Sustainability and Support Services Archives

Delta Institute (Delta) is working with local groups and public agencies to complete in-depth community engagement centered around shoreline resilience planning and implementation for the South Shore neighborhood of Chicago. For years this community has been buffeted by extreme weather and Lake Michigan events, and a comprehensive, cohesive community planning process is essential.

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Forest Preserve District of DuPage County – Developing a Clean Energy, Resiliency, and Sustainability Plan

The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County has partnered with Delta Institute (Delta) and ECT to develop a plan to advance sustainability, climate action, and resiliency. We are developing a plan that will be comprehensive, equitable, partnership-driven, actionable, fundable, and measurable. Ultimately, we believe this plan will position the District as a regional leader in advancing sustainability.

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Village of Skokie (IL) Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory

Delta conducted a baseline greenhouse gas inventory for the Village of Skokie (IL) to assess current emissions and provide recommendations for reductions across all municipal departments and sectors.

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McHenry County (IL) Solid Waste Strategy

Delta Institute has partnered with McHenry County, IL, to create both a county-wide solid waste management strategy (2012) and provide a 10-year update in 2022.

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2021 City of Chicago Waste Strategy

The City of Chicago has the opportunity to implement strategies to tackle waste and materials management that impact our economy, environment, and citizens every day. These strategies offer opportunities to reduce waste; increase diversion through reuse, recycling, and composting; reduce costs; and increase economic and environmental justice opportunities. Delta Institute (Delta) was hired by the City of Chicago Office of the Mayor to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the entire municipal waste system and its directly related impacts on the community. As a core part of our efforts, Delta developed a holistic, pragmatic roadmap with short-term recommendations for 2021-2022 to re-envision what materials management in Chicago could look like, while ultimately turning waste into resource.

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Catalyzing Private Sector Investment on Chicago’s Southeast Side for Sustainable Revitalization

Delta Institute is working with our long-term partner, the Illinois International Port District to assess and evaluate the placement and creation of two new wetlands that will capture stormwater on IIPD's land--keeping pollutants from entering the Calumet River and traveling through dozens of downstream communities.

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Community-Led Brownfield Redevelopment in the Little Village Neighborhood

Through a robust partnership between the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization and Delta Institute (Delta), our efforts included a comprehensive mapping project of numerous brownfield sites in the neighborhood and the creation of sustainable redevelopment strategy. These efforts helped lead to a Chicago Prize Finalist (2020) project.

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Waukegan Beneficial Use of Dredged Material Project

Recreational beaches around the Great Lakes have experienced significant erosion due to high water levels, more intense storms, and other conditions. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) recently selected six sites within four municipalities to be eligible for pilot participation and receiving sand for restoring beaches. Delta Institute and GEI Consultants are supporting these efforts.

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Steel City Salvage: Deconstruction and Economic Opportunity in Gary

Delta Institute (Delta) has worked within Gary for years—decades even—with dozens of local community partners who are essential to our collaborative efforts’ success. Many of our supporters are familiar with Delta’s efforts to create Steel City Salvage, our deconstruction project that saves reclaimed materials from vacant buildings going to landfill—instead selling them to spur economic development within the City of Gary. We are committed to ensuring that materials from Gary benefit Gary, and that operations remain within the City to provide another route for ongoing economic development.

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Storywood: Utilizing Reclaimed and Unique Wood in Design and Architecture

Delta Institute created the StoryWood Toolkit as a guide for designers to identify, evaluate, and share the most interesting parts of a certain type of wood’s back story, and, more specifically, it will help to align material choices to achieve certifications, such as LEED or Living Building Challenge.

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Reimagining the Shenango Coke Plant Site outside Pittsburgh, PA

Delta Institute has worked with numerous communities who are faced with a closed--or closing--coal power plant. These sites have unique needs for redevelopment, ranging from environmental remediation to replacement of lost tax revenue and jobs. Delta facilitated a coalition of community groups located outside Pittsburgh, PA to create Guiding Principles for sustainable redevelopment of the closed Shenango Coke Plant property located on Neville Island, located on the Ohio River.

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Merchandise Mart LEED Certification

Delta Institute (Delta) led Merchandise Mart through initial LEED Operations and Maintenance Certification at the silver level in 2007 and recertification at the gold level in 2013. These efforts included assistance for the LEED Commercial Interiors Certification for the Designer Lounge.

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Sustainable Consulting to the Field Museum

Delta Institute (Delta) secured funding from Cook County to perform an energy audit and LEED assessment of the Museum. As a non-standard building type, the Museum was one of the most challenging LEED projects Delta has pursued. It achieved LEED Gold certification and received the Governor’s Sustainability Award in 2015.

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Demystifying Midwestern Building Material Markets for Reuse and Revenue

Delta Institute’s Demystifying Waste report provides data to the private and public sector to decrease the disposal rate of reusable materials—and save these valuable supplies from landfills—and increase the capacity of local and state governments to adopt policies encouraging building material reuse and recycling with the recognition of local economic benefits.

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St. Louis Demolition and Deconstruction Technical Assistance

Delta Institute is an expert with construction and demolition waste reduction, recycling, reuse, policy and economic development. The City of St. Louis, St. Louis Development Corporation, the Missouri Environmental Improvement and Energy Resources Authority, and Region 7 EPA selected Delta Institute to revise its demolition handbook, develop specifications for deconstruction, train contractors around building material reuse.

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City of South Bend (IN) Carbon Neutral 2050 Planning

Delta provided the City of South Bend and then-Mayor Pete Buttigieg's Administration with an actionable municipal plan to reduce emissions, called Carbon Neutral 2050. Strategies were prioritized for their ability to provide the most substantial emissions cuts while maximizing benefits to residents and businesses.

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Phytoremediating Vacant Industrial Land in Gary, Indiana

With support from the U.S. Forest Service Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and the Legacy Foundation, Delta Institute partnered with the City of Gary and Greenprint Partners to transform the once thriving site of the five-acre Bear Brand Hosiery Co. stocking factory into a park by planting hybrid poplar trees to improve soil quality.

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Collaborating with the Illinois International Port District for Economic Growth and Infrastructure Expansion

Delta Institute is working with our long-term partner, the Illinois International Port District to implement numerous activities and achieve goals as laid out in the Port's 2030 Master Plan.

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Fisk and Crawford Coal Plants (Chicago, IL) Redevelopment Task Force

Delta and LVEJO partnered to create recommendations to guide redevelopment of the Fisk and Crawford coal plants in Chicago under then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel using just-transition principles created through authentic community engagement and outreach.

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Nonprofit Venture Framework: Rebuilding Exchange (RX)

Delta Institute has long focused on deconstruction and waste reduction as ways to create a more economically vibrant Midwest. This focus led to the creation of the Rebuilding Exchange, a social venture that Delta spun off into it's own separate organization.

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