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DEP Home > Innovation > Green Businesses > Lodging

Maine's Environmental Leader Certification
Lodging Businesses

Visit our certified Environmental Leaders in Hospitality.

See yearly cumulative savings and environmental impact reductions. (Participating businesses have saved over $10,537 per year in quantifiable electricity reductions, on average!)

Become a certified Environmental Leader in the lodging sector and receive free benefits:

  • Environmental Leader flag and decals to display at your property.
  • Environmental Leader logo to use for advertising (website, literature, decals, etc.).
  • A listing on the Maine Tourism Association and Maine Office of Tourism web sites and for members, a listing on the Maine Inn Keeper’s Association website, all of which identify your business as Maine certified environmentally preferable.
  • A listing on a brochure (PDF 215 KB) available at the Maine Visitor’s Centers.
  • Free on-going technical assistance from Maine Departmental of Environmental Protection on how to continue to reduce environmental impact while saving money.

How the program works:

Download the self-certification woorkbook. Note there are now two different workbooks:

Businesses with under 12 rooms [MS Word format]

Business with 12 or more rooms [MS Word format]

  1. Complete the self-certification workbook by checking off all of the initiatives that your facility is currently undertaking. If you need assistance filling out the workbook, please call 1-800-452-1942 ask for Peter Cooke.

    Please understand that not all of the items in the workbook are necessary; the workbook is a comprehensive list of the many different ways to generate points. Employing all of the initiatives in this workbook is unrealistic, so please use the ones that you have not yet implemented as recommendations.
  2. Calculate your estimated score by adding up all of the checked boxes.
  3. Send completed workbook to the DEP’s Pollution Prevention Program Manager or Fax it to Peter Cooke at 207-822-6303.

    Peter Cooke
    Maine Departmental of Environmental Protection
    312 Canco Road
    Portland, ME 04103
  4. Your workbook will be reviewed and receive a final score by the DEP’s Pollution Prevention Program Manager.

    You do not need to have 100 points to participate in this program. Free technical assistance is available from DEP’s Pollution Prevention Program Manager to help any business achieve more points, regardless of point total. Low cost recommendations will be given to help businesses achieve more points.

    If your business scores 100 points, your business qualifies for an automatic certification from the state for 2 years. In two years you will need to increase the point total to 130 to be eligible for a free re-certification.

    If your business scores less 100 points, your business is eligible for a provisional certification which includes all the benefits of a fully certified business provided you agree to accumulate the remainder of the points within an agreed upon time frame.
  5. Upon final scoring of the workbook, you will be sent an official letter detailing your point total and possible low cost recommendations. You will also receive a desk-top Environmental Leader flag to display, an electronic Environmental Leader logo that you can begin using for marketing and advertising purposes, and 2 free Environmental Leader decals.
  6. The Pollution Prevention Program Manager will randomly select businesses for verification appointments throughout the year. These visits will be scheduled and not “unannounced”.