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StopWaste Environmental Leadership Awards

This annual awards program honors Alameda County entities for their leadership and innovations in advancing environmental sustainability, waste prevention, and contributions to building healthy, climate resilient communities in Alameda County. Since the inception of the awards program in 2000, well over 100 Alameda County businesses and institutions have been recognized.

The 2023 awards will be presented during the Alameda County Recycling Board meeting on Wednesday, June 8, 4 p.m. The event will be held in person at the StopWaste offices, 1537 Webster Street in Oakland. For remote access, use the Zoom website or App and enter meeting code 822 4406 3963.

2023 Awardee Highlights: 
 

Fertile GroundWorks, Livermore 

Excellence in Community Engagement 

Fertile GroundWorks is a nonprofit urban farm in Livermore, growing healthy, organic produce to help fight food insecurity. Each year they donate over 24,000 pounds of fresh fruit and vegetables to community kitchens and food pantries in the Tri-Valley. With a strong focus on education, Fertile GroundWorks teaches over a thousand volunteers annually about sustainable farming practices, local food systems, and composting, empowering them to share their learnings with others and build community. Fertile GroundWorks also helps rejuvenate and maintain food gardens at 20 local schools, providing seedlings, compost, knowledge, and encouragement. Since November 2022, they have partnered with the City of Livermore to host a Compost Hub, where over 210 home gardeners have come to pick up free compost to date.  

Good Eggs, Common Vision, Oakland  

Excellence in Food Donation Partnerships 

Good Eggs, an online food marketplace specializing in local, sustainably produced groceries in West Oakland, and Common Vision, a nonprofit committed to improving local food systems by planting orchards and supporting gardens in low-income schools, together have built a model partnership for surplus food recovery and distribution. Taking a highly transparent and proactive approach driven by mutual trust and shared values, the two organizations ensure that Good Eggs’ surplus of wholesome, high-value fresh food reaches West Oakland families in an equitable, and efficient manner, using school gardens as food hubs. The two organizations are documenting their structure, creating templates, and writing a case study to help others follow their model of cooperative food recovery. 

Bay Cities Produce, San Leandro  

Excellence in Food Waste Prevention and Equity 

Bay Cities Produce in San Leandro is a family-owned company distributing fresh, frozen, and prepared fruits and vegetables to food businesses and institutions throughout the Bay Area. A Certified Green Business, they have implemented energy efficiency measures, recycle their wash water, and follow a zero-waste model. Their network of food recovery partners ensures that the company’s edible surplus food goes to feed people, while all their produce trimmings and peels are used by local ranchers and farmers as animal feed or compost. They source fruits and vegetables mainly from family-owned BIPOC farms, helping them pool produce to make transport to buyers more cost effective and also help pay for their food safety training.

Barnett Plumbing & Water Heaters, Livermore  

Excellence in Advancing Electrification 

Barnett Plumbing and Water Heaters in Livermore has created practical and innovative solutions to help homeowners opt for an all-electric heat pump water heater (HPWH) instead of a gas water heater replacement when their existing one breaks. Because the electrical and permitting work involved in a HPWH installation can get in the way of restoring hot water to the home immediately, Barnett offers a loaner water heater at no cost to bridge the gap. They also bake all available incentives into their heat pump vs gas water heater cost estimates for an apples-to-apples comparison—and the HPWH usually wins. In 2022 alone, they installed 177 heat pump water heaters in the Bay Area and helped homeowners collectively realize $170,000 in incentive payments.

Fremont Unified School District’s Climate Literacy and Environmental Education Network,  
Fremont  

Excellence in Sustainability at School 

In 2021, Fremont Unified School District passed a resolution, brought forth entirely by middle and high school students: to ensure that all graduating students are well versed in climate change and climate solutions. The resolution led to the formation of the Climate Literacy and Environmental Education Network (CLEEN), a network of educators, students, and community partners working to develop a district-wide climate literacy and implementation plan. CLEEN has mapped FUSD’s environmental initiatives, developed an environmentally themed summer school program, launched a district-wide school garden network, and implemented an educator professional development series. In addition, CLEEN provides leadership and support for directors, principals, teachers, and students through grants, funding, and training. Its ultimate purpose is to drive student- and community-led climate solution initiatives, such as the transition to electric buses and solar energy to switching to reusable food service ware, all which have already taken shape.

 

 

Previous Award Winners

 

2022

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