• American Red Cross blood drives
• Volunteer stream monitoring program, Arlington County, VA
• Secret Santa program for Arlington County, VA
• Our Daily Bread food pantry, Washington, DC
• Food bank, Chantilly, VA
• The Carpenter Shelter, Alexandria, VA
• Corporate Challenge, a national program that sponsors a race to benefit local charities, MA
• Back to School, a program that donates backpacks of supplies to needy children, MA
• Coat drives for shelters and the Veterans Hospital, MA
• Adopt-a-Stream cleanups at Hare Snipe Creek, NC
• Toy drives

A Better City’s Challenge for Sustainability

Since 2010 ERG’s Boston and Lexington offices have joined about 80 participants, including tenants, building owners, institutions, restaurants, retail stores, and hotels in the Boston area, in the Challenge for Sustainability. As a participant in the Challenge, ERG has implemented an energy audit, installed more energy-efficient lighting, started composting (Boston), and offered corporate Hubway memberships, among other measures. The Challenge comprehensively encompasses sustainability in the areas of energy efficiency, water efficiency, transportation, waste reduction and management, cleaning and toxics, program implementation and policies, purchasing, and renewable energy.

Green Buildings

In 2007, our Arlington (VA) office relocated to a newly constructed green building, certified by the U.S. Green Building Council through its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program at the “silver” level. In a recent renovation, our Chantilly (VA) office followed the criteria for many of the LEED credits to green the space.

The Green Team

Since 1995, a “Green Team” of ERG-Arlington employees has ensured that we reduce solid waste, recycle, and buy recycled products for the office. The Green Team also implements environmental programs, such as offering a composting worm bin for food scraps, and conducts employee education activities such as brownbag lunches or tips on being green in the home or office. In our Lexington (MA) and Nashua (NH) offices, volunteers take recyclables to a recycling center.

Environmental Management System

After assisting the U.S. EPA with its Agency-wide environmental management system (EMS), we began developing our own EMS. Our team has investigated electricity use, water use, paper consumption, material recycling, and chemical use. Progress to date includes:

• Reducing paper use by 31 percent companywide, exceeding our initial goal of 20 percent in the first six months.
• Successfully encouraging employees to activate computer monitor sleep settings to save nearly 90,000 kilowatt-hours of energy and 136,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

Best Workplaces for Commuters

ERG’s Arlington and Boston offices have been recognized as two of the Best Workplaces for Commuters. To qualify for this distinction, ERG offers superior commuter benefits to employees, including a transit subsidy, telework options, and flexible schedules.
www.bestworkplaces.org

Green Power Partnership Program

We offset the environmental impacts of our electric power use by purchasing more than 1.4 million kilowatt-hours of green power annually, covering 100 percent of our corporate electricity use at our 15 offices. ERG is also a member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Green Power Leadership Club and 100 Percent Purchasers List.
www.epa.gov/grnpower

WasteWise

As part of our commitment to EPA’s WasteWise program, which we helped implement for more than a decade, we became a partner in 1995. Over the years, we have dramatically decreased the amount of waste we generate; greatly expanded the number of materials we collect for recycling; and educated employees on reusing packaging materials, office supplies, and paper. We also expanded our purchase of environmentally preferable office supplies.
www.epa.gov/wastewise

JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Series

In 2008, ERG became the official environmental consulting advisor for the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Series. The Corporate Challenge is a road race that educates participants about best environmental practices, while also striving to be the greenest road race in the world. ERG calculates the final environmental savings of sustainable race day supplies, proper recycling and trash removal, waste prevention, and other efforts.

Society of American Military Engineers (SAME)

ERG has been a corporate sustaining member of SAME since 1999. SAME promotes and facilitates engineering support for national security by building relationships among, and competencies of, engineering professionals in the uniformed services and private industry.

Businesses for the Bay

ERG joins other businesses located within the Chesapeake Bay watershed to improve the bay's water quality by implementing pollution prevention measures in our daily operations.