Earlier this month, local public agency StopWaste recognized twelve businesses and institutions from around the county for outstanding achievements in waste reduction. Two of those awards went to Berkeley! Truitt & White received the Award for Waste Prevention Excellence by a Building Materials Supplier. With a 70,000 square foot lumberyard, hardware store, and showroom in Berkeley, Truitt & White has had a leading role in promoting green building products as alternatives to traditional materials. Some of the green products they offer include: FSC certified wood trim, sidings and mouldings; formaldehyde-free insulation (contains recycled glass); recycled content cotton fiber insulation; and low and no-VOC paints and adhesives. As a co-founder of local non-profit Build It Green, Truitt & White also educates professionals about green building practices. They’re industry leaders who help build local markets for recycled content materials—a critical step in making recycling economically feasible.
UC Berkeley’s food service provider Cal Dining received the Award for Waste Reduction Excellence in Institutional Food Service, for preventing food waste in the four dining halls on campus. Partnering with StopWaste, Cal Dining purchased specialized to track food waste generated during meal preparation. They used this information to make changes to their food prep routines that prevented 27 tons of pre-consumer food waste, about 19% of all food waste generated, in the first program year. Cal Dining also launched a program for students to use reusable to-go containers in residential dining which reduced the use of disposable containers by 20%. Left over edible food is donated to homeless shelters through the UC Berkeley student group Bear Abundance.
Other industries represented by awardees include manufacturing, landscape design and construction, commercial and residential property management, office operations, and product distribution.
The StopWaste Business Efficiency Awards honor Alameda County businesses and institutions whose continuous efforts to improve environmental performance and business efficiency have achieved outstanding results. For more information about the 2013 StopWaste Business Efficiency Awards and to view a list of all the winners and their achievements visit www.stopwaste.org/2013Awards.
