N.C. Environmental Stewardship Initiative's 20th Anniversary

Established in 2002, the Environmental Stewardship Initiative’s mission is to assist organizations in reducing their environmental impacts beyond regulatory requirements and recognize those that achieve and maintain this commitment. 

The ESI program provides no-cost technical assistance and guidance needed to help members improve their environmental performance. This assistance is based on the goals members set and pollution prevention strategies that reduce pollutants before generation to conserve natural resources.

The ESI program is managed through DEQ's Division of Environmental Assistance and Customer Service (DEACS) whose staff guide program activities and coach individual members.

As part of membership, organizations are required to  report annually  on progress made against their voluntary environmental goals. Over the past 20 years members have documented significant reductions in energy and water usage, air emissions, and waste generation greatly improving the state's environment.

Reporting the associated cost savings of members' projects is not required so the economic impact to North Carolina is much greater that the $102 Million that members have voluntarily reported since program inception.

These accomplishments prove that North Carolina's environment and economy are not mutually exclusive.

Grifols is a leading global healthcare company focused on providing innovative healthcare and biopharmaceutical solutions, including plasma-derived medicines. Committed to sustaining the natural environment around the company’s Clayton, N.C., facility, Grifols has been an ESI member since 2006 and a Steward since 2017.

At its Clayton site, Grifols initially transformed a 100-acre area into a Biodiversity and Wildlife Habitat area certified by the Wildlife Habitat Council. Grifols subsequently tripled the size of the certified land. This protected area serves as a greenspace for employees and local schools, as well as a habitat that local universities can utilize as an outdoor classroom. Among other wildlife, the Grifols Clayton site also houses a pollinator garden that includes five beehives where honey is produced and harvested. As part of a 2022 Environmental Benchmarking event, Grifols gave presentations to ESI members on beekeeping and provided participants a first-hand look at the site’s wildlife habitat.

Beyond its wildlife habitat, Grifols has made an impact in other crucial areas. In 2019, the company hosted manufacturing and recycling industry leaders for the first N.C. Recycling Markets Development Roundtable, which resulted in greater collaboration between manufacturers and the N.C. Recycling System to help identify common goals.

Grifols has delivered presentations on its environmental programs and accomplishments at member conferences, and continues to be involved in the North Carolina Manufacturers Alliance workshops. In addition, Grifols was awarded the inaugural ESI Steward of the Year Award at the 2022 ESI Conference, proving that the company is a great example of how ESI members can improve and make an impact in the environment that surrounds them, benefiting their local community.

ESI Steward Thomas Built Buses in High Point is a manufacturer of school, activity, commercial, and childcare buses. Thomas Built Buses has been an ESI member since 2011 and advanced to the Steward level of membership in the same year.

In addition to joining the ESI program in 2011, Thomas Built Buses became the first school bus manufacturer to achieve self-designated zero-waste-to-landfill operations. Just before joining ESI, Thomas Built Buses partnered with Duke Energy in 2010 to create a solar field that produces about 389 kilowatts of renewable energy for the power grid.

Thomas Built Buses has taken pollution prevention to heart and has begun manufacturing the Saf-T-Liner C2 Jouley, an all-electric school bus. The Jouley can travel 138 miles on a full charge, based on optimal driving conditions. These buses prevent air pollution that comes from a typical school bus's diesel exhaust. The Jouley electric bus was named "The Coolest Thing Made in North Carolina" in October 2020 by the NC Chamber of Commerce.

Thomas Built Buses hosted the first on-site class of ESI's revamped Internal Auditor Training in 2022 and has been a past host of multiple internal auditor training classes open to all ESI members.

Riverbend Malt House, located in Asheville (Buncombe County), joined the ESI in June 2021 as a Partner. They create unique, high-quality malt for the brewing and distilling industries, sourced from local, family-owned farms. Upon joining the ESI program, Riverbend Malt House ownership requested assistance from ESI and Waste Reduction Partners staff to upgrade the facility’s sustainability plan since they have expanded operations and relocated to a new 60,000 square foot facility. ESI and WRP staff assisted with this effort by proposing additional sustainability implementation strategies with new targets related to water and energy consumption, waste stream options, and recycling opportunities.

