Collegiate Times

The number of people concerned with the environment is rising. 

Go Green NRV, a group of businesses that has made a commitment to reduce environmental impact, recognizes the trend. 

To join Go Green NRV, a business must fill out a checklist that determines where it is in terms of environmental friendliness. Each following year, the business must fill out the checklist again to ensure it has made sustainable improvements. 

The checklist is also meant to serve as a how-to guide for sustainability and give tips for source reduction and recycling, sustainable purchasing, and energy and water conservation. Businesses in Go Green NRV are also encouraged to attend workshops and calculate their carbon footprint.

The benefits of Go Green NRV not only help the environment, but also give businesses recognition for their sustainable practices. In turn, recognition could earn businesses more customers. 

Stuart Lynde, the 2011 Go Green NRV chairperson, said he wants people to look for the Go Green logos and ask themselves what they are doing to be environmentally friendly. 

Lynde, who is also chief scientist at Environmental Services and Consulting, LLC, said one thing most companies can do is recycle, but each company creates its own sustainable practices based on its business model. For example, some companies use hazardous materials. 

“How they handle those is something that they may be able to do better,” Lynde said. 

The difference between Go Green NRV and similar programs, Lynde said, is that it takes companies at face value, where they currently are in sustainability practice, and makes gradual improvements. 

Progress each year is a requirement for program membership.

About 50 businesses, ranging from hospitality companies such as the Holiday Inn to construction companies such as Breakell, Inc., are involved with Go Green NRV. 

Domino’s is one of the newest members. Kevin Shaw, the owner of some New River Valley Domino’s franchises, said he was all for joining Go Green NRV.

Lynde said Domino’s is considering composting. 

“We brought in PME Compost, another Go Green business, and they went through their operation and said, ‘This can be composted, and this can be composted,’” Lynde said. “There was a lot more that they could do, that Domino’s didn’t even know they could compost.”

Although Domino’s is a national brand, Shaw said one of his franchise’s goals is to buy, sell and be local. The business is also pushing for curbside recycling in towns like Christiansburg, where residents have to take their recyclables to facilities or drop offs. 

“(Shaw) doesn’t want to see his pizza boxes on curbs or on the side of the road,” Lynde said. 

PME Compost also takes food waste from  Virginia Tech and Radford dining halls and turns it into compost at its Floyd County facility. The process takes seven to nine months. The compost is used to make soil rich and fertile.

Composting was also the topic of Go Green NRV’s most recent quarterly event. The event was a seminar held in Radford and discussed composting at the business level and the importance of keeping waste out of landfills. The next seminar will be held in June and will cover green landscaping and pest control.

Although businesses must spend money to enact sustainable practices, Lynde said he hopes the practices will eventually save them money. 

“Sometimes the payoff is real quick, other times it takes a long time,” Lynde said. “But we want businesses to do this because it’s the right thing to do, not because they have to.”

A version of this article appeared in the Apr 6 issue of the Collegiate Times.