Sustainable Gwinnett

Gwinnett is a Certified Platinum Green Community

In 2018, Gwinnett County became the first county to achieve the Platinum level in the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Green Communities program, and we’ve maintained that status ever since. Cities and counties earn certification by implementing practices and policies in categories ranging from energy efficiency and green building to transportation and water efficiency.

The ARC program was the first in the U.S. to transform a region by promoting sustainability through green certification. For more, please visit the ARC Green Communities Program website.

Gwinnett Environmental Sustainability

Efficiency. Reduced impact on our water, air, and Earth. Better buildings and transportation systems. Less waste of energy and precious natural resources. Building resilience for tomorrow.

Here you'll learn what you can do – and what your County government is already doing – to set a good example. Gwinnett County is pulling together to build a more sustainable future for our children and grandchildren.

Sustainability in Action

Gwinnett County launched the Gwinnett Environmental Sustainability Program in 2009 to enhance efficiency in the use of valuable resources and reduce the impact of our local government operations on the environment. This environmentally friendly initiative builds our community’s resilience. It also promotes protection and restoration of the community’s natural resources through water and energy conservation and reduction in air pollution and waste.

Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design

Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design is an internationally recognized green building certification system, providing third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies intended to improve performance in metrics such as energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts. Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, LEED is intended to provide building owners and operators a concise framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions.

The County prioritizes the design and construction of environmentally friendly and energy efficient new facilities and encourages County building renovation projects to follow the same standards. Gwinnett County has set an example of LEED certified buildings, like the Environmental and Heritage Center, the Nash Court Building at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center, Hooper-Renwick Themed Library, and the Police Training Center.

EarthCraft House & Multifamily Certification

EarthCraft certification was developed by the Southface Energy Institute and the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association to ensure that buildings and communities in the region meet strict criteria for saving energy and water, ensuring high indoor air quality and protecting our land and natural resources.

The EarthCraft House program certifies homes that are sourced, constructed and designed to reduce environmental impacts. EarthCraft homes also save homeowners a projected 30 percent on their energy bills, relative to comparable buildings that use standard construction methods.

The EarthCraft Multifamily program provides certifications for low-rise and mid-rise multifamily projects, including new construction and renovation. Multifamily standards address a wide range of sustainability considerations, including environmental performance, indoor air quality, building durability, comfort, and affordability.

The County pursues EarthCraft certification for County facilities where LEED certification is not possible due to scope, complexity, or budget constraints. For example, Fire Station 13 in Suwanee earned a EarthCraft Certificate of Building Excellence.

Energy Audits

Gwinnett County has an active energy auditing program to track energy usage at more than 150 County facilities. These audits help identify needs and opportunities to reduce energy use and enhance efficiency, like installing motion sensors or converting lights to LEDs.

EnergySTAR Partner and Purchasing

Gwinnett County participates in EnergySTAR’s Buildings Partnership Program and adheres to an energy strategy focused on energy efficiency and renewable energy for facilities and County sites. By policy, the County also purchases ENERGY STAR equipment and appliances when feasible.

LED Lighting

As part of most renovations of County facilities, lighting upgrades to energy-efficient LED bulbs are budgeted, when possible, to help meet energy codes, energy reduction goals, and energy best practices.

Gwinnett County continues to advance energy-efficient lighting infrastructure through the use of LED technology across both traffic signals and streetlighting systems. Today, all County-maintained traffic signals operate using LED technology, significantly reducing energy consumption, improving reliability, and lowering maintenance costs.

Building on this foundation, the County is executing a long-term plan to convert its entire streetlight network. In coordination with utility partners like Georgia Power and Jackson EMC, Gwinnett is systematically upgrading a countywide inventory of approximately 90,000 lights. Supported by SPLOST funding, this multiyear program currently replaces about 2,000 streetlights annually to ensure a steady and structured transition to more sustainable infrastructure.

These new LED fixtures are designed to be 40% to 60% more efficient than older lighting technologies, providing better-targeted illumination with less waste. To protect the environment, all new installations adhere to Dark Sky compliance standards. These improvements enhance driver visibility and public safety while actively minimizing light pollution and its impact on the local ecosystem.

Lights out, Power Down

The County uses a Lights Out, Power Down policy to ensure employees turn lights off and power down any equipment that can be turned off before leaving their workspaces.

Cool Roof

A cool roof is designed to reflect more sunlight than a conventional roof, absorbing less solar energy. This lowers the temperature of the building. Conventional roofs can reach temperatures of 150°F or more on a sunny summer afternoon. Under the same conditions a reflective roof could stay more than 50°F cooler. This can save energy and money in buildings with air conditioning. Gwinnett County has an active program for installing cool roofs on County facilities, with 12 cool roofs around Gwinnett.

