Skip to main content

StopWaste Efficiency Awards

As part of its annual Efficiency Awards, StopWaste recognizes Alameda County organizations for their efforts in upstream waste prevention through reuse, recycling, composting, and food waste prevention. 

This awards program honors Alameda County businesses and institutions whose leadership and continuous efforts to improve environmental performance and business efficiency have achieved outstanding results. Since the inception of the awards program in 2000, well over 100 Alameda County businesses and institutions have been recognized.

The 2022 StopWaste Efficiency Awards were presented on Wednesday, June 9, 2022, as part of the Alameda County Recycling Board meeting.

2022 Awardee Highlights: 
 

Altamont Creek Elementary School, Livermore

Leadership in Sustainability at School

Altamont Creek has been a StopWaste partner school for over 15 years, helping develop and test school waste prevention programs and creating a holistic teaching model. Using sustainability as a lens, Altamont Creek’s education framework engages students in multi-disciplinary projects, teaching hands-on problem solving and leadership skills, and expands the classroom to the school landscape, garden, kitchen and building itself. The first in their school district, Altamont Creek set up a food share table and surplus edible food donation program, rescuing the equivalent of 2,025 meals in the 2019-20 school year alone. The school’s achievements in waste reduction, energy efficiency, and water conservation also earned them the recognition of 2022 California Green Ribbon Schools Green Achiever and the 2022 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools recognition.  

ZEISS Innovation Center California, Dublin 

Leadership in Sustainability at Work 

Zeiss is an international manufacturer of high-end optical equipment with ambitious company-wide goals to minimize environmental impact. At their Dublin facility, efficiency features include a solar roof, motion-activated lights, state of the art temperature and air flow management, irrigation using recycled water and automatic leak detection, and more. Beyond the building, Zeiss maintains a large wetland area. The center’s staff handling of materials and waste is guided by a lifecycle perspective that involves all decisions from purchasing to use, recycling and safe disposal with the goal of minimizing resource consumption. With strong support from management, ongoing engagement of all levels of staff, an active green team, and a culture of continuous improvement and innovation, the ZEISS Innovation Center California is a leader in corporate sustainability. 

Daily Bowl and Daylight Foods, Union City  

Excellence in Food Recovery Collaboration 

Daily Bowl, a non-profit food recovery service, and Daylight Foods, a fresh food distributor, have collaborated on surplus edible food recovery for nearly three years. Daily Bowl collects Daylight Foods’ surplus perishables on a regular basis and distributes them to agencies and nonprofits who share the rescued food with local families in need. Daily Bowl can help even when Daylight Foods’ orders are canceled at short notice, or food is left over and cannot be sold quickly at a discount. That’s thanks to the capable and nimble staff at both organizations and to Daily Bowl’s connection with numerous food recovery organizations. In 2021 alone, the exemplary collaboration rescued 124,158 pounds of produce, dairy, prepared foods, and other perishables.

Local Ecology and Agriculture Fremont (LEAF), Fremont  

Excellence in Community Engagement 

Local Ecology and Agriculture Fremont brings people together and builds community through a wide range of activities focused on sustainable living. LEAF manages both a community garden and an urban farm garden where residents learn about composting and organic agriculture, attend workshops on beekeeping, plastic waste reduction and other hands-on topics, and contribute to growing produce and seedlings for donation. In 2021 alone, LEAF donated 6,047 pounds of produce to Tri-Valley Volunteers food pantry, and 651 seedlings to local nonprofits. A champion in building partnerships, LEAF manages a Glean Team to rescue backyard fruit and engages community members and organizations in the City of Fremont’s annual Go Green Earth Day event.

Just Fare, Emeryville & Oakland 

Excellence in Food Waste Prevention 

Just Fare is a mission-driven food service operator and consulting firm, where the goals of minimizing environmental impact and doing the most possible social good permeate all aspects of operation and are shared by all team members. A long-term participant in StopWaste’s Smart Kitchen Initiative, Just Fare has reduced overproduced surplus food by 96% while donating over 10,000 pounds of surplus edible food to feed people. Their Community Kitchen, founded during the pandemic, donates wholesome prepared meals to community members in need via dozens of local partner organizations. With a living wage and culture of respect and collaboration that keeps turnover low, Just Fare is pioneering a new food service operations model based on resource conservation while prioritizing people and planet.

