Monterey Bay Area Green Business Program certifies SBC
company
The owners of Wastewater Solutions, a residential septic and
commercial liquid waste hauling company in San Benito County, have
received a green business certification from the Monterey Bay Area
Green Business Program.
Monterey Bay Area Green Business Program certifies SBC company
The owners of Wastewater Solutions, a residential septic and commercial liquid waste hauling company in San Benito County, have received a green business certification from the Monterey Bay Area Green Business Program.
“It hadn’t been available earlier when we first started [the business],” said Gwendolyn Miller, who operates the company with her husband Bradley and their daughter. “We tried to practice the more environmental-conscious behaviors. It’s just part of who we are and we tried to expand them into the business.”
The Millers have operated the local business for four years.
“[Bradley] is experienced in the field,” Miller said. “He decided he wanted to do his own thing.”
He is a National Association of Wastewater Transporters-licensed septic inspector with 30 years of industry experience. They service homes and businesses throughout San Benito, southern Santa Clara and Monterey counties.
When the Millers heard that green certification was available for San Benito-based businesses, they signed up.
“They are just starting to expand the regional program into San Benito County,” Miller said.
The Monterey Bay Area Green Business Program is a partnership of environmental agencies, professional associates, waste management agencies, utilities and concerned citizens. The members have created a checklist for a variety of industries. On their Web site are checklists for auto shops, janitorial services, wineries, office/retail, restaurants and more. The program is free to businesses and offers advice on how to meet the requirements for certification.
“It is a really great program,” Miller said. “It was a really good check on things we were doing and things we weren’t aware we could do.”
Through the program, they learned that they could have a representative from PG&E visit their site for an energy audit at no cost to them.
“We converted any lights that hadn’t been [converted to energy-efficient bulbs],” she said.
A lot of the changes were small ones.
“Changing light bulbs. Changing the recycle content of the paper we use in the office,” Miller said. “We were using a 30 percent recycled content. Now we are using 100 percent.”
They purchase their ink cartridges from a company that allows them to send back used cartridges to be recycled. If a piece of paper has only been printed on one side, they reuse it for in office-only purposes.
“Doing many of these kinds of real minimal things,” Miller said, helped them become certified.
Resources
Monterey Bay Area Green Business Program
www.montereybaygreenbusiness.org
San Benito County coordinator
Mandy Rose, director
San Benito County Integrated Waste Management
3220 Southside Road, Hollister
636-4110
