RSA Improving Environmental Sustainability Project

Christopher Castro
Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Candidate
Project Charter
Project Overview
National Roller Skating Association (RSA) Improving Environmental Sustainability
The RSA is a trade organization of 1000+ Skating Center Owner/Operators with a hodgepodge
of owner initiatives that includes a handful of recycling and solar power projects with no known
metrics to determine success. The goal of this project is to develop a comprehensive energy
conservation & carbon footprint reduction strategy and Program Metrics to drive enterprise
wide improvement and implementation to reduce operating costs. Development of strategic
communication themes will tell the story of improvements and provide new marketing threads
to expand customer cores.
Goals and Scope –what constitutes successful project completion. The scope of this project is
vast, it includes evaluation of current processes and development of best practices & metrics to
determine success in the following areas:
• Evaluate and reduce the overall carbon footprint of the RSA organization.
• Energy consumption efficiencies – minor capital improvements such as lighting, motion
activated switching as well as major capital improvements including energy efficient air
conditioning/heating units, skylights, and installation of solar photovoltaic arrays
($580,000), and solar water heaters.
• Benchmarking of current overall carbon footprint and development of future goals and
metrics for carbon offsets.
Project goals include:
• Development of individual benchmarks in the areas above.
• Development of individual metrics in the areas above.
• Development of improvement targets for one, two, five, ten, and twenty years.
Project deadline is March 25th
, 2016.
Deliverables – at the completion of the project, stakeholders will be provided an executive level
power point brief with a supporting white paper.
Business Case – the benefits of this project to the RSA organization are aligned with the
organizational mission statement:
“As the voice of the Roller Skating Industry, we strive to promote the success of our
members (1,000 strong) by providing education, professional resource tools, and
fostering the advancement of roller skating.”
This project will enable the organization to meet its objectives by educating its membership on
sustainability by providing benchmarks and metrics to measure true reductions in carbon
footprint which improves the environment, reduces overhead costs, and promotes RSA centers
as stewards of the environment, leading to greater profitability.
Project Manager’s Authority – The Project Manager is Christopher Castro and is authorized
to interact with management and allocate resources (time) to the project.
Time frame – expected completion March 25th
, 2016.

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Budget Summary – there is no formal budget established for this project.
Project Sponsor – Michael Jacques, RSA President
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
Begin Carbon Footprint…
Begin Recycling / Composting
Begin Energy Conservation LEDs
Begin Water Conservation
Define Metrics / Measurements
Implement…
Develop eSTEM curriculum
Begin Solar Installs
Review Metrics / Data collected
Evaluate Progress/update metrics
Present updated plan to board
60% Waste Diversion
2028 H20 consumption = 2018 lvl
2030 Net Zero Carbon emissions
2030 100% Waste Diversion
Sustainability Milestones

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The Roller Skating Association (RSA) International Sustainability Strategy
As the voice of the Roller Skating Industry, we strive to promote the success of our
members (1,000 strong) by providing education, professional resource tools, and fostering the
advancement of roller skating.
RSA Structure:
National Office:
Indianapolis, IN
Roller Skating Association
Section Map
1
2 4
5
3
7
8
13
12
11
9
6
10

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RSA Environmental Mission
Human activity can have harmful effects on ecological systems and public health by
contributing to serious environmental concerns such as deforestation, global warming, water
pollution, and biodiversity loss. Recognizing this, RSA is committed to reducing our
environmental footprint and promoting environmental sustainability at all levels of our
organization. Our goal is to operate a world-class roller skating organization and to provide a
fun and fit experience for customers while minimizing our organization’s impact on the
environment and helping to preserve the ability of future generations to safely live and play in
our shared natural environment.
RSA licensed centers strive to identify and purchase environmentally preferable supplies
and services for all events where economically feasible. Wherever possible, RSA centers strive
to minimize pollution and waste, conserve energy and water, protect habitats, support renewable
energy resources, buy environmentally intelligent products, and encourage environmentally
preferable transportation.
These efforts will extend to contractor and supplier relationships, where RSA centers
will encourage suppliers serving or otherwise acting on behalf of the organization to meet RSA
standards of environmental performance. In addition, RSA will leverage current partnerships
with the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition; Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move”
initiative, and Pepsi Cola. Four new organizational partners are being targeted:
• White Wave Foods – for their expertise, development, and supply of organic foods.
• Eco-Products, Inc. – for their expertise, development, and supply of compostable
concession serviceware.
• National Science Foundation (NSF) to provide consumer education through

