MONTREAL — Gone are the ubiquitous Styrofoam cups. In are long-lasting china mugs.

The more than 400 employees at FEDERATION CJA’s Cummings House, Gelber Conference Centre and Cummings Jewish Centre for Seniors  have all received a personalized mug for their favourite brew as a daily reminder to “passe au vert/work green.”

That’s the slogan of the federation’s comprehensive plan to be kinder to the environment by creating an ecologically friendly workplace and making its buildings sustainable.

All Styrofoam cups and plates are being phased out in the food services department in favour of “real” dishes or, if necessary, recycled paperware. Bottled water is being replaced by filtered water.

Employees will also notice recycling bins in their offices, photocopies that use two sides of the paper and air-conditioning that is slightly less cranked up.

Federation president Marc Gold said at the plan’s official launch this month that concern for the environment is in keeping with the Jewish value of tikkun olam, or healing the world.

“We are determined to make concern for the environment part of our daily work habits, part of our DNA, and to do nothing less than effect a culture of change in our workplace,” he said.

The federation is aiming to meet the criteria for green certification of BOMA, the Building Owners and Managers Association, by the end of September. BOMA sets standards for best environmental practices in the Canadian commercial real estate industry.

All staff and volunteers are being urged to observe the three Rs: reduce waste and resource consumption, reuse whenever possible and increase recycling. At the management level, measures are being taken to reduce water and energy consumption. Cleaning products used are now 100 per cent biodegradable and phosphate-free. The paper products in all washrooms are made from recycled materials that disintegrate quickly. The federation’s publications and other printed matter will use recycled paper.

Federation board member Brenda Gewurz, who is guiding the plan’s implemention, said studies show that the water and energy used in machine-washing durable dishes uses fewer resources than paper plates, and is far preferable to Styrofoam, which does not degrade.

Concerns about maintaining kashrut when dishes are moved between Gelber and Cummings House have been worked out with the Vaad Ha’ir, which supervises the premises, she said.

Professionally, Gewurz is a vice-president of Proment Corporation, which is building what will be Quebec’s first high-rise condominium that meets the highest environmental standards.

The federation has been working to cut energy use for some time, and over the past two years, it has succeeded in reducing electricity consumption by 20 per cent at Cummings House.

Federation director of operations Moshe Ben-Shach said that saving had been achieved by automating the air-conditioning system to shut down on Saturdays, holidays and sometimes overnight, revamping the heating system to enable it to be controlled in individual spaces, updating the lighting ballasts to control voltage and replacing an outmoded water-cooling tower on the roof.

The 20 per cent reduction represents over one million kilowatts of energy, he said.

The plan is to eventually make the entire Jewish Community Campus eco-friendly, including the Segal Centre for Performing Arts at the Saidye and the YM-YWHA across the street.

The Segal has already made an effort to be green.

It’s trying to reuse costumes and sets, clean with biodegradable products and use recycled paper and vegetable-based inks. The 77 seats in its new cinema are covered in hemp fabric.

The federation also hopes to set an example for the Jewish community as a whole, and is encouraging other institutions, schools and synagogues to follow its lead.

The inter-denominational Montreal Board of Rabbis is looking at the issue, its president Rabbi Michael Whitman said. “Care for the environment is fundamental to Jewish values.”

On hand for the launch of Work Green were Côte des Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough Mayor Michael Applebaum and Stephen Bronfman, president and CEO of Claridge Inc. and an environmental activist and supporter.

The borough has just launched its green plan, and Applebaum lauded the federation for being the first association to sign on to its objectives.

Bronfman, a longtime board member of the David Suzuki Foundation, encouraged the federation to go green.

Bronfman said the federation is making a strong statement that the Jewish community is committed to the planet’s future. Being green “not only makes you feel good as a person, it makes good business sense.”

Claridge headquarters in Le Windsor are now carbon-neutral, meaning energy use is reduced and emissions offset, as is a food plant on the West Island that Bronfman owns.

He is also “walking the walk” at home. He bought the historic mansion owned by his late grandparents Samuel and Saidye Bronfman on Belvedere Road in upper Westmount and is gradually turning it into a fully eco-friendly building, right down to the soy-based insulation in the walls and the collection of “grey water” for irrigation.

He hopes to receive the first gold rating from LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for a home of its kind in Canada.

The launch was followed by an environmentally friendly reception of granola cookies, organic fruit, fair-trade tea and soy milk.