Seattle Business Magazine Recognizes Leaders in Sustainable Business Practices

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Seattle Business magazine honored 20 Washington companies at the second annual Green Washington Awards held September 23, 2009, at Bell Harbor International Conference Center in Seattle. “The deep commitment the people of Washington have to their natural surroundings gives the state a unique opportunity to develop a new model for sustainable growth,” said keynote speaker Jay Manning, Director of the Washington State Department of Ecology.

“What impressed me was how much tougher the competition is each year to be recognized as a green leader”

The winners in each category: Academic & Health Care: Seattle Community Colleges, runners-up: Seattle Children’s Hospital and Washington State University West; Building: McKinstry; runner-up: GGLO; Nonprofit: Climate Solutions; runner-up; Greater Spokane Inc. Natural Resources: Healing Hooves, runner-up: Booshoot Gardens; Manufacturing: Kenworth Truck Co., runner-up: Spencer; Retail: PCC Markets, runner-up: Pagliacci Pizza; Services: Gordon Trucking, runner-up: Hotel Monaco; Technology: Talyst, runner-up: Optimum Energy; Utilities: Puget Sound Energy, runner-up: Snohomish Public Utility District; and Special Mention: Woodland Park Zoo.

The 147 entries represented nearly every industry sector, including private companies, nonprofits and government agencies, large, small and midsize organizations, from Puget Sound Energy, with over one million customers, to Healing Hooves, a company with two employees that uses goats to contain vegetation. A full list of the winners of the 2009 Green Washington Award winner will be printed in the October issue of Seattle Business and on seattlebusinessmag.com. Photos from the events are available at teamphotogenic.com/12191.

“What impressed me was how much tougher the competition is each year to be recognized as a green leader,” said Leslie Helm, editor of Seattle Business. “It’s no longer enough to have a great vanpool or recycling program. The judges want to see evidence that those efforts are part of a comprehensive program that touches every aspect of the organization. They wanted to see ‘cutting edge environmental features integrated into cost-effective goods and services.’”

The sold-out event attracted over 275 business, nonprofit and government leaders from across the state. Prior to the awards dinner 60 company executives attended an executive roundtable to discuss “Accelerating the Adoption of Green,” which was moderated by Marc Daudon, principal and co-founder of Cascadia Consulting Group. Mary Armstrong of Boeing, Ernesta Ballard of Weyerhaeuser and Steve Lippman of Microsoft served as panelists.

A panel of judges chose the winning companies. The 2009 Green Washington judges included Joan Crooks (executive director, Washington Environmental Council), Jim Hanna (director of environmental impact, Starbucks Coffee), Jon Naimon (managing director, Light Green Advisors), Gifford Pinchot III (president, Bainbridge Graduate Institute), Madeline Sten (former executive director, Pacific Northwest Pollution Prevention Resource Center) and Doug Walker (former chairman, REI).

Event sponsors included Presenting Sponsor MacDonald-Miller Facility Solutions and Signature Sponsors Puget Sound Energy and Seattle Steam.

ABOUT SEATTLE BUSINESS: Launched in October of 2005, Seattle Business publishes 12 issues annually and has a circulation of more than 40,000. In November of 2008, Seattle Business acquired Washington CEO and appointed Leslie Helm as Editor (a position he had previously held at Washington CEO). Annual events tied to its editorial coverage include Best Companies, Green Washington Awards and Top 25 Innovators (October 21, 2009). Seattle Business is owned by Minneapolis-based Tiger Oak Publications, which also publishes Seattle and Seattle Bride magazines as well as more than 20 other leading regional magazines. Visit Seattle Business online at seattlebusinessmag.com.

Comments from Executive Editor Leslie Helm on the award-winners:

RETAIL

Winner: PCC Natural Markets: PCC is a retailer with a very comprehensive approach to sustainability that includes composting, rainwater collection and the use of recycled and energy-efficient technologies and building materials.

