The Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership will begin recognizing local businesses that support environmental sustainability.
Senior environmental studies major Charlotte Lamb said she fell in love with the downtown partnership after visiting with one of her urban planning classes.
Lamb then contacted Meg McGurk, executive director for the downtown partnership, to see if there was any way she could help. McGurk told her that they didn’t have anyone looking into the sustainability and green efforts downtown.
Now, as an intern with the partnership, Lamb will write articles on businesses conducting sustainable practices and the positive effects of these practices.
Lamb said Brooks Contractor, which was hired by Orange County to manage food waste, is a good example of a sustainable business.
“For example, Med Deli — whenever you go back behind the shop, there are around three to five trash can size dumpsters full of beautiful food waste, that if they didn’t have the composting program in place, would go straight to the landfill,” Lamb said.
Lamb recently sent out a poll with 35 different criteria to all the businesses downtown. The more criteria businesses meet, the higher their chance of having an article written about them.
“I think it’s so important because the downtown partnership is all about promoting our businesses, and this is a facet of our businesses that isn’t explored but could really give us a competitive advantage,” Lamb said.
