The green or environmental movement has been growing among businesses in the Tampa Bay region in recent years, but its been up to the businesses
themselves to promote it or hope others will notice.
Recently
the city of Tampa took a step to shine a spotlight on the companies
going above and beyond the call to recycle, reuse and conserve energy
to encourage other companies and organizations to do the same.
Tampa,
in partnership with the
Sustany Foundation, released its
Green Business Designation Program recently in an effort to recognize businesses
that are already being environmentally sensitive and operationally
efficient, as well as to spur other businesses to participate in the
program.
The idea is to reduce their expenses through waste, water, energy and pollution reduction. The program uses a list of
criteria to judge a business' compliance and then grants a point value
and designation level to that business.
The program's
philosophy is to not be so stringent that it is impossible for
businesses to attain the designation, but rather simple enough that
most every business with a modest amount of effort can attain at least
the lowest level of compliance, says Jack Bevilacqua, administrator of the program and
Sustany board member.
Three
businesses have already achieved the designation and are considered charter members of the program: Children's Cancer Center, Florida
Business Interiors, and Bayside Engineering.
Dave Szymanski, a Tampa-based journalist, likes running 5ks, other sports and writing poetry. Comments?
Contact
83 Degrees.
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