News & Events
Female Entrepreneurs Driving Sustainable Business Practices
Release Date: 2019-08-26
Watching the shampoo, body wash and laundry detergent containers pile up in her recycling bin, Bring Your Own Long Beach owner Julie Darrell felt like she needed to do more to protect the environment. She saw her bathroom shelves grow with individually packaged products, thanks in part to the relentless marketing campaigns for household goods and personal care items leveled at women on a daily basis, she noted. Something needed to change, she thought.
“I felt like there was more I could do,” Darrell said. She had already made waste reduction a part of her household’s everyday routine, and wanted to help others do the same. When she realized that there were no stores focused on providing package-free products in Los Angeles, Long Beach or Orange County, she knew she had found her niche. “I can’t be the only one looking for this,” she remembered thinking to herself. Since last year, customers can now refill their laundry detergent, baking soda, shampoo and many other pantry and household items at her East Village retail location.
Darrell is one of many female entrepreneurs driving the implementation of sustainable business practices in Long Beach. Many are part of the city’s green business certification program. The program recognizes businesses from a variety of industries – from hair salons to architecture firms – that have shown a commitment to sustainability by complying with a number of requirements set by the California Green Business Network. Of the 32 green businesses currently certified in Long Beach, 15 are led by women and three have a male-female team at their helm.
Long Beach Celebrates Green Certified Businesses
Release Date: 2019-05-08
Long Beach Certified 31 local businesses and organizations through the Green Businesses Program in the past year since the program re-launched under the California Green Business Network. On May 7th it celebrated these businesses’ achievements with a presentation at City Council and a celebration at The Harbor downtown.
In the last year businesses in the Green Business Program have saved over 100,000 pounds of CO2 which is the equivalent of planting 168 acres of urban forests. Businesses also saved enough energy to power 10 houses and enough water to fill one bathtub per hour for a year.
“There are many simple actions businesses can take that make a big impact,” Sustainability Coordinator Larry Rich said. “All of the changes they make also help educate residents and visitors about what it means to be a sustainable community. Thank you to all of the businesses that have made protecting the environment a part of their mission.”
Long Beach launched the new Green Business Program in May 2018 under the California Green Business Network (CAGBN), which provides a statewide standard of sustainability for Green Business Certification. Certification is provided free of charge to all Long Beach businesses, and the program connects businesses with any resources and incentive programs available to help them go green. Businesses that achieve certification are promoted on the City website and social media channels, listed on the CAGBN database of green businesses, and provided with branded material to showcase their certified status.
Join the growing community of Green Businesses or support local sustainable business at www.longbeach.gov/greenbusiness.