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Environmental Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (eSTEM) Program
Field Trips.
• TBD auto manufacturer – for their expertise and development of hybrid and electric
vehicles.
RSA owner and employee understanding and involvement is essential to the
implementation of this environmental policy. All owners and employees will receive a copy of
this policy and be educated about RSA’s efforts to improve our environmental performance. In
order to be successful, members at all levels of the RSA need to be involved and support these
goals.
Our commitment to environmental sustainability is a long-term journey and a continual
effort, there will be challenges and shortfalls as the organization explores what works best for
them to reduce their impact. The triple bottom line of people, planet, and profits will all benefit
from the implementation of sustainability elements in the RSA organization. A healthy
environment benefits everyone – skate centers, customers, staff, athletes, sponsors and the
community at large.
RSA Sustainability Vision
Our commitment to environmental sustainability focuses on using resources wisely and
protecting the planet as we operate and grow our member’s businesses. Our long-term goal is
to minimize our organization’s environmental footprint while educating current and future
generations on the importance of environmental sustainability.
In 2016, RSA will develop common approaches and targets around this goal. Our
membership-wide skate center targets are focused on several areas in particular: sustainable

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paper use, waste diversion, water conservation, and carbon footprint reduction through
renewable energy sources and conservation. RSA member centers and strategic suppliers of key
roller skating product lines will be asked to complete an Environmental Responsibility Index
survey that will serve as a baseline for measuring future improvement. RSA will also identify
skates, urethane wheels, bearings, accessories, concession products, and skate floor plastic
coverings, as key product lines that will be measured for future improvement.
Current scientific findings indicate that reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are required
to avert accelerated climate change. RSA has aligned its emissions target with the United
Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel Climate Change (IPCC) scientific recommendation to cut
economy-wide emissions by 40% below 1990 levels by 2020 (we will target 2030) in order to
stabilize atmospheric carbon dioxide–equivalent levels at 450 ppm. Scarcity of natural resources
and threats to ecosystems and biodiversity are serious environmental issues. Recent events,
from extreme weather events, to severe droughts, to the decline in summer Arctic sea ice
coverage, illustrate the severe consequences and devastating impacts of climate change. These
challenges demand fundamental changes in the way society, including businesses, uses natural
resources. In recognition of these challenges, RSA has committed to the following long-term
environmental sustainability goals:
• Zero net greenhouse gas emissions
• Zero Waste
• Conserve Water Resources

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Environmentally Ethical Business Behavior
Acting responsibly as stewards of the environment is an integral part of our
organizational mission and membership. RSA will refer to our broad efforts to conduct our
business in an environmentally ethical manner when highlighting our commitment to
sustainability improvements.
Ethical sourcing of roller skating products is an important focus of our overall trade
organization efforts. We will promote environmentally ethical production of roller skating
products by working to develop more sustainable products such as:
• Discontinued K2 9-layer Bamboo Inline Frame and ETU skate line
• Post-consumer recycled urethane products
• 100% compostable concession supplies
• 100% Post-consumer paper products
and exploring ways to reduce the environmental footprint of our supply chains. RSA’s
partnering, sourcing, and procurement works with all of our member centers and their suppliers
around the world to establish the best value for the RSA membership. This approach is designed
to create a mutually beneficial relationship between suppliers and RSA member centers.
RSA is dedicated to identifying and engaging current suppliers to share our commitment
to quality, service, cost and sustainability. Supplier sustainability partners will support our
knowledgeable and talented RSA membership team in working to identify, develop and
implement sustainability-oriented business practices, evaluating and expanding our customer
bases and delivering products and services whose life cycles have been taken into consideration.
Future efficiency projects will leverage Lean Six Sigma methodology and consist of
technology improvements, operational process improvements, and behavioral initiatives for our

