SHERIDAN, Colo. — For small businesses hoping to go green, owners may not have the funds to make changes or know where to start. The Colorado Green Business Network (CGBN) is hoping to be the solution.
The program pairs up a sustainability expert with businesses to identify energy-saving and money-saving changes. The advice is free to the business.
Like most car wrapping shops, 4th Dimension Wraps and Graphics in Sheridan uses a lot of vinyl. The amount of waste started to bother co-owner Cassandra Mann.
"This backing paper," she said. "Unfortunately, this can't be recycled. We can't find a home for it, and it's painful for us because we throw away around 2,000 feet of it per month, and that's just our shop."
Mann applied for the Sustainable Business Partnership Program, a part of the CGBN available to the "tri-cities" Englewood, Sheridan and Littleton.
"Englewood and Sheridan have had a greenhouse gas inventory done, and what we saw there is the commercial sector makes up the biggest slice of the pie, but that really is the biggest opportunity to make an impact," said sustainability coordinator Aiden Lawton.
Lawton worked with 4th Dimension to identify sustainable swaps in their building and grants that could help pay for them. These included changing out the lighting for LEDs and getting windows tinted to reduce the heat coming into the shop during the summer. So far, 28 tri-city businesses have signed up for help.
"If you look at Green Business Programs nationally, they've reduced over 650 million metric tons of CO₂. To have a program in the tri-cities that can contribute to those metrics is huge," said Lawton.
As for a solution for vinyl backing paper, the Sustainable Business Partnership Program is looking for a solution.
"Aiden has now sent samples to chemists to be studied, the makeup of the product and the different opportunities to recycle," said Mann, "We want to find a solution, not only for us but to share with other shops."
She encourages other business owners to see what they can do to cut down on their energy usage and switch to greener habits.
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