On Railroads, Resturants and Recycling

For businesses who are interested in going “green,” or even going “blue” (air quality), there are plenty of places to focus improvement. One of the most impressive things to me about the Napa Valley Wine Train is how subtlety pervasive its environmental programs are.

We spoke last week about the CNG engine and its good qualities: cleaner air, abundant fuel source, highly efficient. Today, I want to touch on our recycling efforts. Our Executive Chef was one of the leaders in the company to really move to a strong waste recycling program. He knew it was the right thing to do and implemented at the commissary (our prep kitchen in the rail yard) an aggressive program that reduced the Train’s waste stream significantly.

So significantly in fact, that in April of this year (2008) the Napa Valley Wine Train received rewards and recognition from the United States Congress (Rep. Mike Thompson), the California State Assembly and Legislature (Assembly member Noreen Evans, and Senator Patricia Wiggins), as well the City of Napa’s Recycling and Waste Services (a $1,000 award).

“This incentive-based awards program rewards schools, businesses and apartment complexes for not just doing the right thing, but for doing it extremely well,” said Kevin Miller, Materials diversion Administrator for the City of Napa.

According the City, the prize money was allocated based on field surveys to determine the best recyclers – regardless of size – utilizing the City’s single-stream program. The field surveys measured the amount of non-recyclable trash in the recycling bins, and the amount of recyclables in the trash. With the results combined, the lowest scores determined the winners in each category.

It is not just our refuse from the kitchen that we watch, the administrative offices all have paper recycling bins, and we are annoyingly good at reusing paper that has only been printed on one side.

And of course, we are making an effort to improve even further. More on our environmental initiatives in an upcoming post!