THE WHITE HOUSE CLOSING
THE CIRCLE AWARDS 2004
Instructions and Nomination Form

We cordially invite you to participate in the 2004 White House Closing the Circle (CTC) Awards. This program recognizes Federal employees and their facilities for efforts which resulted in significant contributions to or have made a significant impact on the environment. The awards focus on waste prevention, recycling, and green purchasing activities under E.O. 13101, environmental management under E.O. 13148, and green/sustainable buildings under both executive orders.

Important Changes to Note

Now in our tenth year, we continue to seek exemplary success stories that can set the example for other Federal facilities to follow. This year we have made several changes to the awards categories. First, recognizing our belief that Federal agencies should have one, comprehensive green purchasing program, rather than separate programs for buying recycled content, environmentally preferable, and biobased products, we have combined the affirmative procurement, environmental preferability, and biobased categories into one green purchasing category. We will instruct the judges to give preference to programs that consist of both a buy-recycled component and either an environmentally preferable products component or a biobased products component. However, for this year, successful candidates are not required to have a program containing all three components.

Second, we believe that education and outreach are key tools to successful programs and should be an integral part of successful waste/pollution prevention, recycling, green purchasing, environmental management, or sustainable building efforts. Therefore, rather than continuing to have a separate education and outreach nomination category, we have incorporated education and outreach into the other categories.

Third, continuing our emphasis on facility use of environmental management systems and sustainable design for building construction and renovation, we are continuing the Environmental Management System and Sustainable Design/Green Buildings categories.

Fourth, we are no longer requesting that nominees distinguish between non-hazardous waste and hazardous waste projects. We will accept nominations for programs involving either hazardous or non-hazardous waste and instruct the judges to select the best projects regardless of waste type.

Finally, we will continue to consider nominations from either an individual Federal employee or teams/groups of Federal employees (including teams of Federal and contract employees). Partnerships between Federal facilities or Federal employees and non-Federal entities, such as surrounding local communities or non-profit organizations, will also be considered for award.

Award Categories for 2004

• Waste/Pollution Prevention
• Recycling
• Green Purchasing
• Environmental Management Systems
• Sustainable Design/Green Buildings

The criteria for each category are found at the end of these instructions.

Each category will recognize "Military" and "Civilian" nominations with separate awards. Descriptions of the award categories are provided, and while not all inclusive, they will help to understand the criteria used to judge and evaluate the nominations for awards.

Please remember these four important points when submitting your nomination package:

1. Only nominations for which there is a completed electronic registration form will be eligible to participate. PLEASE NOTE THAT YOUR ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION IS NOT YOUR ENTIRE SUBMISSION. PLEASE READ ON.
2. We are only accepting electronic copies of nominations this year. The limit for the nomination abstract is 2000 words, which a four page document with size 12 Times New Roman font approximately comes out to. Submit your nomination file, no later than close of business on Friday, January 30, 2004.
   In special circumstances, we will accept paper copies of you nomination; please contact us to obtain approval to submit paper copies. We will not accept paper copies unless we have given you prior approval.
3. Describe what positive changes were made by the individual or facility program and provide supporting documentation along with quantitative data (for example, amount of green products purchased, reductions in waste generation, percentage of construction and demolition debris recycled). Aditional documentation in excess of the four page limit, that you believe may support your nomination, may be included but will not necessarily be considered by the judges. An example would be a .PDF file containing outreach materials used as part of a project or a photograph file of a sustainable building. We will be adding the ability to upload additional files to the nomination form shortly. In the mean time, send any additional materials to Teague Hughes at hughest@tteam.com and be sure to include what nomination the materials go with.
4. Check with your Agency/Department headquarters Point of Contact to determine if you have to submit the nomination package through them or if there are any internal requirements or due dates to be met.

