Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection on Tuesday recognized 16 businesses and individuals in the state for protecting the environment and natural resources at its GreenCircle awards ceremony in Hartford.
Three Fairfield County businesses ”“ Cartus Corp., Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Aptar Stratford ”“ were among the award recipients.
Cartus, in Danbury, was recognized in part for its employee ridesharing program. More than 600 employees signed up for the program and more than 350 actively use the service every week, according to a DEEP press release. Cartus employees also participate in Danbury’s Adopt-A-Street program and are involved in a street-cleaning program.
Boehringer Ingelheim in Ridgefield was honored for its BE Green program, which aims to conserve energy, reduce carbon dioxide emissions, reduce the use of natural resources and increase the level of recycling at the company. Through the program, employees have thought of ways to improve environmental performance, including replacing paper towels with hand dryers, replacing water coolers with water bottle filling stations and using recovered solvents for cleaning operations.
Aptar Stratford in Stratford won an award for building an energy-efficient warehouse. The warehouse features high-efficiency lighting, occupancy sensors, high-efficiency HVAC units, LED outdoor lighting, cool roofing and insulation, and a natural gas condensing furnace.
Since DEEP launched the GreenCircle program 16 years ago, about 1,085 individuals, businesses, schools and organizations have been recognized for improving and protecting the state’s environment.
According to the press release from the department, projects recognized by GreenCircle have each year reduced water use by more than 646 million gallons, air emissions by 13 million pounds, hazardous waste generation by more than 1 million pounds, spent solvents by more than 920,000 gallons and solid waste by more than 9,200 tons.
