YBI Incorporates Environmental Awareness into Campus
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- That the Youngstown Business Incubator takes environmental awareness to heart should come as no surprise. After all, three of its four buildings are “recycled” and it is preparing to repurpose another downtown property as the YBI campus expands.
The YBI has long championed environmental efforts and each year those efforts gain strength, says its CEO, Jim Cossler.
“It just doesn’t happen on Earth Day, although Earth Day is when you can accentuate what we’re doing on our campus that actually happens every single day. We take our environmental stewardship very seriously," he remarked.
“The first activity that we’re engaged with year round is education,” Cossler noted, from using social media and email to the whiteboard in the original building’s lounge to offer reminders of what YBI staff and tenants can do to support the environment. “What we try to do on an ongoing basis, both internally and externally through stakeholders and friends, is to make sure that people understand what they can do to reduce, reuse and recycle,” he said.
Efforts happen at a variety of levels, Cossler continued. YBI partnered with Gasser Chair to ensure that its furnishings are locally sourced. Staff and tenants were asked to donate unused coffee mugs to eliminate the need for Styrofoam cups. Coffee grounds -- including from the cups used in single-serve coffee makers -- are recycled for use in community gardens. Environmentally friendly soaps are used in the campus restrooms, and refill pouches are used rather than buying new dispensers. Recycling stations are on every floor, with more than one on more heavily trafficked floors.
“We’ve been told by the contractor who picks up our recycling that he’s never gone where the bins have been as full as they are on our campus here,” Cossler said.
YBI staff take the mission beyond the campus by picking up litter and recyclables -- collected in discarded bags from retail stores -- throughout the downtown. Cossler said YBI began tracking what they collected a few weeks ago; each week, YBI staff collects 50 to 100 items each week that go into recycling bins.
During a recent remodeling of the main building’s first floor, YBI insisted on high-efficiency lighting. “It cost us a little more on the construction side but on the overall operational cost of powe,r it’s going to savemoney,” Cossler said.
That remodeling project also involved the installation of a new water fountain designed to allow tenants and staff to refill reusable water bottles.
“It may seem like a small thing but the amount of plastic that goes into landfills from water bottles is just vast,” said Barb Ewing, YBI's chief operating officer.
Ewing is quick to credit Cossler with his leadership. “Jim Cossler not only takes care of our campus but he does a lot of work in just the western end of downtown and cleaning up the general area,” she said. “We’re very proud to be a part of Youngstown. We want it to be beautiful and anything we can do to make that happen is a small step in the right direction.”
Equally important, she added, is that recycling is part of YBI’s brand, Ewing said. “It’s not about marketing for us but it is very much a part of what makes us cool, what makes us uniquely YBI. Part of the urban youth culture is an awareness of green initiatives and being part of that speaks not only to our mission but also to attracting the right type of clientele who are generally more in tune with the culture we’re trying to create here.”
Anne Behner, president of YBI tenant Visual Impact Imaging, is among those who have embraced YBI’s message of environmental stewardship, from recycling to reducing the amount of paper used by relying more on electronic communication.
“Every person can make a small difference so by recycling one container, by emptying your extra mail into the recycling bin, it does make a difference,” she remarked. “It’s nice to be in a community that also respects this effort and together we do make an impact.”
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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