Green Meets Gold in Portland

We are pleased to announce that Herrera’s Portland office achieved Gold-Certification through the City of Portland’s Sustainability at Work program.

The Sustainability at Work program was formed to help Portland-area businesses improve their environmental practices.  Since its launch in 2007, the program has helped thousands of Portland businesses advance green initiatives in the workplace. Sustainability at Work offers three levels of certification to recognize a business’s positive impact on the environment and the community. Certified applicants are evaluated on more than 70 factors related to their environmentally-friendly practices in the areas of recycling/reuse, employee engagement, transportation, energy, water, and community engagement. Gold-certified businesses must meet more than 45 of these factors.

At Herrera, sustainability is a core ethic and a personal passion for our staff. Assisting our clients in building a deep green and sustainable future is why we come to work in the first place. Sustainability permeates our culture and is a strong focus for both our projects and our operations. Through both, we take and advocate for actions that contribute to the conservation, restoration, and regeneration of natural systems and resources; enhance community livability; promote ecological stewardship; and connect people with nature. Within our operations, a few highlights of our sustainability initiatives include:

  • Using alternative transportation for commuting and work-related trips whenever possible (e.g., over 75% of our staff walk, bike, carpool, or take transit as their primary commute method).
  • Recycling or composting nearly all recyclable and organic waste and actively working to limit waste generation.
  • Creating collection programs for hard-to-recycle items (e.g., granola bar wrappers, oral care products, beauty care products, batteries, light bulbs, etc.)
  • Participating in monthly green mission challenges for staff (e.g., zero cup, plastic free, ride transit, bike more)
  • Purchasing green office supplies (e.g., 100% recycled paper, recycled content pens, etc.)
  • Supporting and giving back to our local community (e.g., volunteering, charitable giving, committing to contracting with women- and minority-owned businesses).

We are proud of our deep green commitment and truly value being recognized for our efforts, but our work doesn’t stop here. We will continue working hard to reduce our environmental footprint and increase our social handprint in Portland and throughout our Herrera offices.

For more information on the Sustainability at Work program, visit:
http://www.portlandoregon.gov/sustainabilityatwork/

To view Herrera’s Sustainability at Work profile, visit:
https://www.portlandoregon.gov/sustainabilityatwork/article/737742