Pentagon Strategic Sustainability and Waste Management Support

Washington Headquarters Services is responsible for operating and maintaining major U.S. Department of Defense assets in the National Capital Region—namely the Pentagon and Mark Center, which include nearly 9 million square feet of office space and support more than 30,000 building occupants. Like all federal agencies, WHS must achieve sustainability goals established by Executive Order 14057 Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability (and preceding Executive Orders) and other federal laws. These goals include requirements for building and operating sustainable federal buildings, reducing waste, and achieving sustainable acquisition and procurement. WHS requires ongoing and strategic sustainability support to ensure these goals are met for its new and existing buildings.

ERG works with stakeholders throughout WHS to incorporate sustainable building requirements into template scopes of work and general requirements documents (e.g., facility guide specifications, WHS Building Code) that are used for both major new construction and minor repair projects. This ensures that energy and water efficiency, sustainable procurement, indoor environmental quality, and solid waste management are considered for all projects, both big and small. ERG also ensures that all new construction achieves LEED certification (Silver rating or higher), helping to provide third-party recognition for WHS’s efforts.

In support of WHS’s waste reduction goals, ERG provides comprehensive support addressing a wide variety of program needs, including solid waste management contract development and vendor selection; recycling bin procurement and placement; improved signage; and ongoing occupant outreach. ERG also plans and implements new initiatives to improve waste diversion, such as a program to collect and compost food waste from several food service locations throughout the Pentagon.

For all sustainability and solid waste management support, ERG collects and manages data on a variety of sustainability metrics needed for reporting to leadership within WHS and the Department of Defense. This allows ERG to easily support WHS in contributing to DoD’s annual sustainability plan and other data calls.