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The “green team” will get them if they do.
Comprised of a dozen or so people, the green team digs through dumpsters and evaluates plant practices to make sure the company keeps an environmental focus.
“They even go through and look in people’s office trash cans,” said Lee Ann Crawford, the company’s environmental health and safety manager. “It just a reminder for employees not to throw away things that can be recycled.
Berry Plastics is just one business jumping on the environmental bandwagon, and that number increases all the time, said Joni Brown, environmental programs coordinator with the city of Victoria, who said she gets calls every day from local businesses that want to go green.
She attributed businesses’ interest to the attention the media gives the issue.
Getting the word out there, she said, gets people thinking about the environment.
“Any time you educate people, it stimulates thought,” she said, “and therefore it stimulates behavior.”
The city mails brochures out to interested businesses, Brown said, and offers basic tips to get the businesses going.
Recycling paper, reusing office supplies and switching to reusable dishes instead of styrofoam cups is a nice start, she said.
But if they’re looking for a service the city doesn’t currently offer, she advises them to contact local companies or city council members.
“We just really encourage people to do what they can to reduce their environmental footprint,” Brown said.
Berry Plastics has bins set up for its employees’ recycling and also sends the excess plastic created in its production cycle through again, so nothing goes to waste.
Several driving forces push the recycling program.
It saves money, since less refuse goes to the landfill, Crawford said, and the money that comes back from recycling cans or cardboard goes to the company.
But that’s not all.
“We all have children and it’s absolutely the right thing to do,” she said.
Victoria’s Woodhouse Day Spa also has an added focus on the environment, said Jenn Cowan, the company’s marketing coordinator.
The company operates 26 spas nationwide and is looking at options at every level, she said, from “green” building products for new spas to recycling magazines and cans.
In April, Woodhouse sold organic spa tote bags, Cowan said, and customers receive reward points each time they bring the bags in.
While Cowan describes herself as a “big recycler,” she said going green is natural for the spa industry.
“We promote wellness and organics,” Cowan said, “and so it would just make sense for us to be a green company.”
Even Incredible Pizza in Victoria is becoming more environmentally friendly through its ticket process. Each ticket counts for two, according to signs posted throughout the combination pizza shop and arcade, to cut down on the amount of paper used.
“Greenifying” a business can include anything from a full-fledged recycling program to making sure computers are turned off at night, said Hilary Kusel, executive director for the Green Business Alliance, a group geared toward helping businesses and homes become more environmentally friendly.
While Kusel couldn’t say exactly how many businesses are going green nationwide, she noted the number is growing.
She encouraged everyone from small mom-and-pop type businesses to corporate heavyweights to do their part because it adds up.
“Any small step we can take, if we put them all together, will make a difference,” Kusel said.
Allison Miles is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact her at 361-580-6511 or amiles@vicad.com.