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CONTACTS: Sharyn Main (805) 963-0583 ext. 150 Green Award Winners AnnouncedSANTA BARBARA, CA — The Green Award Consortium announced today winners of the fifth annual Green Awards, which recognize Santa Barbara County businesses and organizations for outstanding environmental efforts. "This year our winners represent a wide range of sizes and types of businesses—from a skateboard manufacturer to a television station," said Maeve Grimes, Program Administrator of Traffic Solutions, one of four organizations that sponsor the Green Awards every year. The other consortium members are Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District, the Community Environmental Council, and Santa Barbara County Public Works Department, Solid Waste Division. 1998 Green Award winners are: Architectural Millwork, KEYT-TV, Skate One Corporation, Truth Aquatics, Inc., and Investec Real Estate Companies. Santa Maria Valley Discovery Museum was announced as winner of the Outstanding Service Award. The Green Award recognizes companies and organizations for voluntary activities (above and beyond their primary missions) that result in cleaner air or water, less waste, less traffic, conservation of energy and natural resources, or reduced use of hazardous materials. Many of the winners have made outstanding efforts in recycling. "These companies are doing their part to reduce the quantity of material we have to send to the landfill every year," said Leslie Wells, Solid Waste Program Specialist for Santa Barbara County Public Works. "They are actively finding ways to reduce, re-use and recycle their waste products. It’s a pleasure to have the chance to recognize these businesses as community role models." Winners also have made outstanding efforts to promote alternative transportation for their employees’ commutes, said Grimes. "This year we found that the employers knew by name the employees who ride in carpools, or the ones who ride their bikes to work. More and more companies are recognizing that pollution prevention also applies to the transportation employees use to get to work." Winners will be recognized at a special awards luncheon Friday, September 25, 1998 at SOhO restaurant in Santa Barbara. The awards are an annual highlight of Pollution Prevention Week, celebrated nationally during the week of September 21-27. Meet the WinnersA description of the winners and contact numbers follows. Architectural Millwork Architectural Millwork reduces its need for virgin lumber by using wood veneers, engineered wood, and computer software that outlines precise cutting specifications. Employees at Architectural Millwork help reduce traffic and air pollution by carpooling or riding their bikes to work. "It became expensive for us to haul our wood waste to the dump. As the company
grew we needed to think of other ways to dispose of it. We are now recycling the vast
majority of the wood waste we have. And we save money too." Contact: Tom Mathews, 965-7011
KEYT - TV KEYT also donates used news scripts and paper to day care programs for use in the children’s art projects. In addition, employees recycle all aluminum, office paper, and toner cartridges from copy machines. Hazardous materials are properly managed. Employees at KEYT are encouraged to use alternative forms of transportation through an incentive program that awards prizes and free lunches to participants. "We’re honored to be a part of the Green Awards this year. We know how
important it is to leave our children a healthy planet, and we’re grateful to be
recognized for our efforts in this area." Contact: Byron Elton, 882-3933
Skate One Corporation The company has gone above and beyond governmental regulations by converting its deck printing operation from an oil-based lacquer to a totally lead free, water-based paint and sublimation printing process and by cleaning silk screens without using thinner. With the help of an Air Pollution Control District Inspector, Skate One has also completely changed its parts cleaning system, resulting in a large reduction in organic solvent usage and air emissions. "We’re working on replacing polluting processes, and we’re trying to
recycle our waste products. And we’re going to keep working on these things.
It’s great to have an awards program that recognizes businesses like us for trying to
make changes—even if we can’t make all the changes we’d like to yet." Contact: J. Abraham Powell, 964-1330, ext. 143
Truth Aquatics, Inc. The company has also switched from disposable paper and styrofoam products to reusable plastic containers producing a 70% reduction in trash. Truth Aquatics provides free fishing and day excursion trips to local non-profit agencies. Guests are taken on tours of the engine rooms and told how the repowered engines provide an example of how to minimize our impacts on the environment in real life. "I have two kids and feel very strongly about the need to look ahead to the future
of our planet. And I’m very pleased we’ve been able to make a contribution. This
is an entire crew effort, from bottom to top. All 25 employees contributed—some just
by washing more dishes. And it’s true we have more dishes to wash—but we also
have less trash to dispose of." Contact: Glen Fritzler, 963-3564
Investec Real Estate Companies Investec has also formed partnerships with Santa Barbara County and the Community Environmental Council in projects tracking the benefits of solar technology, and developing standards for source reduction and recycling in construction and de-construction. Investec has implemented a recycling program at its construction sites that collects and recycles scrap lumber for use in the production of mulch, concrete for road base, and scrap drywall for use as gypsum soil amendment. At its Summerland Heights project, Investec is quantifying the amount of wood, metal, drywall, cardboard, paper, asphalt and concrete that is collected during construction, recycled, and thus diverted from the waste stream. During de-construction of an obsolete structure for the same project, many of the materials used in the original structure were recycled or reused, including lumber, roof tiles, and copper wiring and piping. "We have a strong commitment to using sustainable building techniques. Showing
these techniques can work in the real world is the best way to encourage other builders to
try them. We’re trying to take this to a whole new level, building alliances with
national manufacturers making green products, and showing how green building can be a
marketing tool to attract buyers." Contact: Charlie Eckberg, 962-8989
Outstanding Service Award recipient: Non-profit organizations are not eligible to receive the Green Award for accomplishing what they were formed to do. Governmental agencies are also not eligible. However, special recognition goes to the following organization for its outstanding, long-term contributions to the environment in Santa Barbara County. Santa Maria Valley Discovery Museum With an annual attendance of 10,000 people, the Museum plays an important role in encouraging local residents and visitors to participate in activities that help reduce waste and conserve energy and natural resources. "It’s exciting to see our museum get this kind of recognition from the
community. For our exhibit on recycling, I saw the kids come in and suddenly begin to
understand the whole recycling process. In general today people are recycling more than
ever, but they don’t always understand that recycling is more than just putting the
stuff out on the curb, it’s also about buying products made from recycled materials.
With our "Closing the Loop" project I think we helped kids begin to see
that." Contact: Stephanie Wald, 928-8414 For more information on the Green Awards Luncheon, contact Maeve Grimes at 568-2917. |
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