Community Policies

Gwinnett Planning and Development contributes to the Environmental Sustainability Program through the development and implementation of the following policies

Green Power

The gas-to-energy process at the F. Wayne Hill Water Resources Center produced more than 5.6 million kilowatts of energy annually over the last four years, with a notable increase in energy produced in 2025 (over 8.6 million kilowatts). The average energy production over the last four years is equivalent to approximately 8.5 percent of this 60 MGD wastewater treatment facility’s power requirement and a majority percentage of the heat required to operate its anaerobic digesters. This onsite renewable energy source offsets peak summer loads on the public electrical distribution system, allowing for power generated by conventional methods to be used by residents and reducing the facility’s carbon footprint. Through this project, the County is actively pursuing EPA Green Power Partner status.

WaterFirst

WaterFirst is a voluntary community partnership between local governments and the Georgia Department of Community Affairs to improve efficiency of water use and to protect water sources. To qualify as a WaterFirst community, a local government must exceed current requirements in eight categories: Watershed Assessment, Stormwater Master Planning, Water Supply Planning, Water Supply Protection, Water Conservation, Wastewater Treatment Systems and Management, Residual Biosolids, and Water Reclamation and Reuse. Gwinnett County has been a WaterFirst community since the program started in 2003.

Community Water Resource Management Plan

The Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District’s Water Supply and Water Conservation Management Plan includes a framework for water supply facilities and strategies for resource management. Management strategies call for intensive demand management and an aggressive water conservation program. Returning highly treated wastewater to source water is included as a part of the District’s comprehensive approach to water resources management. The plan also outlines an education plan to raise public awareness of water supply and water conservation issues. Gwinnett County remains in compliance with the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Supply and Water Conservation Management Plan.

Gwinnett County has adopted amendments to the Georgia State Minimum Standard Plumbing Code requiring new residential developments to install ultra-high efficiency plumbing fixtures. These changes will result in greater efficiency for all new residential construction, decreases in water demand and daily wear and tear to water supply conveyance infrastructure, and will decrease the volume of water conveyed and treated by wastewater infrastructure. These amendments are more stringent than the requirements in the state minimum standard code.

Learn more about the County’s water conservation initiatives and how you can save water at home.

Green Fleet

Gwinnett County’s Green Fleet Policy was established in 2010. The policy outlines the County’s promise to purchase, lease, or obtain the most energy efficient vehicles possible to meet the needs of the department or agency, provided that adequate funding is available. It also describes that the County will operate and maintain the fleet in an energy efficient way that minimizes emissions. In line with this policy, from 2018 to early 2022, the County purchased 26 hybrid vehicles. Limiting fuel consumption from these vehicles reduces environmental impact and saves money.

Established in 2009, the County’s Anti-Idling policy established guidelines for employees in County vehicles to minimize idling time, saving fuel and reducing emissions.

Traffic Signal Synchronization

Gwinnett County is actively improving traffic signal synchronization and reducing congestion through the implementation of adaptive signal control technology on key corridors. This initiative builds upon the County’s ongoing signal timing optimization program by integrating real-time data and dynamic signal adjustments to improve traffic flow, reduce delay, and minimize vehicle idling.

Safe Routes to School

Gwinnett County, in coordination with Gwinnett County Public Schools, private schools, municipalities, and regional partners, continues to advance a comprehensive Safe Routes to School program focused on improving safety, accessibility, and connectivity for students traveling to and from school. Since 2001, Gwinnett County has maintained a dedicated school safety category within its Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax program, providing a consistent funding source for pedestrian, bicycle, and roadway safety improvements near schools. This long-standing commitment has evolved into a scalable, data-driven program that identifies needs and implements improvements countywide.

Current implementation efforts include:

New sidewalks and pedestrian connections near schools
Decorative and high-visibility crosswalks
School access and operational improvements
Road Safety Audits in partnership with GDOT and local cities
Corridor studies and sidewalk gap prioritization near schools
Safety-focused improvements through the 2023 SPLOST program

Community Shared and Reduced Parking

The October 2025 amendment to the County’s Unified Development Ordinance removed or revised parking requirements for some types of properties, including recreation areas in subdivisions, plant nurseries, and outdoor recreation areas. The amendment also added bicycle parking standards, increased the allowed use of alternative parking surfaces, and reduced the minimum parking requirements for several categories of property. This all helped to reduce paved lot coverage.

Community Plug-in Electric Vehicle Readiness

Gwinnett County requires commercial, multifamily residential, and single-family residential development projects to provide electrical infrastructure for electrical vehicle charging. Gwinnett County has adopted policies and regulations that specify commercial buildings and residential units to be constructed with electrical infrastructure to support electrical vehicle charger systems and that commercial building parking areas provide electrical vehicle charging stations. The County also implemented additional incentives to encourage the installation of EV Charger systems. In 2024, EV Charger installations became eligible for the Green Building Credit, which is a 5% building permit fee reduction.