Runner-up: Pagliacci Pizza launched an aggressive composting program for food waste and packaging and has made creative use of its pizza boxes to convey its conservation message.

MANUFACTURING

Winner: Kenworth Truck Company, a division of Paccar, pioneered a hybrid/ diesel electric motor that reduces fuel costs by 30 percent and greenhouse emissions by 40 percent,

Runner-up: Spencer is a Monroe-based cabinet maker for the shear comprehensiveness with which it built sustainability into the design and manufacture of its products, cutting waste in half and quadrupling its return on assets.

UTILITIES

Winner: Puget Sound Energy has made major significant investments in alternative energy, creating hundreds of new green collar jobs while developing new sources of clean energy. As a result, this company has emerged as the nation’s second largest utility owner of wind power facilities.

Runner-up: Snohomish County Public Utility District is a company that has found innovative ways to conserve energy and is doing pioneering work in such alternative energy areas as tidal power.

TECHNOLOGY

Winner: Talyst is a company whose unique dispensing machine helps reduce medical waste by enabling pharmacies to dispense the exact dosage of pills a customer requires. Under the current system, excess pills from a given blister pack are thrown away.

Runner-up: Optimum Energy is a firm whose software contributes to the more efficient management of building systems--the kind of work that MacDonald- Miller and McKinstry are involved in.

ACADEMIC & HEALTHCARE INSTITUTIONS

Winner: Seattle Community Colleges impressed the judges with its comprehensive sustainability initiative that included conservation efforts, a culinary arts program, a LEED-certified Green Studies building and a hybrid auto training class.

Runner-ups: Seattle Children’s Hospital has an aggressive program to reduce water usage. And its recycling program handled nearly 300,000 pounds of materials. WSU West implemented program that has reduced waste throughout its system.

NATURAL RESOURCES

Winner: Healing Hooves uses goats to remove invasive plants, a natural approach to a persistent problem.

Runner-up: BooShoot Gardens used genetics to increase the rate at which bamboo can reproduce, making it an even more sustainable source of building materials.

BUILDING

Winner: McKinstry has brought attention to the importance of increasing the efficiency of office buildings, one of the nation’s largest generators of greenhouse gases.

Runner-up: GGLO is an architecture and urban design firm that has designed more than 1,100 residential units using eco-friendly concepts and is at the cutting edge in incorporating sustainable elements for affordable house projects.

SERVICES

Winner: Gordon Trucking introduced a new filtration technology that reduces oil waste, and cuts gas consumption by one million gallons by making it impossible for its trucks togo faster than 63 miles per hour.

Runner-up: Hotel Monaco matches good service with earth consciousness, maintaining an 86 percent recycling rate and a comprehensive food composting program.

NONPROFIT

Winner: Climate Solutions promotes a cutting-edge environmental legislative agenda for our state.

Runner-up: Greater Spokane, Inc. does a terrific job of partnering with the local business community in support of numerous environmental initiatives.

SPECIAL MENTION

Woodland Park Zoo created an exhibit using a unique system that circulates water from its new penguin exhibit and rainwater runoff through a wetland habitat, the only zoo to use this system, a national model for preventing dirty water from polluting Puget Sound.

Academic & Health Care		Retail
Seattle Community Colleges		PCC Markets
Runners-up: Children’s Hospital and Washington State University		Runner up: Pagliacci Pizza
Green Building		Services
McKinstry		Gordon Trucking
Runner Up: GGLO		Runner up: Hotel Monaco
Non-Profit		Technology
Climate Solutions		Talyst
Runner-up: Greater Spokane Inc.		Runner up: Optimum Energy, LLC
Natural Resources		Utilities
Healing Hooves		Puget Sound Energy
Runner up: Boo-Shoot Gardens, LLC		Runner up: Snohomish Public Utility District
Manufacturing		Special Category
Kenworth Truck Co.		Woodland Park Zoo
Runner-up: Spencer