Oct 8 2010
Mars Chocolate North America has declared that its corporate headquarters situated in Hackettstown, New Jersey, received LEED Gold Certification an internationally established standard for planning, building and functioning of green buildings from the Green Building Council of US. The company becomes the first private company to receive LEED certification in the state of New Jersey.
To achieve the LEED Gold certification the company complied with more than 30 systematic plans required for a green building during the reconstruction of its 100,000 square foot corporate headquarters. It made improvements in its water distribution features to lessen water usage to an extent of 30% and saved 15% on its energy usage by deploying improved building supervision system, energy effective lighting and controls, improved reflective type of roofing structure to lessen heat gain within the building, deployment of nearly 20% of used materials, construction of bike racks and exclusive parking slots for carpools and vanpools. Earlier the company’s manufacturing plant located at Waco Texas received acclaim from the federal Environmental Protection Agency for its use of methane gas release from its landfills thus saving 60% of its natural gas usage. Also most of the manufacturing facilities belonging to the company recycle nearly 95% of their waste instead of sending them to a landfill.
Todd Lachman, Mars Chocolate North America’s President, called the receipt of LEED Gold Certification a big achievement. He added that the certification is a proof for the company’s dedication to clean environment and to the people with whom the company transacts its business. He added that the current achievement is a part of their larger efforts towards the use of clean energy in all its efforts.