Riverbend Malt also collaborates with Asheville GreenWorks as an annual sponsor for the “Trash Trouts” program along Sweeten Creek (a tributary of the French Broad River in Asheville).  Trash Trouts are purpose-built stormwater litter traps. These traps sit in urban creeks and streams keeping manmade trash from entering main waterways.  Each time it rains, trash is funneled through storm drain systems and hopefully caught by the installed Trash Trouts.  By collecting the trash, it is preventing ingestion by wildlife and movement to coastal areas and the ocean. As of 2021, volunteers have been able to pull more than 2,000-lbs of garbage out of this urbanized section of Sweeten Creek.

“The ESI staff have been very helpful throughout the years to educate and train our staff on the EMS program and conducting internal audits. Even during the pandemic, the ESI staff provided virtual training and our staff walked away having learned some valuable tools for conducting audits.”  - Beverly Metcalf, Water and Sewer Authority of Cabarrus County

"Our ESI membership has made us so mindful of our energy and water consumption. Examining our data and knowing what is expected has helped us problem solve when usage and expenses are increased." - Caty Gray Urquhart, Tarboro Brewing Company

“The support we receive from NC ESI for our EMS program is an invaluable resource to our organization.”  - Kaitlin Hartman, US Environmental Protection Agency at Research Triangle Park

“Being a member of ESI makes it easier to stay compliant with new standards and rules and regulations.”  - Gregory Lathrop, GKN Sinter Metals

“ESI membership provides learning, outreach, and recycling opportunities to increase the effectiveness of your EMS - a great program for tracking/showing continuous improvement!”  - Carol Yates, Corning Incorporated - Wilmington Optical Fiber

“We appreciate the opportunity to have a fresh set of eyes review our EMS and offer valuable opportunities for improvement and findings." - Charles Powell, Pfizer

"NC's ESI program provides valuable networking opportunities and training for the regulated community and offers helpful resources to industry that support our efforts toward continuous improvement in environmental compliance and sustainability." - Domtar Paper

To hear more from ESI members about why they stay in ESI, see the ESI Video by clicking or tapping the button below.

The ESI program offers three different levels of membership based on an organization's commitment to continual improvement and reducing their impacts on the environment. They include Environmental Steward (highest level), Environmental Rising Steward and Environmental Partner. The higher two levels are based on implementation of an environmental management system that provide a framework for managing and reducing environmental impacts while increasing operating efficiency.

To learn more about the requirements of each membership level, click the button below to go to the ESI website.

Environmental Stewards are recognized by the DEQ Secretary during an on-site ceremony. Congratulations to our newest Stewards Ajinomoto (2022) and Eaton's Raleigh Production Operations (2023) who were recognized with a Steward plaque by Secretary Elizabeth S. Biser. To see all Stewards and other members, click the button below.

An external Advisory Board, appointed by the DEQ Secretary oversees program development and implementation. The board consists of representatives from manufacturers, trade groups, agricultural and small businesses, environmental or citizen non-governmental organizations, and local/state/ federal government. The board is overseen by DEQ Secretary and other members of leadership. Whenever possible, ESI Environmental Stewards are given priority for membership. 

The Advisory Board: 

• Evaluates Rising Steward and Steward applications and makes recommendations to the DEQ Secretary regarding member advancement or renewal (every 5 years at these levels)
• Establishes and maintains program rules, benefits, and guidelines
• Assesses program effectiveness and develops improvement suggestions
• Ensures program continual improvement while maintaining core values and standards
• Undertakes any other duties assigned to them by the DEQ Secretary

This is an annual meeting between the DEQ Secretary and Steward members to discuss current issues and updates as well as other relevant topics or issues. This forum has generated significant change in multiple aspects of the ESI program. Changes include being able to pay permit fees with credit cards and establishing a working group to create state-wide guidelines for sanitary sewer overflow enforcement consistency.

