For as long as climate change has been a hot button issue, sustainability has been top of mind for business owners and homeowners in Brazos Valley and around the world. Here are how some local businesses are creating sustainability in our community and how you can be more sustainable.
Water usage
Jennifer Nations, a water resource coordinator for the College Station Water Services said that homeowners can save water with better irrigation systems. “For homeowners, the big win is with irrigation systems,” Nations says. “That’s where small changes lead to big results. Most people overwater their grass either too long or too often- or some combination of both.”
The city has partnered with Texas A&M University and with the groundwater district by utilizing the Brazos Valley WaterSmart Network, Nations says. The website has up-to-date weather and rainfall information, which are collected by digital rain gauges all over the Brazos County, she says, and adds that a weekly email service for residents shares how much rain fell in their neighborhoods that week and whether or not they need to turn on their sprinkler systems. The emails take the guesswork out of watering for homeowners, Nations says. “We know rainfall varies around town, which has helped people save a significant amount of water.”
According to Nations, the Brazos Valley WaterSmart website and email service received a Texas Environmental Excellence Award in 2019 from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Businesses can reach out to the city directly, Nations says. “There is a whole guidebook of steps water-intense businesses can take to save water,” she says. Nations adds that both restaurants and homeowners can implement tools to save water such as monitoring kitchen dishwater use and upgrading to higher-efficiency toilets. “There are some toilets on the market today that use less than one gallon per flush,” Nations says.
In addition to monitoring home water usage, homeowners and small business owners also need resources for waste, which is easy to find on the Twin Oaks Landfill website. According to the website, medical sharps and medications are accepted as well as automotive waste and paint waste.
On Saturday, April 24, the Twin Oaks Landfill will host Household Hazardous Waste Saturday. This is an easy and cost-free opportunity for homeowners to discard hazardous materials safely and also donate new and used books to the organization Books and a Blanket.
Farm to table
Businesses such as Ronin Farm and Restaurant have found it easier to practice sustainability by being a farm-to-table restaurant, according to Amanda Light who owns and operates the business with her husband, Brian. They started with the vision of preserving “the gastronomic and cultural traditions of Texas by sharing sustainable foods and genuine experiences with our community (fix)” by hosting full moon dinners, weddings, educational tours and other private events.
“The farm has been around the community for a little over eight years and the restaurant has been in downtown Bryan for a little over two-and-a-half years — we turned two over COVID!” Amanda Light says. The farm is located about 10 minutes away from the restaurant, where they raise pigs, chicken, and vegetables.
Some of the ways Ronin Farm and Restaurant reduces waste include repurposing wine bottles, recycling cardboard, and making good use of the nutrient-dense food grown on the farm. “At our restaurant, we grow as much as we can at the farm to serve at both the farm and the restaurant downtown,” said Light. “One of the things that we are thankful for is the fact that we’re surrounded by all sorts of fresh foods.” Light said that one of Ronin Farm and Restaurants main goals being in operation and being in the Brazos Valley is to share a deeper connection with food, all the way from the seed to being served in the restaurant, she said.
“It’s work. It’s hard work but very rewarding.”
Recycling
Heather Woolwine, regional sales manager of Brannon Industrial Group, says that environmental waste services such as landfills can be difficult to acquire and costly, and homeowners are not always fond of having landfills close to them. Brazos Valley Recycling, a company of BIG (Brannon Industrial Group), has attempted to purchase land in a conscientious way that has minimal impact in the community.
“When you recycle, you offset that waste input and maximize the life and potential of that landfill and save yourself as well as many generations beyond you from the costly expense that can be burdensome on taxpayers,” Woolwine says.
According to a 2018 EPA report, paper and cardboard recycling make up 67% of recycled products. Metals make up 13%, and glass, plastic, and wood make up about 4% to 5% of the products recycled. Woolwine says Bravos Valley Recycling provides services for commercial businesses, residential areas, apartment complexes, and a variety of other services. “We also have roll-off boxes and do garbage services for smaller communities as well as those outside of Bryan and College Station and rural areas,” Woolwine says. “We have ‘Stop & Go’ potties, which is portable sanitation. We also do scrap metal recycling.”
Premier Metal Buyers, a leg of BIG, purchases metal from the community or large companies, which it sends directly to the steel mill, Woolwine explains. “Unfortunately, there are some things that are not recyclable,” said Woolwine. “When it is recyclable, we definitely can accommodate and can help residents find those resources.”
When it comes to local businesses, there is more than just recycling that can lead to sustainable business practices, Woolwine says. She notes that she looks at cleanliness, recycling, and garbage control for examples of how businesses excel at sustainability. “Texas A&M does so much to maximize the recycling that they can and clean materials that are very marketable,” Woolwine says. “Century Square, by far, is the best facility I have ever seen in how they manage all of their garbage.”
In addition to Texas A&M and Century Square, Starbucks locations also do a good job at recycling and sorting goods, Woolwine says. Businesses in Downtown Bryan are also fantastic recyclers, she added. When it comes to how consumers can recycle on an everyday basis, Woolwine advises “when in doubt, throw it out!” She says that oftentimes people mean well by putting things in the recycling bin, but cautions that “it is safer to just toss an item than risk contaminating an entire load with stuff that isn’t recyclable.”
Stearns Design Build
When deciding whether to repurpose or toss pieces when remodeling homes, Hugh Stearns, owner of Stearns Design Build, says that the first thing they do prior to remodeling a home is an energy assessment which evaluates air leaks. The second step is to use a thermal camera to detect any installation problems, which Stearns adds are a little more costly to address. “The first thing we do before we remodel a home is what we consider a level one energy assessment,” Stearns says. “The ‘building envelope’ is the primary guard against loss of energy. Air leaks are about equal to installation in terms of preserving energy in a home, whether heating or cooling.”
When remodeling or building homes, Stearns says sustainable design and construction are a top concern for him and his team. He says his passion for remodeling comes from a homeowner’s relationship to their space.
“In remodeling we focus not just the home and not just the family, but the relationship of the home to the family,” Stearns says. “Creating designs that work for people in a home that they already have a relationship to is very different than creating a home people will develop a relationship to.”
Stearns focuses on a design theory which he refers to as “transitions.” Stearns said this design theory comes from his background in psychology. “If we develop a relationship to nature, it creates happiness,” Stearns says. “It occurred to me that design can impact people’s happiness.”
Understanding that design is an aspect of sustainability, Stearns noted that in modern, green building, the primary focus is on the relationship between the home and the environment surrounding it. Stearns Design Build’s understanding of building science and the relationship between the building and the environment has grown, he says. Stearns, however, would argue that the most important relationship is not between the home and the environment, but between the people in the home and the environment.
“We created this design theory to create visual and physical transitions into the natural world,” Stearns says.
He says that when designing, they think of the people in the home, the spaces in the home where people interact, and creating nature connections, even in Texas’ hot and humid environment. A goal at Stearns Design Build is to design spaces that invite people to step out into them and connect with nature.
“When we create connections, we create happiness,” he says.
For more information, visit bvwatersmart.tamu.edu or twinoakslandfill.com/hhw.asp.
