Pashek Associates Sustainability Policy

As Landscape Architects, Community Planners, and Parks and Recreation Practitioners, we have long been in the business of working with natural processes, improving efficiencies, and developing innovative ideas for the good of the community.  We have continually searched for the most sustainable solutions in design and planning.  We believe it is the right thing to do.

As a firm, we strive to become sustainable through the following actions:

·         Promote sustainability through design and planning

o   Spec sustainable products that are durable, reusable, recyclable, made with recycled content, use less packaging, and/or made from renewable resources.

o   Use stormwater Best Management Practices.

o   Use smart growth, transit oriented development, and other sustainable strategies in community planning and urban design.

o   Protect and/or restore the environment by designing with ecological and natural processes in mind

o   Use other sustainable sites principles found in LEED and the Sustainable Sites Initiative

·         Use a democratic design and planning process to support the needs of whole communities

o   Ensure that all meeting participants are equally heard regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, or age

·         Educate our clients and friends about the importance of sustainability

o   Promote sustainable design solutions to clients by educating about their benefits

·         Implement sustainable actions in the workplace and at home in our communities

o   Follow the Pashek Associates’ sustainable office policies in order to reduce energy, water, air pollution, and waste.

o   Set an example in our individual neighborhoods / communities by following the same policies at home.

Pashek Asscoiates is building a culture of responsibility that encourages every employee to ask the questions that lead to more sustainable processes and practices, and help our firm support a sustainable future.

Pashek Associates Receives ZIP GOLD Certification

Zero Waste Pittsburgh’s ZIP Certification Program is a project of the Pennsylvania Resources Council (PRC).  ZIP is intended to encourage, reward and acknowledge organizations that have taken important steps towards reducing the waste they produce through recycling, composting and source reduction measures. 

Pashek Associates attained GOLD Certification by:

• Recycling everything from paper and cardboard to batteries, florescent bulbs, and printer cartridges
• Buying products that include recycled content and/or from renewable resources
• Educating employees about the benefits of recycling
• Composting all food waste
• Reducing or eliminating single use beverage containers and serviceware

Any business, organization, or even event can become ZIP certified.  Zero Waste Pittsburgh also offers assistance in developing a waste reduction program.  We encourage any business, organization, or event to look into becoming ZIP certified.  For more information about the ZIP program or waste reduction resources check out their website.

Waste Reduction Strategies

One of the benefits of competing in the Pittsburgh Green Workplace Challenge is the informative workshops that are offered to participants.  The workshops are focused on helping participants learn new sustainable solutions, network with like-minded people, and connect with those who can help implement the solutions. 

 

A couple of weeks ago, Sara Thompson, Pashek’s Sustainability Coordinator, attended a workshop on Waste Reduction Strategies.  Waste reduction is important because Americans produce 250 million tons of trash in a year, but only recycle or compost 34 % or 85 million tons.  This means that 164.8million tons are discarded in landfills or incinerated.  Considering that these numbers do not even include industrial, hazardous, or construction waste, imagine how much waste we could actually be diverting from landfills and incinerators.  Click here for more waste and recycling stats for 2010 form the EPA. 

 

Carla Castagnero, President of Agrecycle, explained how her company recycles and reuses natural materials to enhance soils and foster plant growth using composting techniques.  Did you know that about 60% of what we throw away is organic and can be composted?  Agrecycle picks up organic materials, such as paper products, cardboard, and food scraps from offices, restaurants, cafeterias, and grocery stores and turns it into compost using 100% natural methods.  Their compost products are used as soil amendments for everything from growing edible and ornamental plants to preventing drought and soil erosion and even remediating brownfield sites.  

 

Kurt Duska of EngineeredPlastics Inc. described how his company recycles one million pounds of mostly pre-consumer plastic products a month into new plastic products.  Kurt mentioned that every one ton of plastic recycled diverts 16.3 barrels of oil.  That means that Engineered Plastics is diverting 8,150 barrels of oil every month.

 

According to Ned Eldridge of eLoop, electronic waste is the fastest growing waste stream in the world.  The pace of new technologies is outpacing the sustainable and ethical disposal of old technologies.  eLoop recycles anything with a cord on it in addition to wireless electrics from calculators to cell phones.  

 

Global Links is a medical relief and development organization dedicated to promoting environmental stewardship while improving health in resource-poor communities in Latin America and Caribbean.  Orly Stampfer explained that Global Links takes in medical surplus and other still-useful materials such as used office furniture and ships the supplies to hospitals and clinics which need them.  