The ESI program provides opportunities for members to network and learn about innovative environmental management solutions and to share member successes.

During Environmental Benchmarking series events, ESI Members host attendees at their site to learn about project implementation to achieve environmental goals which may include tours at the facility.

The annual ESI Conference brings members together to share experiences and learn about peer environmental improvement initiatives around the state. Members can learn about challenges faced during project implementation at other facilities and the strategies used to overcome them, helping each other to be successful. The conference provides an opportunity for NCDEQ staff to share regulatory changes, provide updates on departmental initiatives and to obtain feedback from members on the ESI program.

Once joining the program, members may be paired with other members by ESI staff if they have common goals or challenges. Additionally, all Stewards act as mentors to other ESI members to provide assistance and guidance when needed. Learning from a fellow ESI member that can highlight pitfalls to avoid or share lessons learned is an invaluable benefit of ESI membership.

The program provides no-cost training that is tailored to member needs when requested. These include:

• Environmental Management System (EMS) training based on the ISO 14001 standard. ESI Staff provide either an overview of requirements or break requirements into digestible chunks through multiple classes to help ESI member organizations establish and implement an EMS. The training also serves as a great overview for ESI member new employees.
• Conversion classes that review changes to the ISO 14001 when a new version is released.
• Energy Management System overview training based on the ISO 50001 standard for those organizations looking to systematically reduce energy consumption through goal setting and usage tracking.
• Internal Auditor training in which participants learn auditing techniques, good auditor traits and conduct mock audits to practice skills. This generalized class is designed to be used with ISO 9001, 14001, or 50001 and can be used by ESI members to meet competency requirements of the applicable standard. This training can be offered at member sites to train a larger audience.

Other training programs are available upon request or as funding allows and have included:

• ESI has contracted with certified outside providers to offer ISO 14001 Lead Auditor training classes. These opportunities have resulted in substantial cost savings for member organizations;
• Training on a specific DEQ Regulatory program or implementation of a new or revised rule or regulation;
• Zero waste to landfill concepts;
• Lean and Green concepts.

In addition to training, ESI also provides individualized EMS documentation reviews, internal auditing, and gap analysis assistance.

The ESI collaborates with  Waste Reduction Partners (WRP)  to provide members with no-cost, on-site assessments addressing waste, water use, energy and carbon reduction strategies and stewardship goals with cost effective approaches. WRP is state-wide team of retired engineers, scientists and industry processionals that contribute their expertise to help organizations improve environmental performance.

ESI collaborates with NCDEQ staff in the  Recycling Business Assistance Center (RBAC) . RBAC is a team of recycling and economic development specialists within DEACS that supports the expansion of recycling infrastructure and NC's transition to a circular economy. With expertise in recycling and materials management, the RBAC team can help identify potential recycling vendors based on location and type of material. RBAC maintains the  Recycling Markets Directory , an online, searchable database of recycling vendors and businesses serving North Carolina.

These partnerships have led to beneficial waste management opportunities for ESI members. Waste Walks determine potential beneficial outlets for various waste materials that could result in reuse, composting, recycling, etc. Waste sorts, also known as dumpster dives, are a process where waste is sorted into categories according to the material and if it is recyclable. These activities as well as solid waste assessments can result in best management practices to reduce the waste flow from facility processes.

The ESI also partners with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through receipt of the  Pollution Prevention (P2)  grant funding. The grant funding supports one ESI staff position and program activities and offers opportunities to partner with other grantees from across the country. ESI staff are also members of the  National Pollution Prevention Roundtable (NPPR)  allowing us to network with other leadership and recognition programs as well as other P2 providers.

These partnerships are invaluable as they allow ESI to support members in their pursuit of environmental improvements.

Ready to be recognized for your environmental efforts and become a part of this distinguish group of leaders?

Questions? Please do not hesitate to reach out!