#greentowork

Posted by Courtney Goldberg

(Above: Fresh vegetables harvested from the community garden at Cell Signaling Technology in Danvers, MA).

The benefits of NSTMA membership go far beyond the possibility of winning gift cards for commuters who log their trips in our Green to Work program.

Membership gives our member companies tips and benchmarking data for their own sustainability programs and they all benefit from the advocacy we provide on the municipal, state and federal levels. The work we do for our members helps them meet their sustainability goals while also making our roads safer and less congested.

But don’t just take it from me! In an effort to depict how and why NSTMA membership can benefit your organization, I sat down to speak with Seth Levin who works as the Sustainability Coordinator at Cell Signaling Technologies in Danvers, MA. 

C.G.: How long have you been working with the North Shore TMA?

S.L.: Cell Signaling Technologies (CST) joined in June of 2012 as part of our overarching transportation management plan. NSTMA membership gave us access to resources that make our plan better and tips to make it more visible to employees.

C.G.: Please tell me more about CST’s transportation management plan.

S.L.: Sure! The transportation plan started as a way to combat parking lot congestion, reduce scope 3 carbon emissions caused by employee commuting and improve local air quality. But it’s actually grown into something more like a community now. The way it works is employees earn points for using alternative transportation to get to work and those points are then redeemable for cash prizes-- even vacation days. Now the bike commuters meet for long rides on the weekends and the walking commuters compete against one another for points. We didn’t see that coming but it’s awesome!

C.G.: How do you allocate “points”?

S.L.: We have an internal system where our employees can log their trips and so they don’t have to log twice, I send that data to Al [NSTMA Outreach Manager Al Marrone] for the Green to Work program. We give CST employees one point per day when they commute via carpool, vanpool or public transportation and we give two points per day to commuters who bike and/or walk to work. We also have preferred parking for employees who have L.E.F.E. (Low Emission Fuel-Efficient, defined as cars who get 40 MPG highway mile and/or electric vehicles) vehicles and we have free charging stations at both of our locations (on Trask Road in Danvers and Tozer Road in Beverly). We also provide a 50% subsidy for employees who take public transportation and a $1000 subsidy paid out over two years for employees who purchase L.E.F.E. vehicles. We want to make “green” commuting easy and desirable for our employees, which is why we provide substantial incentives for these programs. We also have shower facilities on site, cubbies and indoor bike racks because many of our employees have expensive bikes that they don’t want to leave out in the cold. Additionally, all of these amenities make the programs more visible. The more people see their colleagues doing it, the more inclined they are to try it themselves.

C.G.: Are you a “green” commuter?

S.L.: Yes. I live in Allston-Brighton (Boston) so I commute via a combination of carpool and/or biking/commuter rail. When I bike, I will ride 7 miles to North Station and then take the train up to Beverly and then I’ll ride the final 3 miles into the office. I think it’s important to be visible to my colleagues so they will see what I do as something they should try. Also, I’m known around the office as the “corporate tree hugger” so to speak!

C.G.: What do you find most beneficial about CST’s membership with the NSTMA?

S.L.: Our membership has definitely helped us make our transportation plan more holistic and comprehensive. You guys have also given us some good benchmarking data. It’s great to see what other companies in the area are doing so we can strive to meet or even beat their goals. It’s a great community to be a part of and the events the NSTMA puts on give our department and programs a lot of visibility.

C.G.: Does CST have sustainability goals?

S.L.: Yes, definitely. In fact, the transportation plan is only a small part of those goals. We have a goal of converting all of the paper towel dispensers in our bathrooms to electric hand driers in an effort to reduce waste. We also have a recycling program for both our lab waste (since we are a biotech facility, we create a lot of waste from plastics in our lab) and general waste, like food and packaging. This recycling program combined with our compost program has enabled us to divert 75% of our waste from the landfill and of that 75%, 40% is mix-biotech plastic waste that is diverted and 25% is compost. The money we’ve saved from composting goes to pay for the price premium involved with recycling. We’ve also replaced half of the metal lights in the parking lot with LED lights to save energy. I could go on for days about some of our other initiatives but you can find them on our website at www.cellsignal.com in the sustainability section.

C.G.: Wow! You are really setting an amazing example for all of our members. I’ve heard some great things about a community garden (a recent harvest is pictured above) at CST. Could you tell me more about that?

S.L.: Oh yes. We started a garden on site at CST and the compost from our cafeteria is brought to a farm to be composted and we buy it back to use as soil in the garden. So far this year we’ve grown 120 pounds of food for our employees to eat and many of the employees work at lunchtime and after work to help with weeding.

C.G.: Is there anything else you’d like to share about your experience with the NSTMA?

S.L.: Yes, I’ve been working on compiling detailed statistics on how our employees are getting to work. I pull reports monthly and share them with you guys. This year alone, we’ve had 87 employees participate in the transportation plan—out of our 400 total employees in the U.S., that’s pretty good. On average, we have 25 people participate per day and I’m really proud of that.

C.G.: You should be! CST even got recognized this year at the Massachusetts ECO Awards for your transportation program.

 S.L.: That’s right! For two years in a row, we have won the Pinnacle Award and this year we won the Spotlight Award for Innovation (thanks to the support of the NSTMA staff who promoted our nomination). I hope we can keep this up year after year…

 Thank you, Seth for your time, enthusiasm and eagerness to share CST’s achievements with us! You certainly are setting the bar high for our member companies.

Posted by Courtney Goldberg

The benefits of MVTMA membership go far beyond the possibility of winning gift cards for commuters who log their trips in our Green to Work program or the benefit of peace of mind for those employees participating in our Guaranteed Ride Home program. Membership gives our member companies access to other member organizations and they all benefit from the advocacy we provide on the municipal, state and federal levels. The work we do for our members helps them meet their sustainability goals while also making our roads safer and less congested.