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employees. Highlights include:
• Our RSA centers will strive to install water conserving products, such as low water flow
bathroom fixtures (where current plumbing can support), waterless urinals, motion
sensor operated water faucets, motion sensor operated flushing devices, and reduced
water landscaping improvements (e.g. desert landscaping, cactus, rocks, etc.).
• Our RSA centers will perform energy audits (See Figure 1.) to establish baseline usage
data and identify potential efficiencies. Leveraging those audits, we will strive to
implement energy efficiency projects that may include exterior and interior LED
lighting and motion sensor switching upgrades, energy efficient audio/video equipment,
heating and air conditioning replacements, and establish performance expectations for
energy efficient behavior in the workplace.
Figure 1. Energy Audit workflow.
• RSA will encourage member centers to consider the purchase and use of electric
vehicles as well as installation of Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (EVCS).
• RSA will encourage short term member purchasing of carbon offsets.
• Development of recommended design plans for renewable solar photovoltaic (PV) and
battery storage energy systems, as well as solar water heaters in RSA centers.
• Development of architectural design plans to achieve the first ever LEED certification
from the U.S. Green Building Council for energy reductions and operational efficiencies

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for an RSA skating center.
The RSA team will continue to evaluate alternative and renewable energy sources (energy
production is responsible for a large portion of CO2 emissions, see Figure 2) for our operations
and new design technologies for construction projects to support our emissions target
reductions.
Environmental issues continue to be an important consideration for all companies. To
support responsible business growth, we need to address what matters most in our
environmental
footprint, and stay ahead of emerging business risks and opportunities. One way we will
achieve this is by considering six key environmental trends that are relevant to RSA’s
business growth:
Figure 2. World GHG Emissions Flow Chart

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What Matters Most
1. Decreasing consumption of finite fossil fuel resources: We expect increased nominal
costs for energy as demand increases and fossil fuels are exhausted. See Figures 3 and 4.
Figure 3. U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Historical Energy Costs.
Figure 4. Central Intelligence Agency’s Factbook Estimates of Fuel Reserve Depletion.

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2. Broadening understanding of environmental decline: Environmental awareness is
driving decision-making for consumers, investors and businesses. Education of current
and future generations is key to protecting the environment.
3. Connection between human health and the environment: Environmental factors will
continue to be closely
linked to the health and
well-being of children
and families, our largest
consumer population
(See Figure 5). Exercise,
exercise, exercise: which
can lead to many great
programming ideas to
occupy down times in RSA centers.
4. New era of transparency: performance accountability: Expectations of every
organization’s environmental performance and reporting are increasing. In order to
differentiate RSA from our competitors, we will establish our credibility through the use
of the Global Reporting Initiative G4 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines.
5. Growing digitization: Technology is changing how the world operates. This can be
expected to shift, not reduce, environmental challenges and will create opportunities
with regards to RSA’s footprint and communication practices. Embracing online
purchasing, electronic receipts, and digital scanning of electronic admission tickets (e.g.
Figure 5. World Health Organization’s Environment
/ Human Health Relationship Model

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movie theatre competitors) See Figure 6, could
completely eliminate demand for paper ticketing.
Developing cohesive, enterprise wide, strategic
messages, and electronic / social media based
advertising strategies to deliver RSA’s
sustainability message in lieu of traditional paper
advertising will further reduce paper demand.
6. Interconnectedness: RSA is likely to need to increase collaboration with external
partners such as Pepsi, White Wave Foods, Eco-Products, Tesla, and the NSF to achieve
our sustainability goals (See Figure 7).
Figure 7. Stakeholder relationships and functions.
Figure 6. Mobile Ticketing

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Another way that we will determine if an environmental issue is salient for RSA is by
collecting feedback from three key audiences (e.g. consumers, member stakeholders and their
employees) in a biennial survey. Research by other organizations, such as Disney, has shown
that environmentally responsible behavior is a key driver of reputation among these audiences
and that commitment to the environment has positively influenced perception of their
companies. At a high level, this confirms our belief that investment in environmental
sustainability builds brand and business value. Moreover, when talking directly with
stakeholders about the relative importance of key issues, Disney’s stakeholders put energy,
waste, and water at the top of the list.
Finally, we will continue to review our competitors’ (e.g. movie theatres, family fun centers,
and bowling centers) programs to ensure that we are aware of the best practices.
Environmental Sustainability: Long-Term Goals and Targets
RSA will develop metrics (what and how to measure) in 2016, begin measuring and
reporting on this first set of environmental targets in 2017. In 2018, RSA will enter a yearlong
review process to further develop our environmental strategy and commitments. Key to this
process will be the involvement of our membership and partners. As the driving force for
progress against our environmental commitments, our members and partners will play an
integral role in developing the new commitments by reviewing environmental trends in the
context of their individual businesses and identifying the activities and impacts that are most
relevant.
The long-term environmental sustainability goals that follow are meant to guide the

