City Of Charleston Announces Winners of Green Business Pioneer Award
August 7, 2010
CHARLESTON, SC – August 7, 2010 – Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr. announced the City’s first Green Pioneer Award recipients as part of the City of Charleston’s Best in Green (B.I.G) and Local Expo competition on Friday, August 6, 2010 at 4:15 PM at the Gaillard Municipal Auditorium’s Exhibition Hall, 77 Calhoun Street.
The purpose of the award is to celebrate Charleston’s early business leaders in sustainability. The City showcased their initiatives as part of kicking off the City’s first year of the Charleston Green Business Challenge. The Green Business Pioneer award winners’ groundbreaking work will serve as an inspiring example to other Charleston area businesses. In the spirit of the Green Business Challenge, private sector business candidates were considered who early on made a choice to think and act sustainably.
The B.I.G. & Local Expo was made possible by a collaboration of business leaders and non-profit partners including The Coastal Conservation League, The Sustainability Institute, Lowcountry Local First, The City of Charleston, The Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce, and sponsors Xerox, AESS, Subaru, Duvall Catering and Money With A Mission.
The Green Business Pioneer Awards were presented to Tony Bakker, The Charleston Battery and Blackbaud.
Mayor Riley said, “The City of Charleston is proud to have these fine mentors of visionary leadership who have successfully interwoven good business decisions with environmentally sustainable business practices. It is a great honor to recognize their extraordinary leadership as business pioneers by making decisions through a long term environmental lens.”
The first Green Business Pioneer Award was presented to Tony Bakker for his sustainable leadership of The Buccaneer, Queen Anne’s Revenge, and McCrady’s restaurants. A few of Tony Bakker’s sustainable practices include using unbleached and biodegradable cups, bags, and to-go containers, recycling all of the glass, plastic, and paper used in the restaurants, installing energy and water-saving kitchen equipment, and the use of local produce in many menu items.
The second award winner was presented to the Charleston Battery. Andrew Bell, Director of Soccer and Stadium Operations, was present to accept the award. The Charleston Battery’s home stadium is the Blackbaud Stadium, which includes one of the largest private solar panel arrays in the region. Installed in 2008, there are 60 solar panels located behind the goal posts generating 11 kilowatts of power – offsetting approximately 12 tons of carbon dioxide per year. Other energy efficiency tools the Charleston Battery uses include: switching from incandescent bulbs to Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs), using high efficiency units for beer coolers, and eliminating the sale of bottled water since the 2008 season.
The third award winner was presented to Blackbaud. Rachel Hutchisson, Blackbaud’s Director of Corporate Relations and Philanthropy, and Jane Kaufman, who runs Blackbaud’s green team, Greenbaud, were present to accept the award. Blackbaud uses several sustainable practices including adopting a beach and doing regular beach sweeps, supporting an oyster reef restoration project with DNR, using energy efficient machines, and Blackbaud employees are currently creating a community garden complete with composting, called Sprouts.
Green Business Challenge
The Green Business Challenge will help local businesses who sign up for the voluntary program to save money and resources, support environmental stewardship, and to be recognized for sustainable business leadership. The City of Charleston was selected as one of five local governments nationwide to receive assistance to create a Green Business Challenge program from the organization ICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability). The City of Charleston, with partners, Lowcountry Local First, Sustainability Institute, Green Fair, the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce and Charleston County, have joined together to launch The Green Business Challenge.
The Green Business Challenge year officially launched on August 6, 2010. To reward businesses who have successfully completed the year-long challenge, the City of Charleston in partnership with the Charleston Green Fair, will host an awards recognition event during the 2011 Green Fair.
Companies which are interested in participating can contact Carolee Williams, City of Charleston, 843 -724-3776 or [email protected] or go to www.CharlestonGBC.org for sign up information.