 

 

Previous Award Winners

 

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

  • Corning Life Sciences
  • Felson Companies, Inc. 
  • Foods Co
  • Lola's Chicken Shack  
  • Mobile Mini
  • Oracle Americas, Inc.
  • Richard Avelar & Associates Architects
  • SMART Modular Technologies 

2014

  • America’s Best Coffee Roasting Company
  • Carriage House Apartments
  • The Home Depot
  • Kaiser Permanente Livermore Medical Offices 
  • Recology Grover Environmental Products(RGEP)
  • Reliance Metalcenter
  • The Republic Services
  • The Sacred Wheel
  • South Shore Center 
  • TraX
  • WM EarthCare is Waste Management
  • Zero Net Energy Center (ZNEC)

2013

  • Balentine Plaza Shopping Center
  • Cagwin & Dorward
  • CBRE, Inc.
  • FreshPoint San Francisco
  • McDonald's - Pacific Sierra Region
  • Pete's ACE Hardware
  • Tesla Motors, Inc.
  • The John Stewart Company
  • Truitt & White
  • UC Berkeley, Cal Dining
  • VF Outdoor, Inc.
  • Western Garden Nursery

2011

  • Amtrak Operations & Maintenance Facility
  • Chabot Space & Science Center
  • Dublin Corporate Center managed by Tishman Speyer
  • Finelite
  • GSC Logistics
  • Holy Spirit Church
  • Kaiser Foundation Health Plan
  • Kaiser Greater Southern Alameda Area (GSAA)
  • SYNNEX Corporation
  • Unigen
  • US Foods

2010

  • A.G. Ferrari
  • Berkeley Repertory Theater
  • Coca Cola Bottling Company, San Leandro
  • Dobake Bakeries, Inc.
  • Emeryville Public Market, by TMG Partners
  • Novartis
  • Peerless Coffee & Tea Company
  • Telecare Villa Fairmont Mental Health Rehabilitation Center
  • The Clorox Company
  • University of California Office of the President
  • Washington Hospital Healthcare System
  • Wente Family Estates

2009

  • Bayer Healthcare, LLC
  • Boston Scientific
  • Carl Zeiss Meditec
  • Costco Wholesale Livermore
  • Emerald Packaging Incorporated
  • Golden Gate Fields Racetrack
  • Heat and Control, Inc.
  • La Terra Fina
  • Peterson Tractor
  • Save Mart Supermarkets
  • The Shorenstein Building at 555 12th Street
  • The United States Postal Service's Processing and Distribution Center

2008

  • Alpha Innotech Corporation
  • Columbus Distributing Company
  • Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream
  • Fremont Marriott Silicon Valley
  • Ghirardelli Chocolate
  • Goodwill Industries of the Greater East Bay
  • Kerry Sweet Ingredients
  • Lake Merritt Plaza
  • North Face
  • Peterson Power
  • Pleasanton Corporate Commons
  • Walters & Wolf
  • Watergate Towers
  • Whole Foods Markets

2007

  • Amtrak
  • Clif Bar & Company
  • Eastmont Town Center
  • Finelite
  • Mills College
  • Quaker-Tropicana-Gatorade (QTG)
  • Service West
  • U.S. Foodservice San Francisco Division

2006

  • American Licorice
  • Bay Street Emeryville
  • Emeryville Public Market
  • IKEA Emeryville
  • Metro
  • Scios
  • Sconza Candy
  • Trans Pacific Centre

2005

  • Degussa Construction Chemicals
  • Golden Gate Fields
  • Pacific Gas & Electric
  • Pacific Steel Casting Company
  • Rogers Family Company
  • Sara Lee Coffee and Tea
  • The Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Alameda County
  • U.S. Pipe
  • Washington Hospital
  • Westgate Shopping Center/SKB Properties

2004

  • Children's Hospital Oakland
  • Clif Bar, Inc
  • Ghirardelli Chocolate Company
  • Oakland Arena & Network Associates Coliseum
  • Orcon Corporation
  • Toyota Logistics Services

2003

  • Cal State University at Hayward
  • CertainTeed
  • East Bay Regional Park District
  • IKEA, Emeryville
  • LAM Research
  • Oakland Hilton Hotel
  • Powerlight Corporation

2002

  • AC Transit
  • American Licorice Company
  • Oakland International Aiport
  • Yoshi's

2001

  • ANG Newspapers
  • Cal State University at Hayward
  • Compaq
  • East Bay Regional Park District
  • Peerless Coffee Company
  • Peet's Coffee & Tea
  • The Oakland Zoo

2000

  • Bay Area Rapid Transit District
  • Bayer Corporation
  • Fleischmann's Yeast
  • New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc.
  • United States Postal Service, Oakland District
  • University of California, Berkeley