Disaster Recovery, Sustainability and Environmental Stewardship.

Many companies have established Sustainability or Environmental Impact initiatives, with clear goals, tracking, and reporting mechanisms. However, when asked about the intersection of these initiatives with disaster recovery efforts, most organizations fail to make a connection.

 

This is partly because disaster recovery is generally viewed as an urgent, reactive process—one that happens suddenly, outside of normal operations, and with an emphasis on getting back to “business as usual” as quickly as possible.

 

An Opportunity

At OneRallyPoint, we believe that disaster recovery presents an opportunity to not only rebuild but to also align recovery efforts with broader sustainability goals. The beauty is that unlike many beliefs that sustainability initiatives cost more money and require additional sacrifice, what we are proposing will actually reduce costs.

 

The Current Situation

Unfortunately, current recovery practices are typically wasteful and inefficient, particularly in terms of material, labor and resource waste.

 

In many cases, the sheer volume of building materials—everything from structural components to furnishings is discarded during recovery efforts, even though a significant portion of these materials could remain, or be reused, recycled, or repurposed. This waste contributes to a growing landfill problem and unnecessarily increases the environmental footprint of recovery besides adding costs to the job.

 

A Change

It doesn’t have to be this way. With thoughtful planning and better management, disaster recovery can be optimized to improve sustainability.  This is a chance to engage in further impact initiatives with clear goals to reduce “carbon footprint”, water usage, waste stream volume, etc.

 

For instance, more efficient workflows and construction schedules reduce job-site energy consumption, and fuel usage. Engaging more strategic demolition practices will avoid sending large quantities of materials to landfills and reduce the volume of materials needed for rebuild, reducing aggregated cost and time.  Some building materials can even be directed for reuse.

 

The Benefits

While these changes need to balance human safety, legal requirements, speed of recovery, and other critical objectives, they are achievable and will be impactful. Beyond the direct environmental benefits, an optimized recovery process also leads to better human outcomes —reducing stress on corporate employees and on the building occupants, improving focus for recovery teams, and creating a more peaceful and sustainable long-term recovery environment.

 

Our Involvement

At OneRallyPoint, we specialize in striking this balance, by integrating sustainability into disaster recovery planning. This will contribute to a more sustainable and resilient future for people and the planet while also reducing the cost. Ultimately this will both speed up the recovery process and make a more efficient use of materials and resources.  Benefits to sustainability and recovery.