Agency Internal Award Programs

Several Federal agencies have begun implementing, within their own in-house environmental recognition programs, categories consistent with the White House Closing the Circle Awards. These agency-wide winners may be the only programs, for that particular agency, eligible to compete in the annual White House Program after submitting their nomination package. For more information on your agency in-house recognition program, please contact your agency representative listed below:

Sharing of Nomination Information

Part of OFEE's mission is to share best practices and success stories among Federal agencies and with other organizations. We recently posted waste prevention and recycling best practices on our web site, www.ofee.gov, and also share successes and best practices through our newsletter training sessions.

Finally, it is not our intent to limit your opportunity for award recognition by imposing strict parameters that may hinder program innovation. The objective of the White House Closing the Circle Award Program is to recognize all applicable waste reduction, green/sustainable building, environmental management, recycling and affirmative procurement innovations and successes. Be creative and let your imagination run wild! If you have any questions call the OFEE at (202) 564-1297. Good luck!

Waste/Pollution Prevention
This category recognizes source reduction practices related to the generation of non-hazardous solid wastes or hazardous wastes or pollution from a Federal facility through any change in the design, manufacturing, or use/reuse of materials or products; and/or the amount of toxicity in waste materials before reccling, reuse, treatment or disposal. Preference will be given to nominations that include outreach programs/projects or educational efforts designed to promote the pollution prevention and waste prevention goals and objectives of E.O. 13101 or E.O. 13148.

Recycling
This category recognizes outstanding activities - including collection, separation, and processing - by which products or other materials are recovered from the waste stream for use in the manufacture of new products (other than fuel for producing heat or power by combustion) at a Federal site, facility, or operation. Preference will be given for recycling programs that have an internal education component and/or a public outreach component designed to promote recycling at the site, facility, or operation or to promote partnerships with the surrounding community to promote recycling.

Green Purchasing
This category recognizes the most effective and innovative programs implemented for the purchase and use of recycled content, environmentally preferable, or biobased products at a Federal site, facility, or operation. Preference will be given to nominations that include both purchasing of recycled content products and purchasing of either environmentally preferable or biobased products. For recycled content products, this award category focuses on, but is not limited to, those products designated in the Environmental Protection Agency Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines (CPG). For environmentally preferable products, this award category recognizes the best examples of acquiring, using, or validating products or services that have a reduced impact on human health and the environment when compared with competing products or services that serve the same purpose; an outstanding improvement to a process that resulted in significant monetary savings and benefit to the environment; or product testing that led to the approval and use of environmentally preferable products or services. Preference will also be given for outreach programs/projects or educational efforts designed to promote the green purchasing objectives of E.O. 13101.

Sustainable Design/Green Buildings
This category recognizes the most innovative Federal government sustainable design and green building projects. Nominations are limited to projects which have been completed, are under construction, or have completed the planning process and have been awarded to a successful offeror. Nominations should address all facets of a structure/project's life cycle, i.e., encompass project design, energy efficiency, materials usage, building operations. Each nomination should highlight the cost effective use of innovative techniques and solutions that utilize sustainable design principles in the planning, construction, and operation of Federal facilities.

Environmental Management Systems
This category recognizes the most effective and innovative programs to implement environmental management systems at Federal facilities in accordance with E.O. 13148. Implementation of Facility level environmental management systems shall include measurable environmental goals, objectives, and targets that are reviewed and updated as appropriate. The systems should also include a compliance component. This category also recognizes the use of quantitative or qualitative consideration of the full range (cradle to grave) of environmental costs and impacts of certain activities or procurement. The effort should include environmental consideration in either descriptive or accounting format of raw material derivations, use and disposal of final products services; material and energy usage and waste; environmental, health and safety management costs; or the use of environmental accounting and life cycle assessment in multiple types of decision making.

Register Your Nomination Now!

This year, for the first time, only electronic submissions will be accepted in the nomination process.

Submit all information on-line through this website.
*nominations are no longer being accepted

[If you experience difficulties filling out the OFEE nomination form, please send your information via email to hughest@tteam.com, and it will be manually entered into the database. You will be faxed a hardcopy of the nomination form, along with your identification number to submit. Please feel free to phone Teague (TJ) Hughes at 703.256.6661 if you have questions or problems.]