Three small businesses from the landscaping, restaurants, and IT sectors discussed how sustainability in general and Green Plus in particular help them improve operations, save money, and become better environmental and community stewards. The businesses included Bland Landscaping, the Chapel Hill Restaurant Group, and iContact. The Triangle Success Forum is an annual forum hosted by Triangle area chambers of commerce and other strategic partners to generate discourse and find solutions to the region’s growth-related challenges.

This year, Green Plus presented at the event, along with Duke Energy and Progress Energy.

If you can’t view the video above, click here to see it on YouTube.

• CHRG has been referred to as the “Rock Stars of Recycling” by Blair Pollock – Solid Waste Manager – Orange County Landfill, for reducing solid waste by 60% in the last ten years.
• In addition to recycling plastic, metal, glass, cardboard, and office paper, CHRG gathers food scraps for composting, and collect all used cooking oils for use as Biofeuls.
• Working with the NC Coastal Federation, CHRG collects and transports all their oyster shells from Squid’s to the North Carolina coast, where they are used to rebuild the state’s oyster beds.
• The Chapel Hill Restaurant Group’s latest property – MEZ Contemporary Mexican in the RTP- is North Carolina’s first LEED designed restaurant. Owners estimate the building is well on the way to saving them substantial money, as the building is using 40% less energy and 60% less water than their older, comparably sized restaurants.
• Chapel Hill Restaurant group was named 2007 “Sustainable Business of the Year” by the Foundation for a Sustainable Community.
• CHRG was an early entrant into the ‘buy local’ approach, starting over 25 years ago, and actively buys as much produce and as many food products as possible from local farmers.