Environmental Mission Statement:

The Essex Shoppes & Cinema is committed to protecting the environment, the health and safety of our employees, and the community in which we conduct our business. It is our policy to seek improvements throughout our business operations to lessen our impact on the local and global environment by conserving energy, water, and other natural resources; reducing waste generation; recycling and purchasing recycled products; and reducing our use of toxic materials. We are committed to pollution prevention, continual improvement and meeting or exceeding all environmental regulatory requirements.

We received our designation as an Environmental Partner on January 6, 2009 with the help of the Vermont Small Business Development Center and the Vermont Dept. of Environmental Conservation. We are officially the first and only green mall in the green mountain state! We will post our progress and accomplishment on this web page. For more information about the Vermont Business Environmental Partnership program please visit http://www.vbep.org/ .

Green Accomplishments:

1. Essex Shoppes & Cinema’s 2008 Brochure: We printed 75,000 brochures on 25% post consumer recycled paper and the other 75% of the paper is FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified. We also encourage those that take our brochure to bring them back to several of our outlets to be reused or recycled. By changing our paper choice the Environmental Defense Fund – Paper Calculator (www.edf.org/papercalculator) estimate saving the following: 1 ton of wood (~5 trees), 211 lbs Solid Waste, 3 Million BTUs energy, ~400 lbs of CO2, and 1641 gallons of water.

2. EuroWest Properties the mall management office has also started to use 30% post consumer recycled paper in all of our copy machines.

3. We have always recycled all of the cardboard, paper and assorted recyclables that come into the center by providing recycling location behind each building.

4. In most of the stores you will find that we are using energy efficient Super T-8 Fluorescent fixtures with electronic ballasts.

5. You will also find that we are using many Compact Fluorescent bulbs and are working towards changing all incandescent light bulbs in common areas to Compact Fluorescent bulbs.

6. We also have digital, programmable set back thermostats, in many areas.

7. In December of 2008 we replaced two gas furnaces that were 60% efficient with two that are 95% efficient located in building two.

Upcoming Green Work:

In October 2008 we started to pursue incentives given by Efficiency Vermont in relation to our lighting system. Efficiency Vermont sent an engineer to access the property. The engineer found that we were in need of upgrades and those upgrades could reduce our consumption of electricity on the local grid. Upgrade work will begin on our gym, common areas and parking lots throughout 2009 to reduce the amount of electricity our shopping center and cinema consumes. http://www.efficiencyvermont.com

We have officially received our certification but still need to improve our facility for the future. We are committed to being a proactive Vermont Business Environmental Partner. If you have questions please feel free to contact Eric Fitzgerald 802-878-4200 or efitzgerald@ewdevelop.com. If you would also like to find out more about the Vermont Business Environmental Partnership program please visit their website at http://www.vbep.org/

Center Green Updates

Lighting system upgrades have started with Hammond Electric and Efficiency Vermont. Phase one, two and three of the project is now complete. These phases involved all HammerFit, EuroWest offices, common areas, parking lot lighting and exterior lighting. 

Phase four is upgrading the Orvis Outlet. The work will start on Monday, April 17, 2009. Dan Morgan the manager of the Orvis Outlet is the first manager to successfully push the Efficiency Vermont upgrade proposal and contract through it cooperate office for approval.