Businesses becoming more green

Fay Allen, of Malta, gets her hair cut by stylist Amie Bemis at Unique Concepts in Sycamore, Ill., on Tuesday June 23, 2009. The salon will soon be using environmentally friendly chemicals. (Beck Diefenbach – bdiefenbach@daily-chronicle.com)

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DeKALB – Patty Pumfrey hit a bump Tuesday on the road to going green.

Pumfrey, the owner of Unique Concepts Salon in Sycamore, is taking the entire salon in an eco-conscious direction. But when changing out standard light bulbs in the business for energy-efficient ones, the new bulbs wouldn’t fit.

“I called the company and they said, ‘Those aren’t compatible with the ballast. Just put one of the old bulbs in,’” Pumfrey said. “Well, that kind of defeats the purpose of what I’m trying to do here. I’m just going to have my electrical guy come in and put in new ballasts.”

The green movement has been picking up steam for years, and the business community is taking notice. A growing number of businesses are seeing the benefits, both economic and environmental, to using sustainable practices.

Prairie State Winery in Genoa uses a 50-foot-tall wind turbine to generate some of the electricity consumed at its production building. The turbine cost about $14,000 and saves about $100 a month on the electric bill, owner Rick Mamoser said. The business also offers customers discounts for using reusable bags and boxes, uses energy-efficient lighting and operates a recycling program. Mamoser and his wife, Maria, plan next to install solar collectors at the business.

“We’ve always emphasized locally-produced wine as a green alternative in its own right,” Mamoser said. “We thought we’d expand in a green and eco-friendly way. It’s more in line with our philosophy.”

The Village Commons Bookstore on the campus of Northern Illinois University also offers alternatives to plastic bags, manager Lee Blankenship said. He uses energy-efficient light bulbs and recently bought a flex-fuel vehicle to replace the store’s old truck. The store has always recycled aluminum and pays the rent on a large cardboard recycling bin used by the entire shopping center, Blankenship said.

Blankenship said businesses can set an example for the community in making small changes for the environment. Plus, going energy-efficient can be good for a business’s bottom line.

“The payoff is, hopefully you lower the energy bill over time enough to offset the initial costs,” he said.

VCB is involved in a pilot program through Exelon and the Illinois Retail Merchants Association that allows it to purchase exclusively nuclear energy to operate its largest electric meter for one year. The program is an attempt to measure just how much clean energy is being pumped into the grid by nuclear, solar, wind, hydro and other “clean” energy generators, Blankenship said.

According to the merchants’ association, in one year, the store will have eliminated enough pollutants to equal planting 4,375 trees or removing 31 passenger vehicles from the road.

The green movement at Unique Concepts began with recycling magazines and aluminum cans. Then came replacing bottled water with a water cooler and glasses, Pumfrey said. The cleaning products used in the salon are organic or biodegradable, and starting Saturday, the salon will carry a line of styling products that are 99.9 percent organic, she said.

“If you can’t eat it, we won’t put it in your hair,” she said. “Everything is grown and nontoxic.”

The beauty and salon industry as a whole leaves an enormous environmental footprint, Pumfrey said. Part of the problem is the industry’s reliance on chemical-based products. Pumfrey is starting with the styling products, some of which can also be used in manicures and pedicures, and is investigating naturally-based hair color, perms and straightening treatments.

The salon is also going energy-efficient, not just by replacing light bulbs, but by standing up against an industry habit of leaving styling tools like curling irons plugged in all the time. Styling tools are now unplugged between clients and the tanning bed is shut down as well, she said.

“The little things make such a big difference,” Pumfrey said. “If every business in this town would do just one thing, think of what a difference that would make. ...You can’t just go on thinking it’s everybody else’s job. If we all do just a little bit, we can do huge things.”