Green Washington Awards: Reducing Carbon Footprint With Re-use

In deciding which companies to recognize at our third annual Green Washington Awards event (to be held September 23 at the Bell Harbor International Conference Center and keynoted by Bill Ruckelshaus) our judges chose to focus attention on a growing trend: the reuse of products and materials. This is a form of recycling that results in fewer greenhouse gases and is therefore more environmentally responsible than simply composting products.

There were nominees in this category from a broad range of industries.

• Karmaboxx, Eco-Movers and Frogbox, for example, all rent out reusable plastic boxes customers can use when moving, a substantial improvement over throw away cardboard boxes.
• Pura Vita Sustainable Yoga makes a non-slip yoga mat that is actually carbon negative because it weaving together old bicycle inner tubes.
• General Biodiesel, a Seattle company founded in 2006, uses cooking oil and animal fats to produce biofuel.
• ApresVin, a Prosser-based company, makes a business out of taking the leftover seed, skin and stems from winemaking to produce grape-seed culinary oils, flours and skin care products.
• Duckys, a retailer of new and used office furniture, recently introduced a program that allows companies to trade-in their existing used furniture for a credit towards other furniture, new or used.
• RE-USE Consulting is a Bellingham-based company that helps companies disassemble buildings (rather than resort to demolition) so many of the parts can be re-sued.

Who do you think should win? What other great companies are promoting re-use?

The Green Washington expert panel included the following judges: Joan Crooks, Executive Director, Washington Environmental Council; Marc Daudon, Principal, Cascadia Consulting Group; Alan Durning, Executive Director, Sightline Institute; Jim Hanna, Director of Environmental Impact, Starbucks; Ross Macfarlane, senior advisor, Climate Solutions; and Jon Naimon, Managing Director, Light Green Advisors, LLC.