The Greenest of Springfield Awards

Sustainable Springfield Incorporated has announced its newest sustainability program for area small businesses, The Greenest of Springfield Awards. The program aims to raise awareness for businesses that are already nurturing the environmentally friendly development of our city, and champion their successes to encourage other businesses to take up the cause as well. The pilot program will officially launch on Wednesday, April 29, at 6 p.m., during an awards reception and information program for small business owners and managers at Maldaner’s Restaurant.

During the April 29 reception, three individual achievement awards will be bestowed upon residents for showing “Outstanding Leadership in Sustainability.” Each honoree will make a presentation, and Sustainable Springfield Inc. will describe the awards, go over the programs’ checklist, and share tips and other useful information with potential participants.  

In order to maximize participation, Sustainable Springfield has created a simple, one-page checklist outlining the qualifications for the Greenest of Springfield Awards. This ensures that participants have a means to track management of resources such as energy, waste, landscaping and water. Some of the checklist items and sustainability tips are as simple as powering down computer equipment at night, using tap or filtered water as opposed to bottled water, using paperless alternatives when possible and encouraging employees to bike or carpool to work. Other items will require more restructuring and planning to check off the list, such as using only landscaping that is designed for low water use. The back side of the checklist will contain tips and resource lists for businesses looking to improve their sustainability practices.   

Using the Sustainable Springfield checklist as a guideline, participating businesses will be asked to undergo a self-evaluation of their current sustainability practices. Then, they will take Sustainable Springfield’s “How to Become a Green Business” workshop. Once the workshop is completed, business owners and managers will be ready to create a sustainability plan and put it into action.

Participating businesses will have three months to improve their sustainability in as many areas as possible. In August, the “Greenest of Springfield Achievement Award” of 2015 will be presented to the small business that has shown the greatest range of improvement in the areas laid forth by the checklist. In April 2016, SSI will present the final award of the year-long challenge, “The Greenest of Springfield Award,” to the business exhibiting the greatest achievements overall in sustainable practices.  

Over the course of the year, Sustainable Springfield plans to serve as a resource for these businesses, and promote the program participants. One way they plan to do that is by creating an interactive map for their website that promotes those businesses that meet 80 percent of the items on the SSI checklist. SSI hopes that over time, this program will expand, improve and be known as a valued resource for the community.

If your business has an interest in sustainability, is currently employing sustainable practices, or would like to get involved with The Greenest of Springfield Awards, contact Sustainable Springfield. Small business owners and managers interested in attending the April 29 kickoff event and reception can pay and register online, at http://sustainablespringfield.org, or by emailing [email protected] and mailing a $15 payment to Sustainable Springfield Inc, PO Box 9896, Springfield, Ill., 62791.

Contact Nan Bulli at [email protected].