Sustainability | Environmental Practices

Environmental Practices

The City of Tallahassee strives to protect the future of our city and our world.

City Sustainability through Biofuel

For nearly a decade, Fleet Management has been working on pollution prevention and waste reduction in its shop. Currently, it is continuing conservation efforts by turning to biodiesel fuel.

What is biodiesel?
Biodiesel is an alternative fuel for diesel engines that is receiving great attention worldwide. Although it attracts the most attention because it is renewable, it is also known for reduced exhaust pollutants. It is also attractive because it can be produced relatively easily from common feedstocks such as poultry (chicken) fat and virgin or restaurant waste vegetable oil.

Biodiesel is defined as the mono-alkyl esters of fatty acids derived from vegetable oils or animal fats. In simple terms, biodiesel is the product obtained when a vegetable oil or animal fat is chemically reacted with an alcohol to produce fatty acid alkyl esters (biodiesel). Potassium or sodium hydroxide (lye) is also used in the process as a catalyst. Glycerin is produced as a co-product and can be converted to useable soap.

Learn more about Biofuel and our Fleet Sustainability programs.

Tallahassee Greenprint

Tallahassee GreenPrint is the City of Tallahassee's strategic sustainability plan. The plan is a broad, inclusive, and community-responsive strategic sustainability plan that was developed to advance the City's goal of creating a more sustainable and livable community. The GreenPrint complements existing planning efforts and seeks to leverage and enhance current programs. It also seeks to lay out a framework to support and further the City's plans for economic resiliency, environmental protection and social equity.

The GreenPrint addresses sustainability across eight broad target areas: Leadership, Education and Community Outreach, Health, Economics, Natural Resources, Energy, Solid Waste and Land Development and Mobility.

Tallahassee's Sustainability Journey

The City of Tallahassee has a longstanding history of implementing innovative, cutting-edge initiatives and programs that foster the development of a more sustainable community. Over the years, these efforts have enhanced our residents' quality of life, saved money, protected our natural environments and garnered the City state, national and international recognition as a leader in the field of sustainability. Whether it's the Smart Metering System, the City's award-winning park system, the Neighborhood Leadership Academy, the Think About Personal Pollution (TAPP) program, the Community Human Services Partnership, or the Mayor's Local Business Saturday Campaign... all of these initiatives share a common core: sustainability.

Sustainability is a community's ability to thrive over the long term while meeting the needs of today without compromising its ability to meet the needs of the future through the proper stewardship of its environmental, economic, and social resources. The Tallahassee GreenPrint lays out a strategic pathway for the City to become more sustainable.

Understanding the GreenPrint

Tallahassee GreenPrint is a broad, inclusive, and community-responsive strategic sustainability plan that brings a coordinated and strategic focus to the City's efforts to create a sustainable and livable community. The GreenPrint complements existing plans and planning efforts such as the Tallahassee-Leon County Comprehensive Plan, the City's Mobility District, and the Placemaking Projects. The Plan also leverages and enhances existing programs and identifies new initiatives to achieve greater sustainability within City government operations and the Tallahassee-Leon community. The GreenPrint seeks to lay out a framework to support and further the City's plans for economic resiliency, environmental protection and social equity. The Plan covers a planning horizon of five years.

Citizen Leadership and Involvement

The Tallahassee GreenPrint was developed under the guidance of the City Manager-appointed citizen advisory board, the Environmental Advisory Board (EAB). Members of the EAB represented various community interests and stakeholder groups. Throughout the plan development process, various community stakeholder groups and individual citizens provided input and commented on the draft plan. The final plan reflects the collaborative efforts of our residents, City staff and our elected officials.

Framework

The EAB and City staff used the American Planning Association's (APA) Sustainability Framework to guide their work in developing the GreenPrint. This framework advocates four basic objectives.

Objectives:

Reduce dependence upon fossil fuels, extracted underground metals and minerals.
Reduce dependence on chemicals / manufactured substances that can accumulate in nature.
Reduce dependence on activities that harm life-sustaining ecosystems.
Meet the hierarchy of present and future human needs fairly and efficiently.

Quick View of Target Area Definitions

greenprint education icon EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY OUTREACH - Education sets the foundation for community engagement, sustainability awareness and environmental stewardship. The Education and Community Outreach target area furthers this by recommending strategies that foster awareness and expanded partnerships to promote environmental stewardship.

greenprint health icon HEALTH - The Health target area recommends strategies for improving the community's access to health, recreation, wellness infrastructure and programs, and locally sourced food.

greenprint economics icon ECONOMICS - The Economics target area recommends policies and programs to help ensure that the City's investments further the principles of sustainability and support the expansion of the City's emerging green-sector economy.

greenprint natural resources icon NATURAL RESOURCES - The Natural Resources target area proposes strategies that emphasize the conservation and protection of the natural resources that comprise our unique ecosystem.

greenprint energy icon ENERGY - The Energy target area focuses on energy efficiency and conservation, alternative energy, and alternative-fuel vehicles, all aimed at reducing energy consumption and demand.

greenprint solid waste icon SOLID WASTE - The Solid Waste target area focuses on reducing the City's solid waste footprint by emphasizing source reduction, reuse and recycling.

greenprint land development and mobility icon LAND DEVELOPMENT AND MOBILITY - The Land Development and Mobility target area furthers the City's goals to ensure that community design, land development, and the City's transportation systems are carried out in a manner that supports a sustainable community.

View the GreenPrint here (PDF).

Stormwater Management

Stormwater Management's Mission is to assist the community with defining its priority stormwater management objectives, in the context of physical, environmental, and socio-economic concerns, and to develop and implement strategies to address the same, as expeditiously and to the fullest extent possible, within the resources the community chooses to allocate to these efforts.

Stormwater Forms

Drinking Water

Wastewater