 

The PennsylvaniaResources Council (PRC) works as a state and national leader in waste reduction and recycling as well as litter and visual blight prevention, watershed awareness, and composting.  Kyle Winkler, an Environmental Program Coordinator for the PRC, talked about the Zero Waste Pittsburgh program or ZIP.   ZIP was created as a one stop shop for recycling and waste minimization resources and assistance for businesses, institutions, and special events.  Your company, organization, or even special event can become ZIP Certified.  To learn more, check out www.zerowastepgh.org.

 

We want to also give a shout out to Breen Masciotra, the director of PittsburghCenter for Creative Reuse, who attended the workshop as a participant.  The PCCR promotes resource conservation, creativity, and community engagement through material reuse.  PCCR provides creative reuse programs and their store is a great low-cost resource for teachers, artists, and others seeking unique materials for their creative projects. 

Pashek Associates will look to see if Agrecycle can help us recycle our organic wastes, will look into ethically recycling our spent electronic equipment with companies like eLoop, will consider Global Links as another potential resource for donating our used office furniture, and is currently looking into ZIP Certification with the PRC.  In addition, we will now think twice about throwing away product samples since the PCCR accepts donations of architectural and design samples.  We will keep you posted on our progress towards becoming a more sustainable business.

Click here for more information on upcoming workshops or the Green Workplace Challenge.

Old Dog, New Tricks….it can happen!

Pashek Associates is committed to integrating sustainable design in all of their endeavors.  Toward that end, the firm encourages staff to prepare for a take the LEED Accreditation exams sponsored by the US Green Building Council.  Now to the ‘Old Dog’ part.  Jim Pashek, president of Pashek Associates, and a self-proclaimed old guy, recently passed his LEED exam to become an accredited LEED Green Associate.  He joins is colleague Nancy Lonnett Roman, RLA who is LEED-AP accredited.  Jim hopes that others in the firm will follow his and Nancy’s lead and study for and take the exam soon.

“The green building movement strives to create a permanent shift in prevailing design, planning, construction, and operational practices toward lower-impact, more sustainable, and ultimately regenerative built environments.” (from the Green Building and LEED Core Concepts)

ThinkBike Workshop Brings Dutch and Pittsburgh's Bicycling Advocates Together

On June 21^st and 22^nd Pashek Associates staff member Mike Kotyk attended the ThinkBike workshop at Carnegie Mellon University.  This workshop, organized by Mayor Luke Ravenstahl’s Office in partnership with the Royal Netherlands Embassy, brought together Dutch bicycle transportation experts, Pittsburgh transportation planners, engineers, advocates and cyclists to plan and discuss how Oakland’s Fifth and Forbes Avenue corridor can become more bicycle-friendly.

During the two-day workshop, participants were split into two teams which surveyed the existing conditions of the corridor and then provided constructive recommendations and solutions on how to make this busy corridor more bicycle and pedestrian friendly.  The team’s outcomes and recommendations were then presented to the public, decision makers, cyclists and other interested parties at the closing session on the evening of June 22^nd.

About ThinkBike

Through a multi-city initiative, Dutch experts and companies are increasing bicycle use in the U.S. and Canada. Toronto was the first Canadian city to host such an event, while Chicago was the first U.S. city to host a bike workshop, followed by Washington, D.C., Miami, San Francisco and Los Angeles. For more information on ThinkBike, please visit: http://www.facebook.com/ThinkBike or www.dutchcycling.nl.

Here are few links to some media exposure on ThinkBike Pittsburgh:  

Post Gazette: Dutch Workshops Offer Biking Advice

KDKA: Dutch Consultants to Help Oakland Become More Bike Friendly

NPR: Dutch Bicycling Experts to Weigh in on Improving Bike Infrastructure in Oakland

Jamestown, NY Plans for Pedestrians and Bicyclists

Last night John Buerkle and Mike Kotyk presented a draft Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan to local residents, cyclists, and city officials of Jamestown, NY.   A standing room only crowd packed the Lillian Vitanza Ney Renaissance Center to review, discuss, and provide feedback on a draft of the City of Jamestown Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan.

John and Mike were extremely pleased with the turn out for this meeting.  30 to 40 members of the Hollyloft Cycling Team showed their support by taking time to stop by during their weekly Tuesday night ride.  A quick head count indicated that an additional 70 plus persons attended the meeting.  The high attendance really shows how Jamestown residents are interested in making walking and bicycling safer and more comfortable within the City.

The Chautauqua County Health Network's Creating Healthy Places to Live, Work, and Play is coordinating the plan to promote active transportation as a key component of healthy lifestyles. CHP is funded through the New York State Department of Health.

