Perdue Farms gets environmental award for home office building

Jim Perdue of Perdue Farms talks about the company's efforts in environmental responsibility, including the renovation of the Perdue Farms home office.

Perdue Farms has been honored by the U.S. Green Building Council and the State of Maryland for its environmentally designed renovation of its corporate office building. The poultry processor received the Platinum certification - the highest possible ranking - for the building project from the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building certification program.
The completion of a four-year, $10.5 million renovation of the 94,000-square-foot building makes the Perdue headquarters the first USGBC LEED Platinum building on Maryland's eastern shore, and one of fewer than 20 LEED Platinum-certified commercial projects in the state.
"By earning this LEED Platinum certification and for working with Maryland to restore the Chesapeake, Perdue Farms has demonstrated their commitment to building a better, more sustainable Maryland," said Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, during a ceremony at Perdue's corporate headquarters on August 14. "With 570 employees at their headquarters - and 1,600 throughout the eastern shore - Perdue has been an important partner in the effort to grow Maryland's economy. I look forward to continuing our work with them to create jobs, expand economic opportunities to our local farmers and protect our state's natural resources."
Perdue has built a program of protecting and preserving the environment through such projects as Perdue AgriRecycle, the first large-scale litter recycling operation, investments in its wastewater treatment facilities, and reformulation of products and processes to reduce waste streams, said Jim Perdue, chairman of Perdue Farms. "Now having LEED Platinum certification of our corporate offices helps underscore our ongoing commitment to environmental sustainability and corporate responsibility."
LEED certification provides independent, third-party verification that a building, home or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at achieving high performance in key areas of human health and environmental impact, such as sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.