Green Washington Award Winners Make Advances in Sustainability

Look at the great things our Green Washington Awards finalists have accomplished.

• Stemilt, the tree fruit growing, packing and shipping company, has integrated pest management and water and energy savings programs and recently opened an organic recycling center for residents and business in the region.
• Wilcox Family Farms turns chicken waste into fertilizer that is used to grow organic crops that are then fed to the chickens.(winner)
• Vulcan Real Estate transformed Seattles South Lake Union into one of the nations first certified green neighborhoods with green buildings, pedestrian friendly sidewalks and accessible public transportation.(winner)
• Cochran developed a shore power systems that allows ships in port to operate on electricity, sharply reducing pollution at our ports. Its goal is to reduce its carbon footprint by 25% by 2012.
• Unico has won ENERGY STAR ratings from the EPA for 11 of the buildings it manages.
• Seattle University has gathered close to a 100 tons of compostable materials from bins placed outdoors, at food vendors and in residence halls.
• The University of Washington has diverted 54 percent of its waste from landfills to recycling and composting facilities. (winner)
• First and Goal reduced the waste it sends to landfills by 50 percent in spite of an increase in attendance at Qwest Stadium of 600,000 by Sounders soccer fans.
• ShowWare Center, the Kent-based home of the Thunderbirds hockey team, is the first sports and entertainment facility in North America to receive Gold LEED certification. (winner)
• The Seattle Mariners recycles or composts 80 percent of its waste, the best rate in Major League Baseball.
• Everett Clinic has a network computer application that allows the clinic to automatically shut down computers that are not being used.
• Virginia Mason Medical Center has eliminating the use of Styrofoam containers, composts all food waste, recycles operating room waste and sends non-compostable waste to be burned by Seattle Steam to generate energy.(winner)
• The Fairmont Olympic Hotel increased overall recycling from 32 percent in 2008 to 53 percent in 2010.
• Hyatt at Olive 8 diverted 90 percent of construction debris back into construction, and is using plumbing features that cut water use 29 percent. (winner)
• Pan Pacific Hotel donates surplus food and toiletries to charity organizations, uses toxin-free cleaning products and has recycling bins in every room.
• The Boeing Company’s new 787 Dreamliner reduces fuel consumption by 20 percent and generates 60 percent less noise. The company is also working on the development of bio-jetfuels to further reduce the carbon footprint of airflight.(winner)
• Markey Machinery developed the first bioswale system for a commercial site to collect and filter rain runoff.
• MicroGREEN Polymers injects bubbles into plastic to create products that are stronger, lighter, use less plastic and do a better job of insulating.
• ApresVin, Inc takes the leftover seed, skin and stems from wine making to produce grapeseed culinary oils, flours and skincare products.
• Duckys encourages the purchase and sale of old furniture recycling an estimated 250,000 pounds a year of old furniture.
• General Biodiesel recycles cooking oil and animal fats to produce biofuel, reducing CO2 production by an estimated 10 million pounds this year.(winner)
• Burgerville’s composting program that has cut food waste by 83 percent. (winner)
• REI recycles 84 percent of its waste, avoiding 9064 tons of avoided waste.(winner)
• Blue Sky Cleaners is a dry cleaner that uses carbon dioxide collected from factories and pressurized into a liquid to clean clothes.(winner)
• Clean Air Lawn Care uses electric and biodiesel lawn care equipment in its landscaping business.
• Foss Maritime is a tug and barge service that built the worlds first hybrid tugboat, reducing carbon emissions by 1340 tons and saving 120,700 gallons of diesel fuel.
• Energysavvy.com provides online software that helps customers conduct energy audits of their homes.
• 3Tier helps business forecast wind and solar power conditions so they can make educated decisions about renewable energy projects.
• Optimum energy, has developed an HVAC monitoring and optimization software that can help cut energy used by these air conditioning and heating systems by up to 60 percent. (winner)
• Seattle Steam reduced its carbon footprint by installing a biomass boiler last year that burns waste wood. It is halfway towards its goal of a reducing carbon emissions by 80 percent.
• Seattle City Light has used incentive programs to save 63 million kilowatt hours of electricity.
• Snohomish County Public Utility District has encouraged energy savings, explored geothermal energy sites and is a national leader in exploring the use of tidal energy.