and Landscape Services, the Work Control Center, Central Receiving, General Services, Mail Distribution, Recycling, Surplus, Transportation, Warehouse, Continuous Improvement, Land O’Lakes, and Sustainability. The variety of tasks undertaken by the Campus Services Division could have made Certification particularly challenging but teamwork and Division-wide collaboration overcame any potential obstacles.
Green Office Certification is designed to recognize Notre Dame offices and departments that enact sustainable changes in pursuit of the University’s 2030 goals of reducing carbon emissions by 50% per square foot and increasing waste diversion to 67%. The process covers five categories: education, energy, waste, transportation, and purchasing. Offices earn points for actions such as participation in the Green Ambassadors program and completion of an energy audit.
For each area, there are three levels of certification: Leaf One, Leaf Two, and Leaf Three. Leaf One indicates that 40% of the possible points were earned, while Leaf Two represents 75% of the possible points and Leaf Three represents 95% of the possible points. In their first certification attempts, two Campus Services departments achieved the highest level of certifiation, three leafs, Land O’Lakes and the Office of Sustainability. Offices are encouraged to continually improve and have the opportunity to re-certify in future years.