Governor honors facilities that put community and environment first

Washington State Department of Ecology

Department of Ecology News Release - Oct. 9, 2003

03-198

Governor honors facilities that put community and environment first

OLYMPIA - Gov. Gary Locke today awarded five facilities with the Governor's Award for Pollution Prevention & Sustainable Practices.

The awards were given to two businesses, a county government, a school district and a military base. All of the winners have found innovative ways to offer services and make products while reducing or eliminating hazardous waste and conserving vital resources such as energy and water.

In addition to preventing pollution, the winners also were honored for using business practices that are "sustainable" - those that support the vitality of the economy, the environment and the community. Department of Ecology Interim Director Linda Hoffman presented the awards with Locke.

The winners of the 2003 awards are:

Aaron's Bicycle Repair of Seattle, for its commitment to sustainable transportation practices and waste reduction, and for putting the principles of sustainability ahead of profits.
Clark County, for environmental education, keeping hazardous materials out of the garbage, cutting vehicle emissions, and investing in "green" building design, construction and operation.
Mount Baker School District of Deming, for comprehensive efforts by staff and students to avoid using hazardous substances, prevent pollution and conserve resources, including composting cafeteria waste.
Naval Submarine Base - Bangor, located at Silverdale, won the Continuing Excellence award for reducing the use of hazardous substances, reducing the amount of hazardous waste it produces and maintaining a comprehensive "reduce, re-use and recycle" materials system.
2020 ENGINEERING Inc. of Bellingham, for designing innovative, "low-impact development" that reduces pollution, erosion and maintenance costs through more environmentally friendly stormwater management and wastewater treatment systems.

In addition to these efforts, the award winners reached out to their customers, clients and other facilities in their fields to promote pollution prevention and sustainable practices.

"These winners are doing their part to make Washington a cleaner, healthier and economically sound place to live. That is the vision of sustainability," said Locke.

The judges who selected the winners included past award winners, pollution-prevention experts and representatives from labor, business and environmental groups.

The judges evaluated the entries on their innovative efforts to reduce the use of toxic materials and the amount of waste created, to increase the use of renewable and recycled materials, to reduce energy use or use renewable energy sources, to reduce water consumption and to minimize the environmental effect of a product throughout its life cycle.

Sustainable practices played a large role in the governor's work this past year. He recently joined with the governors of Oregon and California in a tri-state effort to reduce emissions that contribute to global warming. As part of that effort, he announced last week that Washington will be setting stricter emission standards for energy plants.

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Media contact: Mariann Cook Andrews, award coordinator, 360-407-6740
Caitlin Cormier, public information manager, 360-407-6149

Governor's Award Web site: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/sustainability/GovAward/gov_awards.htm

Information about the winners: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/biblio/0304036.html