VALDOSTA, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Veolia ES Solid Waste today announced that it has been awarded LEED certification (Certified level) by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for a new building at its Veolia Evergreen Landfill, Inc. in Valdosta, Ga. The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating SystemTM is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings. This is the first LEED certified building constructed in Valdosta, Ga.
“As part of our commitment to developing sustainable, environmentally-friendly solutions for the City of Valdosta and Lowndes County, we intentionally pursued LEED certification standards in the development of our new building,” said AJ Rodgers, area manager for Veolia ES Solid Waste Southeast, Inc. “As a result, we expect to see lower operating costs, increased efficiencies and a healthier work environment for our employees.”
The Veolia building was designed to achieve LEED certification for energy use, lighting, water and material use, and also incorporated a variety of other sustainable strategies. Certification was based on a number of green design and construction features, including:
- Being 28% more energy efficient than a similar non-LEED design building.
- Operating with 35% more water efficiency than a similar non-LEED design building.
- Diverting 75% of all waste and construction scrap generated by construction to a recycling facility for re-manufacturing or re-use.
- Using 10% of building material that contains post and pre-consumer recycled content.
- Utilizing 44% of all building materials that were extracted and manufactured locally.
“Buildings are a prime example of how human systems integrate with natural systems,” said Denise Grabowkski, chair of U.S. Green Building Council’s Georgia Chapter. “The Veolia project efficiently uses our natural resources and makes an immediate, positive impact on our planet, which will tremendously benefit future generations to come.”
Veolia’s new building will be used as a scale house for weighing all waste streams entering the Evergreen Landfill, and as an on-site administrative office.
LEED certification is an important element of Veolia’s own sustainability strategy. The company recently celebrated the LEED certification of its North American headquarters office in downtown Chicago’s Aon Building. That project was awarded Gold Level LEED certification in June 2010.
About the U.S. Green Building Council
The U.S. Green Building Council is a nonprofit membership organization whose vision is a sustainable built environment within a generation. Its membership includes corporations, builders, universities, government agencies, and other nonprofit organizations. Since UGSBC’s founding in 1993, the Council has grown to more than 17,000 member companies and organizations, a comprehensive family of LEED® green building rating systems, an expansive educational offering, the industry’s popular Greenbuild International Conference and Expo (www.greenbuildexpo.org), and a network of 78 local chapters, affiliates, and organizing groups. For more information, visit www.usgbc.org.
About LEED®
The LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System™ is a feature-oriented rating system that awards buildings points for satisfying specified green building criteria. The six major environmental categories of review include: Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality and Innovation and Design. Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum levels of LEED green building certification are awarded based on the total number of points earned within each LEED category. LEED can be applied to all building types including new construction, commercial interiors, core & shell developments, existing buildings, homes, neighborhood developments, schools and retail facilities.
Incentives for LEED are available at the state and local level and LEED has also been adopted nationwide by federal agencies, state and local governments, and interested private companies. For more information, visit www.usgbc.org/LEED.
About Veolia ES Solid Waste, Inc.
Veolia ES Solid Waste, Inc., part of Veolia Environmental Services North America Corp., is one of the largest solid waste companies in North America, providing a full range of services to commercial, industrial and residential customers in 12 states, the Bahamas, and Canada. Veolia ES Solid Waste, Inc. operates 72 collection facilities and 29 solid waste sanitary landfill facilities in North America. By working in partnership with communities, the company aims to preserve valuable resources and extend landfill capacity by focusing on waste reduction, curbside collection, sorting and the processing and marketing of recyclables.
Veolia Environmental Services North America Corp.
Based in Chicago, Veolia Environmental Services North America Corp. is the leading provider of fully integrated waste, environmental and industrial cleaning solutions to residential, municipal, commercial and industrial customers across the US, Canada and the Caribbean. The company is part of the Veolia Environnement companies in North America, with 30,000 North American employees providing sustainable environmental solutions in water management, waste services, energy management, and passenger transportation.
The Veolia Environmental Services group is one of the largest waste services companies in the world and the only global manager of liquid, solid, non-hazardous and hazardous waste; on-site waste processing; industrial cleaning and process maintenance; and recycling, recovery and disposal for both the public and private sectors. Its parent company, Veolia Environnement (NYSE: VE and Paris Euronext: VIE), is the worldwide reference in environmental services. With more than 315,000 employees in 74 countries, Veolia Environnement recorded annual revenues of over $46 billion in 2010. Visit the company's Web sites at www.veolia.com and www.VeoliaES.com.