The Challenger Center of Tallahassee Earns Green Office Certification

In the Fall of 2024, The Challenger Center of Tallahassee became Gold Certified as a Green Office. This is the first time that The Challenger Center of Tallahassee has been Green Office certified, and seeing the office breakthrough at the highest level of Green Office certification is an exciting sustainability achievement.  

The Green Office Program is a certification process that encourages FSU employees to identify and implement sustainable practices in their workplace. By recognizing offices for sustainability achievements, this program plays a vital role in fostering a culture of environmental consciousness throughout the campus community. Florida State University's commitment to sustainability is clearly outlined in the university’s Strategic Plan. Goal VI, Excellence and Education, explicitly states the university's intention to integrate sustainable living practices into all FSU activities. The Green Office Program aligns perfectly with this goal, allowing departments and offices to contribute to FSU's larger sustainability vision.  

For The Challenger Center of Tallahassee, the Green Office certification initiative was spearheaded by Kaley Gross, the Marketing Manager.  

“I was really fortunate to have a team, specifically the educational team, that already had a mindset for reuse, taking things from the community’s needs and recycling them into the program. They had the educational side of things down, and they already had a legacy of the recycling reuse mentality,” said Gross.  

Some of the recent updates that The Challenger Center implemented included placing various Community Waste Stations around the facility rather than solely relying on trash cans in order to utilize multi-stream recycling, as well as recycling bins for IMAX 3D glasses, a feature unique to the office due to their popular IMAX theater. They are also finding small and unique ways to cut down on waste in general, such as transitioning to only using digital business cards.  

Another feature unique to the space that has been adapted to be more sustainable is the concessions stand, which now utilizes containers made of biodegradable and compostable materials including cups, lids, straws, and kids' meal boxes, rather than relying on the previous plastic-based options. They also now offer a Bring Your Own Cup option at the concession stand, where customers can bring a reusable bottle for fountain drink refills of up to 40 ounces for only $5.

The team at The Challenger Center was thrilled about their newest sustainability addition as well, Water Bottle Refill stations! Each water fountain within the building now sports a Water Bottle Refill station so that team members and visitors can easily fill their reusable bottles. 

The Challenger Center of Tallahassee serves as a stand-out example of how offices can implement sustainable practices that fit their unique needs. Though not located on FSU’s main campus, The Challenger Center team still took the initiative to update their practices to align with the university’s goal of integrating sustainable living practices into all FSU activities, a goal we hope that other offices, whether located on the main campus or not, will also strive to implement.  

“For the future, we are excited to see all of the change we made become part of the culture and become natural without having to think about it,” said Gross. 

To learn more about the sustainable practices that The Challenger Center of Tallahassee has implemented, check out their Zero G Sustainability initiative.  

If you are interested in making your workplace more sustainable and joining the Green Office Program, visit https://sustainablecampus.fsu.edu/get-involved/faculty-and-staff/green-office-certification