2022 Success Stories from Green Business Benchmark°

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Our members continue to amaze us with their commitment to sustainability and their innovative green and social responsibility initiatives. They lead by example and demonstrate how business can be used as a platform for good. Now that 2022 is over, we’d like to take this time to recognize some of our member companies via our fourth Annual “Best of GBB” Awards. All of our members are regular companies with businesses to run, and they all play their part in becoming greener, more socially responsible, and more thoughtful. For these awards we’ve selected 5 members who’ve stood out, created great greener businesses, and who’ve demonstrated their commitment to sustainability with tangible actions and results!

Previous winners in 2021 were:

Building on the successes from previous years, below we detail the 2022 GBB winners.

CASA DE OREN

Casa de Oren is a Bed and Breakfast guesthouse in Peru. The guest house lies above Pisac, near the small village of Cuyo Chico. Pisac is a small town that sits as the gateway to the “Scared Valley of the Incas” and the “‘Citadel of Machu Picchu“.

Casa de Oren provides eco-friendly accommodation, successfully executing sustainability initiatives including:

The generation and storage of their electricity via a 30 panel solar array and 16,000W battery backup.
Choosing efficiency-rated electrical equipment, including LED lighting.
Collecting water from an onsite well and rainwater from the roof. This water is then stored in underground tanks for reuse – for the garden and accommodation – after filtration and processing.
Fitting toilets with small tanks and dual flush capability.
The recycling of toilet waste using a biodigester – which biologically digests organic material without the use of chemicals. Biological digestion produces organic matter, which is then fed to the garden plants.

PICNIC TIME

Picnic Time Family of Brands creates robust indoor and outdoor entertainment and leisure products which are designed to last. The brand has ditched the throwaway culture for the preservation of our natural world. This is a brand that’s built from the inspiration of helping family and friends come together to make lasting memories.

Sustainability initiatives championed include the installation of energy-efficient window tinting, LED lighting, onsite electric vehicle parking complete with EV charging, and a thorough plan to go fully solar-powered at the brand’s Southern California offices, warehouse, and printing center by 2023.

Picnic Time sees sustainability as a continuum, and so endeavors to improve. As part of this improvement process, the brand seeks to build a sustainable value chain. The business is truly committed to taking every step of the process into account to achieve their green goals.

BERNHARD

Bernhard is a privately-owned engineering and contracting firm that has a rich history of providing high-quality, client-focused engineering and contracting services for clients. The company has more than 100 years of energy infrastructure project experience and serves healthcare, educational, commercial, government, and industrial clients throughout the United States.

The brand’s mission is simple: To serve others. With this in mind, Bernhard is an energy provider that’s focused on sustainability, to deliver innovative engineering, construction, and energy solutions that empower customers to help promote a low-carbon future.

The brand is empowered by its diverse and talented team, with individuals working together toward the shared vision of developing a more sustainable future – for the company, employees, customers, and communities. The team at Bernhard lives by their sustainability values every day – which includes reducing client GHG emissions (the brand has already delivered projects that have saved 5 million metric tons of CO_2e for their customers), maintaining a safe and inclusive work environment, and creating a lasting positive impact on the surroundings.

AMERICA’S BEST CLEANERS

America’s Best Cleaners (ABC) is the most recognized mark of quality in the garment care industry, working alongside ABC Affiliates and non-affiliated businesses to drive success and support environmentally friendly garment care professionals.

America’s Best Cleaners has achieved Platinum Level Certification with the Green Business Bureau, working directly with GBB to write and assess green initiatives specific to the garment care industry. For ABC, sustainability is viewed as a continuum for improvement, and the brand seeks to perfect their sustainability strategy through communication and collaboration.

During ABC’s sustainability journey, the business has experienced some pushback from large economic and corporate interests. Yet, ABC hasn’t been restrained by these challenges, but rather uses them to fuel the brand’s mission. The business coaches their Affiliates and consulting clients on how to make sound decisions built around environmentally and economically positive outcomes.

CHRISTY SPORTS

Christy Sports is a leading provider of skis, ski boots, snowboards, and bindings, and carries top brands such as Salomon, Atomic, K2, Spyder, and Volkl.

The team at Christy Sports strive to be good humans, and the brand seeks to make a positive impact on the peoples, communities, and environment within which the brand operates. For this reason, the business signed up to the Green Business Bureau, to implement green initiatives into their stores focusing on energy reduction, water and waste management, and social responsibility.

Thinking about the latter, Christy Sports has partnered with SOS Outreach to support efforts to change young lives and build character through outdoor mentoring. In addition, the brand donates 1% of all online retail sales to a different featured partner every month – which comes directly from the business’s pocket with no additional charge to their customers.

For Christy Sports, running a responsible business is a value that’s built into the center of the organization, with the brand’s core value: Be Good Humans. It’s this humble focus that makes Christy Sports a 2022 GBB winner.

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