With more than 800 local businesses participating in the Live Green Lexington business partner program, Bluegrass Greensource and city officials know they have a hit on their hands. They’ve decided to up the game, and make sustainability a bit more competitive and change the program’s name while they’re at it.
Green Check launches Sept. 29 for any business or organization within Fayette County interested in doing its part to care for the environment. In return, they get recognition and publicity from the nonprofit Bluegrass Greensource. Business owners will have to meet certain requirements for recognition in the new Green Check program in the areas of recycling, waste reduction, water quality and energy efficiency. There will be three levels of membership status: bronze, silver and gold.
“Lexington is investing heavily in infrastructure and programs that promote a healthy and sustainable quality of life for our citizens,” said Angela Poe, senior program manager for public information and engagement with the Department of Environmental Quality and Public Works.
“This city’s commitment is supported by a large contingent of private citizens, businesses and nonprofit organizations working toward a more sustainable city,” Poe said. “It’s one of the many things that makes me proud to call Lexington home.”
Green Check is one of the programs funded by the city of Lexington and implemented by Bluegrass Greensource. BGGS also provides sustainability and environment information for teachers and schoolchildren in kindergarten through 12th grade, and off ers rain barrel workshops and energy-efficiency forums for the public. Main Street Clean Sweep is one of the organization’s biggest events, taking place on or near Earth Day in April.
“Last year we worked with 1,000 volunteers in 22 communities in Central Kentucky in four hours and cleaned up 4 tons of litter,” said Amy Sohner, executive director of Bluegrass Greensource.
She has been with the organization since two months after its inception. Bluegrass Greensource was formed in November 2001 as Bluegrass PRIDE, an acronym for Personal Responsibility In a Desirable Environment. The name was changed in June 2013, yet the mission of creating a sustainable environment has remained.
“We do that by helping individuals and businesses and organizations understand how small changes make a big impact in our local environment,” Sohner said.
One of the easiest things for any business to do is recycle.
“One trick is to make sure that anywhere there’s a trashcan there’s a recycling bin,” she said, “so [employees] can make the decision within inches and not have to walk to the copy room.”
The 14 staff members of Bluegrass Greensource practice what they preach. For example, they power off their computers at night and unplug power strips.
“Litter is associated with water quality,” Sohner said.
She suggests business owners do weekly cleanups of their parking lots. In addition to reducing waste, a clean parking lot makes a business more attractive for customers.
In late 2015, Bluegrass Greensource reached out to six businesses for a pilot program of Green Check, to go through the process of keeping track of their before, during and after “sustainability scorecards.”
Ross Tarrant Architects and Bullhorn Creative represented small companies; Good Foods Co-op and Habitat for Humanity were the fi rst medium-size businesses of the program; and Trane and Lexmark are participating large companies in Green Check.
Rob Gates, one of two outreach specialists at Bluegrass Greensource, has a degree in geography with a concentration in environment and sustainable development from Western Kentucky University. Formerly a water management coordinator for the Barren River Development District, Gates joined BGGS in June 2015.
“We’re very excited about the Green Check program,” he said.
He helped research similar programs being operated in other cities across the nation. “There are a lot of great examples throughout the country. We were able to learn from some of their challenges and opportunities.”
Developing a sustainability scorecard allows Gates and others on staff at Bluegrass Greensource to have a personal consultation with interested business owners.
“We go over that scorecard, with 12 different sections all related to environmental focuses,” he said.
The business gets a baseline score and a plan for improvement in any given area, including transportation (providing space for workers to store bicycles if they ride to work), sustainability purchasing, energy efficiency and water conservation.
“It’s a self-assessment of your environmental impact,” Gates said, “to take steps to lessen your impact and improve your standing in your environment.”
To learn more about becoming a certified Green Check business, visit www.GreenCheckLex.org.