(DENVER) Sept. 30, 2022: The Colorado Green Business Network has awarded Jeff Purdy and Capco, LLC the 2022 24-Karat Gold Award for their extraordinary commitment to reducing emissions and hazardous waste produced from the facility’s processes.
Capco is an engineering, design, and manufacturing company, serving as a prime contractor for each of the U.S Department of Defense service branches. Under the leadership of Purdy, Capco’s Environmental Health and Safety Manager, this industry-leading designer, developer, and manufacturer has succeeded in their efforts to reduce the amount of waste and gas the company produces. The 24-Karat Gold Award is a voluntary, member’s choice competition between Gold Certified Organizations.
Under Purdy ’s leadership, Capco has reduced 500,000 pounds of carbon dioxide gas in a nine-month period, by utilizing energy management assessments both independently and in conjunction with Colorado’s Industrial Strategic Energy Management program, a program that offers direct support from expert energy coaches for industrial organizations. In addition, Capco has seen an 89% reduction in hazardous waste since 2019 by adjusting its facility processes, following the EPA’s waste reduction recommendations and developing a culture for employees to initiate suggestions for improvement.
Capco employees are heavily involved in the decision-making when it comes to implementing environmental initiatives in Capco’s processes. One such employee-led initiative involved recycling circuit boards, which were formerly entering the waste stream. Capco has recently been looking beyond traditional waste and scrap metrics by actively evaluating all process streams, water, gas emissions, and data, with emphasis on employee involvement.
Not only has Capco made it a point to engage their employees, but they also prioritize community engagement within the Western Slope. Purdy currently sits as the Recycle Colorado Western Slope Council Chair, leads the Western Slope CGBN group, and is active in the Clean Tech Business coalition. By partnering with local schools, Purdy has paired Capco’s manufacturing expertise with Grand Junction High School’s initiative to build benches to support solar charging stations for personal electronic devices.
Purdy is a standout steward of the environment and community, driving Capco to be an industry leader in Environmental Health and Safety. By working closely with his employees, community, and Western Slope partners, Purdy has pushed Capco to reach new levels of environmental stewardship in the manufacturing world.
In an effort to recognize more organizations for their efforts, the Colorado Green Business Network has also awarded five businesses with the Innovation Spotlight Awards. These awards recognize outstanding progress and innovation in a specific area of operations, including water, energy, waste, transportation and community/equity:
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Denver Water redeveloped their main campus, integrating LED lighting and LEED standards, saving 1,570,000 kWh of energy per year.
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EarthLinks provides workshops, trips into nature, and urban gardening to community participants. Participants harvest more than 1,300 pounds of produce and craft more than 6,000 sustainable products.
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Horizon Discovery switched their packaging to 100% recyclable, plant-based insulation panels, with about 3530.4 MTCO2e saved from entering the atmosphere annually.
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Circle Graphics implemented a polyethylene poster and bulletin recycling program, recycling 216 tons of polyethylene since April 2021.
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Colorado Bear Creek Cabins installed rainwater collection and seeded drought-tolerant native grass mixes, completely eliminating the use of potable water for landscaping.
About the Colorado Green Business Network
The Colorado Green Business Network is a voluntary program that encourages, supports and rewards organizations that make the move toward the goal of true, operational sustainability. The goal of the network is to support organizations throughout the state in increasing the efficiency and sustainability of their operation through assessing opportunities for growth, recognizing success, and providing connections to like-minded businesses throughout the state. Any Colorado business, industry, office, educational institution, municipality, government agency, community, nonprofit, and organization is encouraged to apply for the Colorado Green Business Network. Interested prospects are welcome to reach out to Rayna Oliker, CGBN Administrator, at rayna.oliker@state.co.us, or to visit the department’s website with any questions or for more information.
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