Arrow Awards Honor Sustainable Initiatives
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Product Stewardship Council honored four businesses at their Arrow Awards ceremony, recognizing excellence in product stewardship, green design, coalition building, and product take back.
The California companies recognized were Los Angeles-based Opportunity Green, Sunnyvale-based Savory and Sweet Catering, the Agricultural Container Recycling Council, and City of Industry-based U.S. Air Conditioning Distributors.
Opportunity Green was given the Golden Arrow Award for Overall Excellence in Product Stewardship for the company’s efforts to bring together major companies in the field at its conference as a way to create opportunities and innovations driving the sustainability movement, according to the Council.
The company focuses on the “triple bottom line” — people, planet, and profit — to foster changes in product development by not only bringing groups together but also by making the conference itself carbon neutral, as well as through partnered efforts beyond the conference.
Savory and Sweet Catering was awarded the Green Arrow for System Design and Innovation for integrating green thinking into their entire business model, according to the Council.
The company recycles all products they use as part of their goal of having minimal impact through conservation of resources, energy efficiency, and a healthy environment.
Savory and Sweet Crepes was the first U.S. business to purchase a Korean composting tub that turns food scraps into a soil amendment every 24 hours.
Ag Container Recycling Council was honored for coalition building with a Bow & Arrow Award. The company’s recycling program is run by Interstate Ag Plastic, which is based in Buttonwillow, Calif.
The Council reports the Ag Container Recycling Council is the oldest, continually running, voluntary, industry-funded, product-stewardship program in the nation, where members formulate, produce, package, and distribute crop protection and other pesticide products.
The Council’s efforts in California have led to recycling 20,000,000 pounds of containers, saving as much as 45,000 gallons of gasoline, and also saving 100,000 cubic yards of landfill space.
The Infinity Award for Service and Take-Back went to City of Industry-based U.S. Air Conditioning Distributors for their “Cash for Clunkers” mercury thermostat take-back program, which gave contractors incentives to collect and properly recycle mercury thermostats by having recycling bins in place at all of their branches.
The company also earned a Waste Recycling Award from CalRecycle for collecting more than 55 pounds of mercury in 2010 and saving $85,000 in fuel by switching to natural gas trucks, among additional recycling savings.
The Council created the Arrow Awards with a grant from the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery given to the Del Norte Solid Waste Management Authority.
Honorees at the ceremony were escorted down a recycled red carpet, which was donated by Bentley Prince Street, a California carpet manufacturer.
A complete list of honorees can be found at www.calpsc.org/awards/2011-winners.html.