California Businesses Benefit from Recycling

Sure, they were taking environmentally conscious measures, but the Green Business certification offered by the conservation advocacy group Ecology Action and county government gave them a few extra pointers.

"The customers that hear about it are really excited about it," Lisa Carter said, adding the certification translated to referrals for the business at 318 River St. in Santa Cruz.

Ecology Action of Santa Cruz, along with government partners, launched a Monterey Bay Area "Green Business" certification program in April 2003. It initially focused on auto repair shops, and this year the emphasis is on restaurants. It is modeled after a Bay Area program begun in 1996.

Eight car shops and four restaurants have been certified, with Capitola’s Shadowbrook Restaurant becoming the first eatery to reach the milestone this past fall.

Shadowbrook general manager Michael Scanlon said the program offered the Capitola restaurant an opportunity to take a leadership role in the local food service industry. Some businesses feared more regulatory eyes upon them, and Shadowbrook’s participation could ease those concerns.

"Shadowbrook could lead the pack and prove these people were here on a good-faith basis," Scanlon said.

The restaurant took a plethora of steps, among them changing to more efficient lighting, adjusting the water for the gardens on the grounds, composting vegetables and placing low-flow water nozzles in its kitchen.

The nozzles alone are estimated to save about $2,000 in water and sewage charges, he said.

The idea of the program is for businesses to be able to go above and beyond regulatory requirements in curbing pollution while reducing trash and hazardous waste and conserving energy and water.

For the Carters, that meant installing about $800 worth of new energy-efficient lighting, something consultants say will pay for itself over time. The garage also bought washers that clean brakes while they’re still on the car, reducing dust on the garage floor, and a machine that washes car parts that is similar to a laundry machine. Oil and grease that is cleansed from the parts can be recycled, Lisa Carter said.

Through recycling, the garage was able to downsize its trash bin from two 64-gallon containers to one 32-gallon container.

The first step in certification is an auditing team from Ecology Action and the county visiting a business to make sure it is complying with regulations and to review things such as energy consumption and recycling possibilities. Businesses are then given a checklist of steps to take.

"This is about helping them do the right thing," said Molly Ober of Ecology Action. "We’re not there to berate them or give them a hard time."

Backers hope the program is contagious to customers.

"It says ‘We’re doing it here, you could do it at home too,’ " Ober said.

For information about the Green Business certification program, call Ecology Action at 426-5925, or Santa Cruz County’s program representative at 465-7439. Information is available online at www.ambag.org/greenbiz/. - Santa Cruz Sentinel