Programs and Partnerships

In communities worldwide, government agencies, homebuilder associations, professional and environmental groups, and others have come together to organize green building programs. Partnerships of state government agencies, local governments, and other organizations have also been formed to encourage and implement sustainable building practices in state, local, and schools projects.

The following list provides links to many of these ongoing efforts to educate and encourage market transformations so that sustainable building practices are more widely known and adopted.

Government Programs

Higher Education: Design Curriculum

Several efforts are underway to develop and include Sustainable Design curricula into California’s Design professional programs.

  • SEDE: Sustainable Environmental Design Education, CalRecycle has partnered with the Renewable Energy Institute at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo to improve the adoption of sustainable environmental design principles in higher education and industry continuing education programs in architecture and landscape architecture.

Industry and Government Unite

Memorandum of Understanding for Carpet Stewardship
Signed on January 8, 2002, this agreement establishes a ten-year schedule to increase the amount of reuse and recycling of post-consumer carpet and reduce the amount of waste carpet going to landfills. The Memorandum of Understanding is the result of a two-year negotiation process between members of the carpet industry, representatives of government agencies at the federal, state and local levels, and nongovernmental organizations. The agreement is a voluntary initiative that encourages manufacturers to assume product stewardship–the responsibility for the lifecycle of carpet from point-of-sale to disposal.

For more information contact, the Office of Public Affairs, opa@calrecycle.ca.gov