Catawba County

• Ranked in the top five counties within North Carolina for recycled materials for the last six years.
• Created a buy recycled policy for all departments, employees, and buyers.
• Tracks the annual purchases of recycled content goods and products.
• Asks all staff to turn off their electronic equipment when they leave work.
• Operates 12 hybrid vehicles.

Catawba County Schools

• Will be constucting Snow Creek Elementary with new energy efficient materials. These materials will allow Snow Creek to operate 40 to 45 percent cheaper than the last elementary school that was constructed, which was built in 2006.

Finance Department

Purchasing Division

• Process electronic purchase orders to reduce printing and mailing costs.
• Purchase office supplies and products from a vendor that offers a green catalog.
• Request that all contractors and vendors within the County use materials that are environmentally friendly and dispose all of their unused materials in accordance with the regulations of the EPA or DEHR.
• Scan all county contracts into an imaging system to reduce printing costs.

Maintenance Division

• Replacing all T-12 light fixtures with T-8 fixtures (documentation shows the T-8 fixture is 40 percent more efficient) over serveral years.
• As incandescent light bulbs burn out, the division replaces them with the newer fluorescent energy saving light bulbs
• Schedule with all departments a time during the day when air conditioning units can be turned off to conserve energy
• Work with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension to assure that the County continues to use environmentally friendly mulch, herbicides, and pesticides for all county facilities.
• Continue to use B-20 diesel fuel while trying to investigate the use of ethanol to replace unleaded gas the County currently uses.
• Implemented a new work order tracking program that has reduced the departments use of paper and gas.