Sustainability
Certifications
SUSTAINABILITY CERTIFICATION FACILITATION AND SUPPORT
Show your work and progress toward sustainability by getting certified. Sustainability certifications and standards help verify a company’s commitment to sustainability. We help clients navigate the many types of sustainability certifications that are available today and then guide and facilitate them through the process to build the components that need to be in place to achieve certification. We guide businesses through B Corp, LEED, Zero Waste, Energy Star certifications, and more.
Becoming a Certified B Corp represents that highest standard of sustainability in the world today. We help clients navigate the process and develop business models to earn points for B Corp Certification.
TRUE Zero Waste is a certification through the U.S. Green Building Council that shows your company's commitment to a clean and healthy planet. It helps companies save money, be more efficient with resources, and contribute to a circular economy.
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a sustainable building certification through the U.S. Green Building Council that represents the most well-known building rating system that symbolizes the sustainability of buildings. There are multiple rating systems within LEED. Our staff and strategic partners are LEED accredited professionals to help facilitate the process.
Carbon disclosure and footprinting are the latest buzzwords, but by tracking your metrics and footprint, you can make a difference and create greater performance monitoring metrics for investors, customers, and marketing purposes. We are trained in the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and provide support in developing your annual report.
The Living Building Challenge, administered through the International Living Future Institute, is the most competitive and hardest building certification to achieve in the world. Today, there are hundreds in process, but only 15 have received certification. We help facilitate the process with our strategic partners.
The Energy Star building certification illustrates an organization's commitment to energy efficiency. We work with clients to facilitate the process for certification.
Create a Circular Economy
A Circular Economy means creating a world in which we keep resources in use as long as possible. A cyclical approach is applied to processes rather than the traditional linear approach, meaning what is extracted from the earth produces its maximum yield and then is regenerated back into society in a positive way. This may include how we use energy, food, waste, water, and how we can build products that create positive impacts for society, the environment, and the economy while optimizing efficiency and innovation.
The Circular Process
Our circular process provides the full cycle of planning to product end of life using a phased approach. We provide strategic planning, sustainable sourcing, sustainable packaging, distribution, consumer use, and recovery options, while maximizing efficiency that achieves net positive impacts.
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Development:
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Sourcing/extracting natural resources
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Sustainable Purchasing, Standards and Certifications:
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Manufacturing/production
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Distribution/packaging
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Sales/marketing/service
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Sustainable Consumption:
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Individual and collective use
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Materials and Resource Management:
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Collection/sorting
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Recovery of energy, recycling, reusing, composting, repurposing
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Back to society in a positive way
A Circular Economy Requires
Sustainable Procurement and Sourcing
Want to make a significant global impact? Focus on Sustainable Sourcing for your Supply Chain and Procurement practices. We develop sustainable purchasing polices, conduct supply chain analyses, and help guide sustainable sourcing. Our clients find that this is one of our most valuable service areas since it helps them to create long-term sustainable business models and processes, while having a large-scale global impact. Companies find that they have healthier products and workplaces; they create positive impacts on people and planet; and they serve as a role model and advocate for their customers, competitors, and suppliers, who often change their sourcing as well.
A Circular Economy
Means Using Zero Waste Practices
Zero Waste is a goal that is ethical, economical, efficient and visionary. It helps guide people and organizations in changing their lifestyles and practices to emulate sustainable natural cycles, where all discarded materials are designed to become resources for others to use. This means designing and managing products and processes to systematically avoid and eliminate the volume and toxicity of waste and materials. Implementing zero waste initiatives will help eliminate discharges to land, water or air that are a threat to planetary, human, animal or plant health.
SPC is a member of the U.S. Zero Waste Business Council, and our members are trained as Zero Waste Associates. We have extensive experience in zero waste and have been researching and implementing zero waste initiatives for over a decade. We help clients create closed loop systems by turning waste into resources and creating cost savings.
Zero Waste Services
Zero Waste Certification Process: We guide clients through the TRUE Zero Waste Certification* process and help plan, develop, and implement the necessary requirements and credits to achieve certification.
*Formerly known as Zero Waste Certification, Total Resource Use and Efficiency (TRUE) is administered by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and was developed by the Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) and the U.S. Zero Waste Business Council (USZWBC).
Zero Waste Planning & Assessments: We help organizations and municipalities develop strategies and plans for implementing zero waste practices. We conduct ZW assessments and gap analyses, and provide recommendations for implementing ZW as a pilot or broad-scale project.
Zero Waste Audits: Zero Waste audits include a physical waste audit and a comprehensive waste audits of current practices using a cradle-to-cradle approach. This audit is required for TRUE ZW certification and provides the baseline metrics for documenting and measuring performance over time.
