Livin’ la vida verde is not something you can just check off a list. Even with environmentally aware practices solidly in place, there is always room for improvement. People get busy, new technologies hit the scene and better ideas bubble up.

That’s why a group of passionate employees established the PEARL iZUMi Green Team more than a decade ago: to regularly evaluate and suggest improvements to the sustainability efforts inside our headquarters, and to keep us up to speed with new opportunities. As part of our broader effort to minimize our overall environmental impact, the Green Team zeroes in on what we can do inside of our building and in local communities.

A few examples of the Green Team internal initiatives:

• We’ve eliminated plastic water bottles and use reusable glasses for our guests and meetings.
• No more plastic cutlery. We use real, washable dishes and flatware in this building.
• Recycling and composting bins are dispersed to easy access locations throughout the building.
• We tap our inner Martha Stewart with savvy, creative solutions, like our “Mason Jar Series” to minimize plastic waste. Seriously, is there anything a mason jar can’t do?
• We get the word out to everyone who works here, with regularly scheduled recycling and compost training and Green Team education sessions.

The Team’s big goal for 2018 is to further improve the buildings’ landfill diversion rate. Through the significant reduction of single-use items, increased composting education, and intensified recycling efforts, trash pick-ups have been reduced from three to one time per week, for a total reduction of over 60%.

PEARL iZUMi designer Cory Hibbard and marketing coordinator Abigale Wilson, have been the co-leaders of the Green Team for several years. Under their leadership, they’ve expanded the vision of the team to recognize that our community is bigger than our building. In the broader context, we:

• Organize a “Green Week” around Earth Day each year, with workshops and educational sessions focused on sustainability.
• Partner with the City of Louisville for group cleanups on local trails and in open spaces.
• And, naturally, we go big for Bike to Work Day.

The Green Team coordinates with local environmental agencies to identify improvement opportunities we may not be aware of on our own. Our work with Boulder County’s Partners for a Clean Environment (PACE) has led to two gold recognition awards from the City of Louisville’s Green Business Recognition Program.

Our Green Team meets once a month. And next meeting, we’re thinking capes….