Information provided by San Benito County Integrated Waste Management.
San Benito County’s Green Business Program received an award for being one of five top performing green business programs in California. According to a recent release, the secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA), Jared Blumenfeld, presented the award to San Benito County Green Business Program Coordinator Celina Stotler. Mr. Blumenfeld oversees the state’s efforts to fight climate change, protect air and water quality, regulate pesticides and toxic substances, and achieve the state’s recycling and waste reduction goals.
The local Green Business Program is managed by San Benito County’s Integrated Waste Management staff, who received the award on March 11 at the Stockton REXPO 2020 Seeing the Green. The expo, a recycling exposition and environmental conference, is an annual event organized by the Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce San Joaquin Green Team. Keynote speakers include CalEPA and an extensive panel of environmental experts.
San Benito County received the environmental award along with the counties of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Ventura, and Marin, the release said. These five awards are the first of their kind for the state’s top green business county program performers. Two awards were given to the San Francisco and Los Angeles green business programs, the top performers in terms of number of certified green businesses in Northern and Southern California. The other three awards were given to the Ventura, Marin, and San Benito green business programs, the state’s top performers in terms of number of certified businesses per total number of businesses in medium and small sized California communities.
The executive director of the California Green Business Network congratulated San Benito County and said that the San Benito County Green Business Program has “cracked the code of advancing this program in rural California.” The California Green Business Network is a coalition of 40 cities and counties who assist businesses in getting CA Green Business Certified through on-site technical assistance.
“I admire how the San Benito County business community has embraced the Green Business Program,” said Michelle Leonard, CEO of the San Benito County Chamber of Commerce, a green business program partner. “The impacts of the county’s Green Business team and partners like Ecology Action, Recology, and Water Resources Association of San Benito County are recognized throughout the community and the hard work is noticed and appreciated.”
San Benito County businesses who enroll in the CA Green Business Program will receive free technical support, water, energy and waste assessments, free promotion and marketing, and access to rebates through the local San Benito County Green Business Program, the release said.
To learn more about the CA Green Business Program, visit www.greenbusinessca.org or contact the San Benito County Green Business Program at sbciwm@cosb.us.