"We know that if the city is more walkable and bikeable, that will encourage the community to go out and be more active and we are focused on the public health aspect of chronic disease prevention," said Janet Forbes, CHP project coordinator. "Having this plan in place is going to be helpful for substantiating the need for funding and what the next steps are."

For more information about the meeting click here.

Beautifying the Northside

Saturday, there was lots of activity on the east end of the East Ohio Street business district.  Kids from the nearby Allegheny Alliance Church and neighbors worked to clean up some of the buildings and plant a recently updated entrance sign in the neighborhood.

Pashek Associates helped the project by donating design services for a planting plan for the entrance sign, arranging to pick up 40 bags of topsoil and mulch donated by Home Depot and acquiring plants from Best Feeds at their Babcock Boulevard retail outlet.  For a week, our office looked like a nursery with plants filling the conference room and hallways stacked with bags of soil and mulch, hoses, and garden tools.  John Buerkle, Vice President at Pashek Associates, oversaw the planting operations last Saturday.  Thanks John for donating some of your personal time to improve the Northside!

Trails Revitalize River Towns

This morning Jim Pashek was riding into the office on his bike and had a nice chat with Chris, a young man riding his bike to work downtown.  Chris works in the Mental Health field and is studying at Pitt in Social Work.  Chris recently moved to Millvale from the East End.  He loves Pamela’s and the other great shops in Millvale but the primary reason he moved there was the trail connection from Millvale Riverfront Park to downtown.  Chris's story is a great example of how trails revitalize river towns.

Not only do trails provide recreational opportunities, but they truly are alternatives to driving and parking in the City.  They become magnets for young professionals like Chris (and older professionals like Jim) who want to live near a trail so they can ride their bike to work or school.

Chris, thanks for talking with Jim and making the 7 mile trip seem much shorter today.

Pashek Lectures on Park Master Planning at Slippery Rock University

 Jim Pashek, president of Pashek Associates was the first of three lecturers from the firm invited to speak at Slippery Rock University on park planning.  The lecture Jim presented focused on the five steps typically found in master planning for parks, (1) Community background data collection, (2)Public Participation, (3) Site Analysis, (4) Programming the Activities in the park, (5) Developing the concepts, final master plan drawings and cost estimates.  After an introductory lecture to orient students to public processes, they participated in a mock town meeting, generating park ideas and prioritizing those needs.  Professor Christine Glenn commented on Pashek’s mock meeting, “I was struck by how effectively you guided the public meeting.  I’ve seen those types of meetings get quickly unfocused.  Yesterday, you effectively modeled key techniques which help to maintain control of the discussion and direction of the meeting.  I was very impressed with this, and learned a great deal, which I hope to utilize in the future.”

After learning about criteria often used to layout parks, the students were broken up into teams of 4-5 each and given a park site analysis and program to fit to the site.  They were cautioned to respect environmental constraints, the proper solar orientation of facilities, and important activity adjacencies.

Each team then reported why they selected the park plan they developed and how they were able to apply some of the design principles taught in the class.

John Buerkle will be lecturing on the design of Athletic Fields and Mike Kotyk will be providing information on how to plan greenway corrdiors during the next two lectures.

Graduate Student Mixes Work, School, and Play at Pashek Associates

Christine Kercell, a graduate student in Park and Resource Management at Slippery Rock University, has begun working as a part-time planner for Pashek Associates on the Butler County Comprehensive Recreation, Parks and Open Space Plan.  She will be working closely with Bob Good, Principal in charge of the project preparing park inventories and with Mike Kotyk, GIS manager and Greenway planner on the proposed greenways and trails.  

She often spends her free time cycling with her family, kayaking with her finance, and swimming.  A new goal of hers is to compete in a triathlon.  Welcome Christine!

Pashek Associates Leading the Pittsburgh Green Workplace Challenge in Small Business Category

The Pittsburgh Green Workplace challenge enables businesses to participate in a friendly challenge program where they can receive recognition for their sustainable actions and achievements.  

Pashek Associates is leading 12 businesses in the small business category (less than 50 people).

According to Valerie Patrick, PhD and Sustainability Coordinator for Bayer Corporation, "sustainability is a way of thinking and applies to every aspect of our work."  We couldn't agree with her more.

Pashek Associates received points by tracking utility bills using an EPA website, being a bike friendly business, having a Prius for a corporate car, and planting native plants on the roof of their building.  Green office policies of using washable cups and recycling also contributed to the firm's leadership position in the challenge.  Next up is an energy audit to begin reducing energy demand and our carbon footprint. 

 

For more information, or if you are interested in signing up for the Challenge, please see the Pittsburgh Green Workplace Challenge Website.