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RSA in growing responsibly and to communicate our aspirations. In the area of greenhouse gas
emissions and waste, we elect to choose a long-term ambition of attaining a “zero” state. We
believe these issues are already urgent global challenges and will continue to increase in
importance with every passing year. We see this reflected not only in growing consumer
concerns but in a more stringent regulatory environment. Thus we believe it is important to have
long-term “zero”- level ambitions to serve as orienting principles as the RSA continues to
expand in markets around the world.
The challenges related to water are typically localized issues. We believe the best way to
address water-related challenges is for RSA member centers to evaluate site-specific risks (e.g.
current plumbing systems) and design commensurate conservation programs to drive proper
resource allocation to those areas of higher stress and/or risk. So, we believe it is appropriate to
ascribe an overarching ambition to conserve water resources and we highlighted possible
efficiencies early in this document.
RSA Environmental Sustainability Goals
Use resources wisely and protect the planet as we operate and grow our business:
• Reduce RSA centers’ carbon footprint
• Reduce Energy consumption
• Net-Zero Greenhouse emissions
• Zero Waste – Diverting 100% away from landfills
• Conserve Water Resources
• Partner with the National Science Foundation (NSF) to provide consumer education
through Environmental Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (eSTEM)

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Program Field Trips.
Minimizing the environmental footprint of our skating centers, we will begin by
developing a paper sourcing policy requiring 100% recycled content in bathroom, concession,
cleaning and administration supplies. Development of an Environmental Responsibility Index
that requests information on key environmental impacts from RSA skate centers and strategic
suppliers to open dialogue on environmental performance.
The target setting exercise addressed here is unique, it is designed around assets that
RSA does not directly own or operate, and therefore, requires direct partnering with our RSA
members.
By 2030, reduce net emissions to zero
Recent scientific assessments on climate change are increasingly confident of human
influence on the environment. Observed changes include the warming of the atmosphere and
ocean, diminishing amounts of snow and ice, rising sea levels, and the increasing atmospheric
concentration of greenhouse gases. To limit further impact on the climate system, society,
including businesses, will have to find ways to substantially reduce the emissions of greenhouse
gases. The 2030 target in this area represents a steep reduction in emissions compared to
business-as-usual projections. The target is roughly in line with the United Nations
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scientific recommendation to cut economy-
wide emissions by 40% below 1990 levels by 2020 in order to stabilize atmospheric carbon
dioxide-equivalent levels at 450 ppm. The target demonstrates a serious commitment to make
significant progress on the path to zero greenhouse gas emissions from assets that we own or
operate. Our approach to meeting the target will follow a hierarchy of avoiding emissions,

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reducing emissions through efficiencies, replacing high-carbon fuels with low-carbon
alternatives, and then using certified offsets for the remaining emissions.
The suite of approaches to achieve the target will include:
Execution of emission reduction projects around the organization including energy
efficiency measures, waste to heat recovery, lighting upgrades. In the area of information
technology, asset managers are always searching for ways to improve efficiency of assets, and
will leverage trends towards virtualization to further improve efficiency. We will strive for
LEED certification of future designs of RSA centers.
• Building energy guidelines and sustained efforts to influence employee behavior with
regards to energy use.
• Continued focus on efforts to identify suitable alternative/renewable fuels for
transportation (e.g. electric, hybrid, natural gas).
• Continued efforts to grow renewable sources of electricity. RSA will evaluate
opportunities for renewable energy, taking into consideration a variety of factors
including, cost, geography, operational constraints, and regional incentives.
• Continued interest in forest carbon projects as part of our carbon reduction strategy.
These include avoided deforestation, improved forest management and reforestation
projects.
Waste
Municipal solid waste is generated at
every RSA center as they entertain millions of