Recycling at County facilities

Gwinnett County government provides guests opportunities to recycle paper, aluminum and/or steel containers, and plastics #1 and #2 at the County’s facilities. Single-stream recycling receptacles are in the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center, Innovation Square, parks, Police precincts and headquarters, Fire and Emergency Services stations and headquarters, Water Resources facilities, and more. Single-stream receptacles are collected by the County’s custodial and grounds staff, and the contents are placed into containers for transportation to a transfer station and ultimately to a recycling facility by contracted haulers.

Gwinnett County also resells or recycles old electronics. Before any disposition, all storage devices undergo secure data destruction procedures consistent with industry best practices and federal guidelines to protect County data. The County’s vendor for print machine services also offers a toner cartridge recycling program. These nontraditional recycling methods keep items out of landfills.

The County also maintains a policy encouraging the purchase of recycled copy paper.

Municipal Measurement Program

Gwinnett County is a participant in the Municipal Measurement Program, a program designed by the Recycling Partnership and Re-Trac to create a central database of local government program information to improve recycling in the United States. The Municipal Measurement Program promotes consistent measurement, analyzes program performance, and facilitates comparative analysis. The data is verified by The Recycling Partnership prior to inclusion in the nationwide dataset.

Interested in recycling in our community? Find a variety of resources to help you recycle right:

Brownfield development

Brownfield sites are defined as damaged sites where development is complicated by environmental contamination. The County has four facilities that are located on remediated brownfields, including Fire Station 15 and the Fire Training Center.

Greyfield development

Greyfield sites are aging or abandoned strip malls, shopping centers, historical buildings, or other underutilized buildings that can be adapted or reused. The County has completed multiple greyfield development projects, including the Gwinnett Entrepreneur Center, which is located in a converted daycare facility, and the Hooper-Renwick Themed Library, which converted the former Hooper-Renwick School into a library and museum to preserve and honor the school’s legacy.

Infill development

Infill sites are described as new development on previously developed land within an existing community that is surrounded by other types of development. The term most commonly refers to building homes in existing neighborhoods but may also be used to describe new development in commercial, office, or mixed-use areas.

Bicycle Friendly Community

Gwinnett County continues to develop bicycle and pedestrian focused strategies, policies, and initiatives to promote and improve bicycling and walking as alternative transportation methods. Bike and pedestrian planning are included in the County’s 2040 Unified Plan, and the County is further investigating the role of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure to support increasingly urbanized environments and support quality of life initiatives.

This effort includes incorporating network-wide recommendations from the County’s Trails Master Plan and the recently adopted Comprehensive Transportation Plan (Destination 2040), focusing on developing pedestrian friendly and walkable environments in designated areas.

Destination 2040, the County’s Comprehensive Transportation Plan (CTP), was adopted by the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners on December 19, 2017, and includes bicycle and pedestrian focused strategies. This effort included an analysis to determine areas most suitable for bicycle infrastructure investments. As a result of this study, a tiered Bike Priority Network map was developed and is included in the Destination 2040 Recommendations report.

In addition to the priority network created as a part of the CTP, Gwinnett County recently completed a Countywide Trails Master Plan. The master plan was adopted by the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners on April 17, 2018, and proposes a network of County trails connecting with city trails and community improvement districts to create a seamless, interconnected web of bike and pedestrian pathways for recreation and commuting.

Complete Streets

The Gwinnett County Department of Transportation considers bicycle, pedestrian, transit users, automobiles, and trucks during design, construction, and maintenance of transportation projects. The Complete Streets approach emphasizes safety, mobility, and accessibility for all modes of travel and individuals of all ages and abilities. The Complete Streets Policy was adopted by the Board of Commissioners on September 4, 2018.

Traffic Signal Synchronization

The efficient operation of Gwinnett's 750 signals requires a significant commitment of County staff and resources. To effectively focus this commitment, Gwinnett County has continued to expand its intelligent transportation system to connect more signals to the traffic control center and has enabled real-time monitoring of more than 75 percent of those signals.

In 2019, Gwinnett County developed a Countywide Signal Timing Plan to provide guidance on the regular evaluation of the traffic signal system on all major corridors throughout the county. Gwinnett Transportation staff continue to review the timing for all traffic signals on a regular basis, which includes addressing changes in travel patterns, regional background development, and other shifts over time. Keeping signals synchronized properly means smoother traffic flow, less idling, and reduced fuel consumption for residents and visitors.