But don’t just take it from me! In an effort to depict how and why MVTMA membership can benefit your organization, I sat down to speak with Kathy Rogers who works in Internal Communications for MVTMA member Philips Healthcare in Andover, MA.

C.G.: How long have you been working with the MVTMA?

K.R.: Philips has been a member of the MVTMA for as long as I’ve been working here (and that’s a long time)! It’s just part of the fabric here. Philips used to be part of Hewlett Packard and they were a founding member (along with Putnam Investments, Verizon (formerly NYNEX), Brickstone Properties (formerly Niuna – 100 River, Inc.,), Polycom (formerly Picture Tel), MGI One Tech Andover Corp., and MKS Instruments) of the River Road TMA in 1997. So naturally, TMA membership is an integral part of daily business here at Philips.

C.G.: Are you a shared commuter?

K.R.: I telecommute 2-3 times per week. Given the nature of my job, I need to travel around to various campuses and meet with many different people so carpooling isn’t really an option for me. That’s why I try to work from home whenever I can.

C.G.: What do you find most beneficial about Philips’ involvement with the MVTMA?

K.R.: Well, it’s really two-fold. Our membership gives us connections to other organizations in the [River Road] area. In addition to the advocacy [that the MVTMA provides], we really benefit from the networking and connections that we make at the roundtable meetings. And secondly, our MVTMA membership helps us promote and demonstrate our commitment to sustainable and healthy communities.

C.G.: Does Philips have specific sustainability goals and/or targets?

K.R.: Yes, these goals are dictated out of our global office in the Netherlands. Each site has its own individual goals, too. Here in Andover, we have specific goals related to  increasing recycling, decreasing waste, reducing water usage and electric consumption, and conducting business in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way.

C.G.: How does your membership with the MVTMA help with those goals?

K.R.: We have to complete a report with the Mass DEP (Department of Environment Protection) and the MVTMA helps us with that. We also use the facts and figures from Bike to Work week (MassCommute Bicycle Challenge) for our sustainability reporting.

C.G.: What do you usually stress when you promote the MVTMA to your colleagues?

K.R.: It depends on whom I talking to, but if I’m talking to another colleague, I usually focus on the Green to Work program. I tell folks that it puts money back in their pocket and it literally defines the answer to “what’s in it for me?”. When I’m speaking to senior-level executives, I usually focus on how MVTMA membership is good for our company because it helps us meet our sustainability goals. Just the other day, one of my colleagues walked by and he was holding a bicycle helmet. I asked him if he bikes in regularly and he said that he usually bikes to work 2-3 times per week! I asked him if he knew about [the MVTMA’s] Green to Work and he said no. So I gave him the information to sign up!

One foot over the other.  One, two, one, two. That final push up River Road. It’s a warm, humid morning in July and you’re biking to work—dreaming of that iced coffee you will imbibe as soon as you get to the office. Sweat drips down your brow as you make that left turn onto Shattuck Road…finally, a slight downhill! You coast into the parking lot. Phew! And a new personal best time!

This isn’t the latest version of the pan-Mass Challenge or a spinning instructor barking in your ear at the gym. This is the sound of a biking commute. Not only can you get your daily dose of exercise on your way to and from work, but you can also become eligible for prizes and monetary rewards—simply by changing the way you commute.

Take Mike Evans from Draeger Medical for example. Mike biked to work during this year’s MassCommute Bicycle Challenge (MCBC) and he logged his miles on their website. After the week-long challenge concluded, Mike was selected among the group of MCBC participants to win a raffle prize. He won a bicycle tire pump, courtesy of the Merrimack Valley TMA. Mike isn’t alone. Every month, the Merrimack Valley TMA selects an alternative commuter who logs their trips using Green to Work to win a gift card valued at $25. If a commuter logs trips for three consecutive months and lets us know about it by submitting three Green to Work calendars to us, then that commuter is eligible for a gift card valued at $100. It’s simple, easy, fun and a great way to earn free money.

Summertime in New England is the perfect time to think about sharing your commute—whether it be by biking to work, taking the commuter rail or carpooling with a colleague. And who knows, you might even win something…

For more “food for thought” regarding commuting, traffic demand reduction and other transportation musings, follow us on Twitter @MerrimackVlyTMA

There is a lot of noise out there about commuting. Our roadways are undoubtedly congested—all you have to do is drive along Route 128 or Route 1 on a given week day and you’ll see that’s evident. Our roads are also a mess! After this long and very cold winter, the Boston area’s road are laden with pot holes—so much so that crews have to close down parts of streets to fix them (and often times, it’s a repeat fix from a month ago!).

After staring at brake lights twice a day, five times a week on I-93 and worrying during every trip that the pothole you just transgressed may have finally gotten the best of your tires, it’s time to consider an alternative option. That is riding to work. That’s right, you can get directly from your home to work at the time you want but in this case, you don’t have to do the driving. And on top of that, you can save money on your commute, save your car from its next trip to the shop and you can relax or do something else while you’re on your way to work. Seriously, when was the last time you read a good book?

With this in mind, the North Shore TMA would like to commend Steve Arena of Eastern Bank. Like many of you, Steve has a long commute. He drives from his home in Quincy to Lynn every day. Interested in carpooling, Steve took our survey last month to see what options were available to him so he could save money and aggravation on his commute. Steve was one of close to 100 people who took our survey during our “New Year, New Commute” Winter Promotion. Every person who took our survey was entered into a drawing for an Amazon Kindle Fire and of the 100 participants, Steve was the lucky winner—of the Kindle at least.