Looking to contribute to a Greener Vermont?
The following is a list of resources to help software companies use less energy, reuse and recycle more, leverage greener technologies, promote greener habits in the workplace, carpool, and so much more.
Ben and Jerry's
Website: http://www.benjerry.comDescription: A Vermont Ice Cream company who's roll is not only to make ice cream, but to also ensure it operates in a way that actively recognizes the central role a business plays in society by initiating innovative ways to improve the quality of life locally, nationally & internationally.And though they are not a software company, their focus on environmental impact should be leveraged by all. To show how they do it, they provide a "social and environmental assessment" each year. For their 2005 assessment, click here>>> Resources provided by Ben and Jerry's include:Chittenden County Transportation Authority (CCTA)
Website: http://www.cctaride.org/Description: A group that offers fixed route, demand response, deviated fixed route, commuter shuttles, Medicaid and ADA transit services. In addition to its fixed-route services, CCTA offers downtown employees a program called the Downtown PARC. This program shuttles employees from satellite parking lots on Pine Street and off of North Avenue in Burlington to downtown Burlington businesses, conserving scarce downtown parking for shoppers and visitors.They serve the communities of Burlington, Essex, Montpelier, Richmond, South Burlington, Shelburne, Waterbury, Williston, Winooski and a portion of Colchester. CCTA is considered a municipality and is the first and only transit authority in the State of Vermont.
Chittenden Solid Waste District (CSWD)
Website: http://www.cswd.net/Description: A municipality who's mission is to provide efficient, economical, and environmentally sound management of solid waste generated by residents and businesses within its member towns and cities.CWSD has been on the cutting edge of solid waste management in Vermont. They were formed in March of 1987, and shortly thereafter the Vermont Legislature passed Act 78, Vermont's first solid waste law. Under the new law, other solid waste districts formed throughout the state, each designing regional solutions to solid waste disposal problems. With a population of more than 145,000 people, CSWD is the largest solid waste district in Vermont.
In April of 1993, recycling became mandatory for all residents, businesses, and institutions in CSWD. In 2004, recycling efforts kept over 45,000 tons of material from being wasted in a landfill.
Additional resources provided by CSWD include:
Efficiency Vermont
Website: http://www.efficiencyvermont.com/Description: The nation's first statewide provider of energy efficiency services. We're operated by an independent, non-profit organization under contract to the Vermont Public Service Board.They provide technical advice, financial assistance and design guidance to help make Vermont homes, farms, schools and businesses energy efficient.
They were created in 2000 by the Vermont legislature and the Vermont Public Service Board to help all Vermonters save energy, reduce energy costs and protect Vermont's environment. When we opened our doors, Vermont electric utilities (except Burlington Electric Department) were able to stop providing energy efficiency services. This enabled all Vermonters to receive the same services.
Here are some resources from Efficiency Vermont:
EPEAT
Website: http://www.epeat.net/Description: This is a system to help purchasers in the public and private sectors evaluate, compare and select desktop computers, notebooks and monitors based on their environmental attributes. EPEAT also provides a clear and consistent set of performance criteria for the design of products, and provides an opportunity for manufacturers to secure market recognition for efforts to reduce the environmental impact of its products.Good Point Electronics Recycling
Website: http://www.retroworks.net/electronics.html
Description: A group who certifies that all CRTs and computers are professionally managed in one of 3 ways, per your instructions:
- Reuse and Repair: Hard Drives can be stripped of sensitive, proprietary, or unlicensed data & software
- Recycled: Reduced to metal, glass, and plastic scrap, using paid, domestic labor, according to state, national and international laws, or
- Managed Donations: PCs are completely refurbished, equipped with alternative software (e.g. Linux) and provided inexpensively to area charities (we require 3rd party technical support as a condition of these sales).
Kirick Engineering Associates, P.C.
Website: http://www.kirick.com/Description: An electrical and telecommunications consulting firm which offers professional engineering design and project management services to commercial, institutional, municipal, and architectural clients.Various clients include Goodrich Corporation, Ben and Jerry's, Vermont Coffee Roasters, Gardener's Supply and Fletcher Allen Heath Care. Many of these projects incorporate power, communications, and lighting design elements that are functionally effective, energy efficient, and complimentary to the architecture, resulting in the creation of highly livable spaces.
To learn about 15 ways your software company can reduce its energy footprint, click here>>>
Recycle North
Website: http://www.recyclenorth.org/Description: A non-profit organization located in Burlington, Vermont with a 3-part mission to promote reuse, offer job-skills training, and provide poverty relief. They target waste, both material waste produced by a mobile and affluent sector of society and the waste of human potential due to unemployment, inadequate job skills and poor education. Solving the first problem protects the environment by preserving scarce resources. It also creates a tool to solve the second problem. Reclaiming materials that would otherwise end up in a landfill gives ReCycle North the means to teach valuable job skills to disadvantaged individuals and to create jobs and promote economic development.Small Dog Electronics
Website: http://www.smalldog.comDescription: The leading Apple Specialist in New England, and the third largest Apple Specialist in the United States. Small Dog plays a leadership role among Apple Resellers, and is well represented on Apple's Reseller and Service boards.Small Dog continually strives to reduce the environmental footprint of our business, including the impact of the electronics we sell and service. They offer an ewaste recycling program, and have recycled over 70 tons of hazardous electronics to date.
Additionally, they strive to educate our customers about reducing the environmental impact of the electronics we sell, including product life-cycle, energy use, and toxic components used in production.
Think Vermont: Green Valley
Website: more>>>Description: Vermont ? Home to the Green Valley "At home and abroad, Vermont is recognized as a leader in environmental stewardship. It's more than a nice image. It's a Vermont brand. We have the capability to develop, teach and market, cutting-edge, real-world answers to the world's environmental challenges. There is need; there is a demand. And because Vermont is a respected brand, we can attract the real-world investment required to finance this vision.So let's create a Green Valley, surrounded by Green Mountains, with blue water and clean skies in order to promote growth in Vermont's 'environmental goods and services' (EGS) sector. It's a dream all Vermonters can share, and a positive, unifying principal for jobs, our environment, energy, education and agriculture. And it can give Vermont's youth a sense that their future in this world is theirs to shape."
Lt. Governor Brian Dubie
December, 2003
Toshiba Trade-In and Recycling Program
Website: http://toshiba.eztradein.com/toshiba/Description: This program provides you with a way to trade-in or recycle used, working, technology products in exchange for a refund by mail. If your item is no longer functioning, or has no trade-in value, it can be responsibly recycled for the cost of shipping.Recycling of all Toshiba brand notebooks is free! Whether your pocket book gets a little thicker or landfills get a little leaner, with the Toshiba Trade-in and Recycling Program, everyone wins.