Businesses getting in on the green
| Friday, Apr 08 2011 06:28 PM
Last Updated Friday, Apr 08 2011 06:37 PM
Greater Bakersfield Green Expo
What: Expo teamed with the 2011 Great American Cleanup, featuring a high school recycled material arts competition and 45 green vendors
When: 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. today
Where: Yokuts Park, 4200 Empire Drive
Information: 326-3539 or gbgreenexpo.org
Electronic E-Waste Recycling Event
What: Recycle your unwanted electronic items like computer monitors, TVs or CPUs
When: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Where: Bakersfield College, southwest corner of stadium parking lot on the corner of Mt. Vernon and University Ave., 1801 Panorama Drive
Information: nlagness@yahoo.com or 369-9861
LOCAL ACTIVITIES
Images
This is just a portion of the approximately 115,000 pounds of waste during a 2009 recycling event in Bakersfield. Bakersfield College will hold an electronic e-waste recycling event on April 15 and 16.
Sasha Windes, left, and Jennifer Jordan are co-owners of Greenshops, a store that specializes in eco-friendly products.
With Earth Day just a couple of weeks away, you may be giving extra thought about how you can go green. Some local businesses are already in on the act, tweaking their daily routines, recycling goods and raising awareness in the name of a greener Kern County. Here is part one in a two-part look at the ways local businesses are staying eco-friendly and some suggestions for you to try at home.
Greenshops
Though Greenshops may be the most obviously green business in town, owners Sasha Windes and Jennifer Jordan are keeping some unconventional behind-the-scenes green practices.
Greenshops -- Bakersfield's go-to store for eco-friendly and organic home products -- is also making sure that everything from their shipping boxes and supplies, to custom-made decorations are environmentally friendly.
"One thing that we are quite proud of is our 'We love our ugly boxes' program," Windes said. "This is a program we created in 2008, when we first opened our doors, to reuse all of our boxes and packaging materials.
"We did not want have to purchase a single shipping box. Every box has been donated or reused from items that have received at the store," she said. "We had a cute label created we add to each box that said 'We love ugly boxes' and we encourage others to do so as well."
The store is also mindful of the way its paper needs could have a negative impact on the earth. "Our gift-wrapping materials and bags are made from 100 percent recycled content and though we try not to include packing slips or invoices in our boxes, if we do need to we use 100 percent recycled content paper," Windes said. "We have a gift registry and for those that want registry cards or gift messages, we use (Mr. Ellie Pooh) -- paper made from elephant dung in Sri Lanka as part of a program started by Dr. Karl (Wald) to save elephants from being killed for agriculture and create economy for a renewable resource."
Windes' advice: "Use your purchase power to make a difference. Businesses make decisions based upon demand and market; if people use their purchase power to support companies that are going green or making a green product, more and more companies would start making a more sustainable product. If more people demand a product made locally, and only purchased things made locally, then things would change. Our purchase power is our strongest voice which would help all issues."
Kern Green
When the ladies of Greenshops aren't spending time in their shop promoting eco-friendly products, they're busy educating businesses on how to go green in the office, providing training to get through a certification process that designates the participant a certified green business.
"The Kern Green business certification is a structured program that provides tools, resources, and technical support for businesses that want a targeted approach to greening their operations," Windes said.
"It also engages individuals and businesses to take greater responsibility for improving their environment through education and awareness that will contribute to the economic vitality and environmental conservation of our region."
During the certification process, "We have an assessment on the website and the business has to complete the required measures, and then a certain percentage of the other measures," she said. "We focus on energy efficiency, water conservation, community involvement, pollution prevention, waste reduction and sustainable purchasing."
Though the nonprofit just launched in February, Windes said they are already excited at how many businesses are interested in starting the certification process.
"We have quite a few businesses that have signed up to go through the assessment. Large distribution centers, mortgage companies, retail businesses, real estate companies and more. We are so excited to watch these businesses take the steps to green up their operations."
E-Waste Recycling
What's Neil Agness' greatest challenge? Getting people to realize that e-waste is not, in fact, the same thing as e.coli.
"I had so many more people confusing e-waste with e.coli that I almost quit," he said with a laugh. "I don't recycle dog poop."
Agness' business, E-Waste Recycling, focuses on an area of recycling often overlooked by the public.
"We handle the electronic waste recycling here in Kern County, and the biggest problem that we've had ... is educating people about how important it is," Agness said. "There are so many toxins in electric waste like lead and mercury, and we can't allow it to get in landfills because it ultimately ends up in our drinking water."
So instead of sending it to a landfill, Agness collects electronics at events he holds in various parts of the county, and takes them to a processor that pulls the lead out of the glass used to make the products, so it can be safely recycled.
"It's really important because the glass from the older TVs has cathode ray tubes that have five to seven pounds of lead in the glass. The main reason they started the program is because it has to be taken out before glass (and lead) can be recycled," he said.
Not only will this practice benefit generations to come, it is also helping provide jobs in our community right now.
"We now process (the items) here locally, which has provided 10 jobs, and there's a crew from BARC who works there daily. It's a super win-win situation."
He said local businesses have begun to embrace their services, and local factory Frito-Lay is among businesses set to start taking advantage of Agness' business.
Agness' advice: "Keep your e-waste to set aside and bring it to the event in Bakersfield on April 15 and 16 at Bakersfield College.
And take your cardboard and paper to be recycled; it's so easy to take out, and at so many places like Cal State you can drop it off for free."
