There is a lot more than moss and evergreens growing in the rainy Pacific Northwest this year. PB’s Portland office is cultivating its own Green Office Practices Program, which incorporates a slow, rolling start then builds momentum and progresses at a rate that gives everyone the time they need to adapt to new routines. In the program’s first month, the office staff voluntarily reduced paper usage by 3 percent compared to the same period last year despite a 14 percent increase in billable base. Our efforts to make the Portland office a more sustainable workplace have helped it to be selected as one of the first PB offices in North America (after company headquarters in New York) to become ISO 14001 certified .

How It All Started

In October 2003 we were pursuing a major design/build contract for a regional transit corridor. One of the major themes in the proposal was sustainable development for the light rail construction and transit-oriented development. During the pursuit meeting, most of us were drinking coffee in disposable paper cups. Lunch was served in individual cardboard boxes and beverages were in plastic bottles and aluminum cans. There was no recycling container in the room for the plastic and aluminum, so all of these containers ended up piled on the floor or in the trash. The irony of discussing sustainability and being surrounded by so much waste was not missed, and we decided that we had to behave more responsibly if we were to have any credibility regarding sustainability.

We sought help from the Business Assistance Program sponsored by Metro (a regional government agency responsible for protecting open space and parks, planning for land use and transportation, and managing garbage disposal and recycling for 1.3 million residents in the Portland, Oregon, region) and the City of Portland Office of Sustainability. A program specialist visited our office, conducted a free on-site evaluation to determine the major sources of waste and how waste could be reduced, reused or recycled, and encouraged us to set our own priorities and pace. A week later we received a report listing our current practices and others we could adopt when appropriate.

The First Steps

We kicked off the new year with an officewide initiative aimed at becoming more responsible and raising the profile of our office in the community as a business that practices sustainability. Our first goal was to reduce paper waste and usage. The results achieved during the first month (mentioned above) were due to two particular actions:

• Distributing free desk-side recycling containers to the entire staff, including the satellite office in Salem, Oregon. The cardboard recycling containers were free from the Business Assistance Program.
• Encouraging voluntary double-sided copying and printing (instructions were provided and humorous signs were posted near copiers and printers as reminders).

Inspired by the results, we have formed a Green Office Team—a group of employees who manage green practices throughout the office—and have implemented the following other green office practices:

• Catering for lunches and meetings is now from a list of sustainable catering companies that use local organic products and deliver food on reusable platters and bowls.
• Delivery boxes and packaging materials are reused.
• All plotters are programmed to configure plots in a way that reduces paper waste created from trimming excess margins.

The following additional green office practices are soon to be implemented:

• Copy machines will be set to automatic double sided printing on August 1.
• Certain frequently used copy machines will use recycled content paper.
• Paper cup usage will be phased out and only ceramic or glass cups will be used for coffee and beverages.
• A junk mail reduction program will be implemented.

Seeking ISO 14001 Certification

Our office was selected for ISO 14001 certification for a variety of reasons, including the facts that:

• Awareness of sustainability and green building is high in the Pacific Northwest
• Our office exhibited leadership and motivation towards being more sustainable.

About a month after we were selected, Ray Crawford, EMS Coordinator for the company, came to our office and gave a presentation to introduce us to ISO14001, explain why sustainability has become a major focus for PB, and tell us about the certification requirements. He has subsequently answered questions we have had as we get into the certification process, and he recommended that we form a committee to manage the certification process, develop solutions to the sustainable challenges of local office operations, and set the pace of implementation¹.

The Portland office Sustainability/ISO 14001 program is led by the Area Manager and the Area Sustainability Manager with assistance from the PB ISO coordinator. The ISO 14001 Team, a combination of the Green Office Team and the Green Management Team, is charged with the task of developing and implementing the ISO 14001 program.

Critical Steps The initial decision by our area manager to investigate how the Portland office could be more sustainable made it apparent to the entire office staff that sustainability was an important issue. This message and the continuing support from senior management has inspired all of us to become more responsible with our business practices.

PB will have one ISO 14001 certification for its U.S. offices², which has been given to company headquarters in New York (referred to hereinafter as NYO), and additional sites will be added on an office-by-office basis. As part of its certification process, the NYO prepared an Environmental Management System (EMS) Manual, in which it established its sustainable office practices (internal programs) and procedures for its projects (external programs), and goals and objectives for both programs.

Each other office seeking certification has the flexibility to develop its own targets and objectives for its internal and external programs, both of which should focus on continually moving the area office toward a more sustainable business model. Based on the NYO targets and objectives, they will be monitored locally and reported annually to PB’s EMS coordinator for inclusion in the company’s overall achievements for the year.

Once an office has established a sustainability program and has its documentation prepared, an ISO 14001 auditor will perform a pre-assessment audit that is designed to identify weaknesses so they can be rectified before the actual registration audit takes place. Normally that part of the process takes about two months. Finally, the certification audit is conducted with the goal of recommendation for certification.

The Portland Approach

The Portland office has formulated a broad-based ISO 14001 implementation strategy. Our ISO 14001 Certification team (ISO Team) is led by Robin McKnight, our area manager, and comprises the Area EMS Manager; the Green Management Team, which includes discipline leaders in the office; and the previously formed Green Office Team (Figure 1). Working together, the Green Office Team will lead the implementation of green office practices (internal program) and the Green Management Team will lead the implementation of services we provide to our clients (external program) that will be more sustainable.

On May 10 we got started by reviewing the company’s EMS documents. The ISO Team has been assigned the tasks of evaluating how the current green office program will fit into our office EMS program, how the services provided by our office can be more sustainable, and how this information gets communicated to prospective clients.

Steps to Having a More Sustainable Office

• The area manager and the management team have to consider sustainability to be an important issue, communicate that to the staff, and back it up with a plan for action.
• An office champion for sustainability will be needed to motivate the office. Passion is an important quality to look for.
• Development of a Green Office Team should be considered. The office champion can lead meetings of the Green Office Team and start developing ideas of how to make the office more sustainable.
• An initial program of office recycling, waste reduction, reducing paper cup usage, using sustainable catering, and purchasing recycled content paper is a good place to start. It is also important to go after “the low-hanging fruit,” meaning pursuing green office practices that can be accomplished quickly and easily. Initial victories are important to build the foundation for a broader sustained effort.

Communication is a key to success. Kick-off the program at an all-staff meeting and provide follow-up at each staff meeting thereafter. The continuity of the follow-up is important to maintaining sustainability in the office and motivating staff members to think in a more sustainable way.