The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) was officially awarded a district-wide Level 2 AGZA Green Zone Certification in April.
The award ceremony took place at the distinguished Belvedere Middle School campus in East Los Angeles and marked the culmination of a five-year sustainability effort led by Eddie Sanchez, area facilities services director of maintenance and operations; Manuel Enriquez, operations program manager; and the American Green Zone Alliance (AGZA).
According to the alliance, the journey to certification involved rigorous equipment testing across multiple brands of commercial battery-electric landscape equipment, comprehensive workforce training (including online courses, classroom instruction and fieldwork with AGZA instructors) and full infrastructure upgrades. School district area managers, engineers, grounds maintenance crews and equipment manufacturers all collaborated to establish charging infrastructure, retrofit work vans, create storage solutions and redesign workflows to accommodate battery-powered technology.
As a result, more than 2,100 pieces of gas-powered landscape maintenance equipment, including leaf blowers, line trimmers, hedge trimmers, edgers and both large and small mowers, were retired across more than 800 campuses, from elementary schools to high schools and special facilities such as daycare centers.
The alliance stated the goal for the initiative was to build a cleaner, quieter, healthier environment for students, staff and the broader community.
“This is the largest AGZA Green Zone Certification ever established,” said Dan Mabe, founder and president of the American Green Zone Alliance. “It was a team effort, and LAUSD should be tremendously proud of this simply massive achievement.”
Key benefits of the project, according to the AGZA, include:
- A cleaner, quieter environment to enhance student health and learning.
- Improved working conditions for grounds crews and staff.
- Protection of natural resources and the environment.
- Reduced operating costs
- Healthier, more efficient and sustainable schools.
- A stronger culture of environmental stewardship.
A critical aspect of AGZA Green Zone Certification is independent, verifiable data collection and impact analysis. Through AGZA’s ELF (Environmental Landscape Footprint) reporting, overseen by Jamie Banks, AGZA science advisor and president of Quiet Communities, the project’s environmental and economic benefits were meticulously documented.
The annual impact results included:
- Elimination of 120 tons of toxic and carcinogenic emissions.
- Elimination of nearly 900 tons of carbon dioxide — equivalent to the carbon sequestration of over 37,000 mature trees.
- A 50-percent reduction in noise for workers and even greater reductions for students, staff and faculty.
