The University of Colorado at Boulder's Leeds School of Business has announced the finalists for its inaugural Summit Award for Environmental Leadership including Albertsons Inc., Horizon Organic and the Rohm & Haas Co.
The award will be presented to the winning company on Thursday, Sept. 30, at 11:30 a.m. in Macky Auditorium as part of the Sustainable Resources Conference taking place on campus.
The three finalists also will describe their nominated programs at a breakfast reception on Sept. 30, from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. at the Dushanbe Teahouse, 1770 13th St. in Boulder. The reception is free and open to the public and is sponsored by Caplan and Earnest law firm and P3 Colorado.
The companies were acknowledged for initiating programs that have a positive impact on the natural environment by focusing on specific areas, including sustainable use of renewable natural resources, reduction of toxic and hazardous wastes, production of environmentally safe products or services and increased productivity of non-renewable natural resources.
Part of the Leeds School's Center for Business and Society, the Summit Award Program gave its first award, the Summit Award for Social Impact, to General Mills Inc. for its "Box Tops for Education" program in 2003. Next year, the Leeds School intends to present both awards.
"The Summit Awards recognize special business initiatives that advance the profit motive of free enterprise while providing benefits for the environment or people beyond the firm itself," said Bob Kolb, assistant dean for business and society. "The awards reflect the Leeds commitment to develop business leaders with a broader view of how business contributes to society."
Albertsons Inc., of Boise, Idaho, was chosen as a finalist because of its specific efforts in waste reduction and recycling. The company helped develop the Common Footprint produce container, a recyclable corrugated box that replaces waxed containers and wooden crates used for produce packaging. The container, now used industry-wide, is used to ship 50 percent of all produce sent to Albertsons.
Horizon Organic, of Longmont, Colo., was chosen because of its producer partner program that works with about 300 dairy farmers nationwide to encourage organic farming methods and the humane treatment of animals. Through its total milk and feed supply purchases, it keeps hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland free from development and maintained under sustainable farming practices.
The Rohm and Haas Co., of Philadelphia, was selected for its pollution prevention program that helped reduce total releases of air, land and water waste from all of its U. S. facilities from 5.966 million pounds in 1999 to 2.010 million pounds in 2001. As one of the world's largest specialty chemicals manufacturers, the company addresses the issues of environment, economics and society at each stage of research and development.
All U.S.-based profitable companies that have been in existence and publicly traded for at least five years were eligible to be nominated for the Summit Award for Environmental Leadership.
The three judges chosen to evaluate each nominated company's programs are Meghan Chapple, manager of business education at the World Resources Institute; Dale Jamieson, professor of environmental studies and philosophy at New York University; and Jeff Yorzyk, senior analyst with Five Winds International.
The Center for Business and Society's mission is to provide a broad approach to business education and examine the roles and contributions of business to society.
People interested in attending the awards presentation at Macky Auditorium should R.S.V.P. by calling (303) 735-0437.