EPA Signs Sustainability Pact with Hartz Mountain Industries
Hartz Mountain Industries, Inc., New Jersey’s largest real estate development company, has signed an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to cut energy and water use and to take other steps to reduce the environmental impacts of its retail and commercial properties across the state. Under the agreement, Hartz will take steps to promote sustainability in its operations.
“Constructing and operating buildings more sustainably are becoming standard business practices, and developers like Hartz Mountain are seeing that protecting the environment is also good for their economic bottom line,” said EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck. “This agreement with Hartz Mountain illustrates EPA’s commitment to help rebuild America’s economy while protecting public health and the environment.”
Hartz will join Energy Star and Waste Wise programs, which respectively provide strategies and tools for minimizing energy use and waste production while increasing recycling rates. The developer will cut water use by using low-flow plumbing fixtures, including low flow toilets, automatic faucet controls, low-flow showerheads and waterless urinals in new construction. Hartz will also follow GreenScapes' guidelines to minimize water use in landscaping. In addition, the company will maximize recycling and reuse of municipal solid waste, construction waste and debris, and consider the feasibility of composting food waste either on-site or at an off-site location, among other requirements.
Hartz will submit a status report to EPA annually, and the agency will use the report to determine the environmental benefits associated with the developer’s activities.
Over the years, EPA reached has similar agreements with the New York Jets and New York Giants for the New Meadowlands Stadium, the New York Mets for Citi Field stadium, the Destiny USA mall project in Syracuse, N.Y., the real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield, Rutgers University for several of its campuses across New Jersey, Montclair State University in Montclair, N.J., Monmouth University in West Long Branch, N.J., St. John’s University in Queens, N.Y., Raritan Valley Community College in Branchburg, N.J, and Stony Brook University Hospital in Stony Brook, N.Y.
For more information on EPA green construction and operations agreements, visit www.epa.gov/region02/greenteam/.