Waste Board Launches State "Green Building"Effort for the Next Century.

SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 28, 1999--

In a move that will change the face of commercial and residential building in the 21st century, the California Integrated Waste Management Board launched an ambitious plan Tuesday that targets the "greening" of state and local government

Yesterday, the Waste Board -- the State's leading recycling and solid waste management agency -- adopted a Sustainable Building Plan and allocated $500,000 in funding to lay the groundwork for increased sustainable or "green" building construction throughout California. Sustainable buildings are designed to be resource efficient, improve indoor air quality, use recycled-content and environmentally sensitive building materials, and preserve the natural environment outside the building.

"California is once again becoming a nationwide trend-setter by taking the lead in ensuring that government facilities operate in an ecological and resource-efficient manner," said Waste Board Chairman Dan Eaton. "By constructing them with recycled-content materials, using energy and water efficiently, and improving the indoor environment, green buildings operate less expensively while protecting worker health and improving employee productivity."

To assist the Board in its efforts, State Senator Debra Bowen (D-Redondo Beach) has also introduced SB 280, which would require new state and local government buildings that are designed and built in 2002 and beyond to exceed the minimum standards for energy efficiency and follow "green" building standards. SB 280 would also require the Waste Board to develop new statewide regulations covering all aspects of sustainable building design and construction.

The $500,000 approved today will allow the Board to:

(1) Create a Sustainable Building Executive Level Committee, comprised of State department, board, and agency chiefs, sustainable building experts and private sector representatives such as utility companies;

(2) Design a grant program to fund building design efforts, as well as workshops and education forums on sustainable building; and

(3) Develop a sustainable building "tool kit," which among other things will include guidelines to assist local governments in communicating their green building goals and requirements to design and construction bidders.

Through the increasing emphasis on sustainable building and design, the Waste Board is working to improve the market for reused and recycled-content building and landscape materials and use resources more efficiently. These efforts will help cities and counties around California meet the mandates of AB 939, which calls a 50 percent cut in the amount of waste landfilled by 2000.

The six-member Integrated Waste Management Board is responsible for protecting the public's health and safety and the environment through management of the estimated 56 million tons of solid waste generated in California each year. The Board's mandate is to work in partnership with local government, industry, and the public to achieve a 50 percent reduction in waste disposed by the year 2000, while ensuring environmentally safe landfill disposal capacity. Currently, California's diversion rate is at an all-time high of 33 percent.

The Waste Board is one of six boards and departments within the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA).

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