Program Helps Businesses in Oregon Rethink Their Waste

Oregon-based BRING Recycling is helping businesses in the area rethink their waste and improve overall efficiency.

Through its Rethink program, BRING Recycling helps businesses evaluate their practices via site walkthroughs to identify areas in which they could use support. In order to become Rethink certified, businesses must meet at least 50 percent of the criteria in waste prevention, recycling, energy use, water use and environmentally preferred packaging.

According to a report in The Register-Guard, in addition to the Rethink program, BRING also certifies TRUE zero waste companies, as well as auto repair and body shops that meet high “EcoBiz” standards to reduce toxics and prevent pollution. BRING also helps administer a Love Food Not Waste program within the food industry and works with construction builders and contractors to implement its construction materials recover/reuse program, the report notes.

The Register-Guard has more details:

Businesses can have New Year’s resolutions, too.

Early in 2018, Rob Cohen, co-owner of Falling Sky Brewing Co., aimed for all three of his restaurant sites in Eugene — the delicatessen, the brewpub, the pizzeria — to become Rethink certified, meeting BRING Recycling’s criteria to reduce waste materials, energy use, water use and improve overall efficiency.

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“We’ve been focused on that as our core philosophy from the day that we opened,” Cohen allows. “But it’s always good to have some affirmation to make sure that you’re doing things the appropriate way and put a spotlight on those practices. A lot of these things for businesses actually make you run more efficiently and save you more money. They’re good for the environment and they’re good practices for business.”

Read the full article here.