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skaters annually. The total solid waste generated for RSA centers, organization wide, will be
measured in 2016 and will define our baseline year.
Where available, we will utilize thermal waste-to-energy facilities to manage otherwise
unrecoverable waste, but our plan is to ultimately divert waste from both landfills and thermal
waste-to-energy to achieve our long-term goal of zero waste. RSA defines zero waste consistent
with the standards of environmental organizations and newly emerging zero waste certification
bodies as diverting 90% or more of solid waste from both landfills and thermal waste-to-energy
facilities. Thus, less than 10% of solid waste should be sent to either landfills or thermal waste-
to-energy facilities to meet the zero waste goal.
By 2020, achieve 60% waste diverted from landfills and incineration
Meeting the 2020 target will require the adoption of a waste management hierarchy:
1. Reduce
2. Reuse
3. Recycle or Compost
4. Non-thermal waste-to-energy, such an anaerobic digestion
5. Landfill (with energy/methane recovery) or thermal waste-to-energy (incineration with
energy recovery)
6. Landfill without energy recovery
7. Incineration without energy recovery
Following this hierarchy will require aggressive waste prevention, reuse (internal and external
donations) and recycling and composting programs, for both operational and construction
waste. We expect to combine technical efforts such as source separation of recyclables and

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organics, and development of programs with regional Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs),
composting and anaerobic digestion facilities, and with education initiatives to increase
employee / customer awareness and engagement on reducing the amount of waste generated.
By 2030, achieve 100% waste diverted from landfills and incineration
Water
Our average RSA skating center uses approximately 3500 cubic feet of water per month or
42,000 cubic feet of water annually. Conservatively, enterprise wide, we estimate 30.6 million
cubic feet or 703.86 Acre-feet of water is used
annually. In 2009, the National Resource Defense
Council (NRDC) estimated that California’s
commercial, industrial, and institutional (CII) sector
consumed one-third of California’s total water
consumption at 2.5Million acre-feet (814.6 billion
gallons) See Figure 8.
The largest water uses at RSA centers are
bathrooms, cleaning evolutions, and irrigation. We are developing Water Conservation Plans to
identify current best management practices and serve as a tool to help RSA members identify
areas where the greatest impact can be made through efficiencies and conservation.
By 2028, maintain potable water consumption at 2018 levels at RSA centers.
Develop Water Conservation plans in concert with LEED.
The target to maintain potable water consumption at 2018 levels, will require evaluation
2,500,000
704
CA CII RSA
Water Usage
CA CII vs RSA acre-ft/yr
©NRDC 2009
Figure 8. CA CII sector vs. RSA nationally

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of existing RSA member conservation measures as well as regulatory requirements. The target
promotes effective management of water use at RSA centers and requires members to
implement innovative conservation measures. This target is in line with the overall philosophy
of growing responsibly and will help drive organizational alignment and resource allocation to
those areas of higher stress and/or risk.
Centers being developed and constructed should include water conservation measures in
the design and should create water conservation plans as they become operational, taking local
regulations and local risks into consideration. Technical project work has to be supplemented
with employee awareness and engagement campaigns to be successful.
Process for Target Setting
The future target development process will extend across the entire
RSA organization. Using the Lean Six Sigma DMAIC process, RSA section
directors will represent member stakeholders, including multiple layers of RSA
center management reaching down to the junior-most employees. RSA will engage outside
experts at different stages of the process to evaluate specific aspects, such as providing insights
on trends, and advice on revised goals.
The simplicity of our members’ business models allows for a
flexible approach, tailored to individual RSA centers. All members that
participate in the process will evaluate their operations to identify cost-
effective impact mitigation opportunities. Each of the RSA member centers will develop targets
which will then be rolled up into the organization wide targets.
2016
Define
2017
Measure
2018
Analyze
2018
Improve
2019- 2022
Control
DMAIC

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Accountability
While the RSA’s centralized functions will play a key role in roll-out, individual RSA
centers will be responsible for making progress towards the targets, meeting the targets, and
providing reporting data to RSA for consolidation and publication (See Figure 9). However, this
will not preclude individual centers from releasing individual data in their own community if
they so choose.
Data to evaluate progress will be collected from across the organization on a quarterly
basis. Annual reports will be shared within the RSA, and released to the public. We will
continue to seek stakeholder comments on our progress, and we will monitor emerging trends to
ensure we are focusing on the most important areas.
Figure 9. Milestones.
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
Begin Carbon Footprint…
Begin Recycling / Composting
Begin Energy Conservation LEDs
Begin Water Conservation
Define Metrics / Measurements
Implement…
Develop eSTEM curriculum
Review Metrics / Data collected
Evaluate Progress/update metrics
Present updated plan to board
60% Waste Diversion
2028 H20 consumption = 2018 lvl
2030 Net Zero Carbon emissions
2030 100% Waste Diversion
Begin Solar Installs

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