Work Green Howard

A premier, professional bin and dumpster cleaning service in Howard County and family-owned and operated, MD Clean is the first and only of its kind. MD Clean uses eco-friendly products to clean, sanitize and deodorize bins and dumpsters – killing 99 percent of the germs and bacteria, and its state-of-the-art trucks allow the company to collect and dispose of the dirty water at an approved county facility.

Sun Belle has numerous environmental initiatives such as recycling efforts which helps reduce waste cost and they generate enough solar energy to significant saving in their electrical cost. Also, they created a pollinator meadow at their facility to reduce landscape maintenance.

The team educated more than a hundred residents about recycling through community meetings. Finally, to further its going green effort, the team installed a water refill station in the front lobby of the Interfaith Center to promote the use of reusable water bottles and purchased compostable tableware for use by all of its congregations.

HCC’s Dragon Fire Café, Ecker Café on the Quad and Starbucks utilize disposable food prep and serving items that are certified BPI compostable. Additionally, through its composting program, these three dining facilities participate in the County’s “Feed the Green Bin” program, with leftover food waste being collected twice a week to be composted.

CA is committed to being energy efficient and the use of renewable energy. Since 2015, electrical use at all CA facilitates has been 100 percent offset with clean renewable energy. As an active ENERGY STARⓇ partner, CA has made a strong commitment to energy efficiency within its operations and encourages residents to conduct an energy audit of their home, even offering a discount on recommended energy conservation measures. Additionally, CA encourages its community members to be a part of its sustainability efforts. Last year alone, 675 volunteers joined CA, donating upwards of 1,500 hours to plant more than 550 trees in CA open space areas.

In 2023, KC Cares launched a grassroots effort to gain community support for the expansion of the County’s “Feed the Green Bin” curbside food scrap collection program to their service area. Thanks to the hard work of KC Cares, in September 2023, Ball announced the County would be expanding its food scrap curbside collection to 6,330 homes in several areas throughout the county, including Kings Contrivance.

In 2019, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbia created a Climate Crisis Team, aimed at promoting climate mitigation efforts, climate resiliency and climate justice. In 2023, the team opened a community garden called the “Nourishing Garden,” to teach local community members about sustainable gardening practices and expand access to fresh produce.

In 2023, NPD’s 72 units volunteered their time towards conservation and green-related volunteer activities, including:

• During an NPD fishing event at Centennial Park, Cub Scouts and parents spent 200 hours picking up trash;
• Troops 944B&G dedicated more than 550 hours mulching, cleaning up water retention beds and planting trees outside of Bethany Church;
• Troops 874 and 851 volunteered for Howard County roadside cleanup projects throughout the year; and

Troop 649 teamed up with the Oakland Mills Interfaith Center’s Green Team to dig trenches and install drains for stormwater management at the center.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, AAPPI Youth Ambassadors Environmental and Sustainable Community built a community garden to promote physical activity and spending time in nature an effort to improve youth mental health. Since then, the group has established two additional gardens that are staffed by more than 50 youth gardeners between the ages of eight to 18, along with parent volunteers.

In the three years of operation, Chinese School Environmental Conservation and Sustainable Community Initiative (ECSCI) gardeners have harvested 2,000 pounds of organic fruits and vegetables, all of which were donated to Howard County food banks and shelters.

Through three initiatives, the Elkridge branch offers county residents opportunities to increase energy efficiency and reduce waste. These initiatives are its LED Lightbulb Exchange, DIY Education Center (which promotes the sharing of resources to reduce consumption and waste) and a food waste pilot program.

The Patapsco Heritage Greenway offers residents numerous environmental initiatives to partake in, including its volunteer stream monitoring programs to remove trash along our waterways, train volunteers to conduct water quality and tree planting opportunities. The group has also created the first-ever report of water quality in the non-tidal Patapsco River for educational purposes.

Clocktower Crossing HOA’s sustainability initiatives began in 2022 when resident, Teresa Weathington Guzman, won a grant for the HOA, funded by the Howard County Stormwater Partnership Program and Watershed Stewards Academy, in collaboration with the Master Gardeners of the University of Maryland Extension Program, to implement an environmental project called “Sloping Green Landscapes of Clocktower Crossing”.

To lead the projects, the HOA formed a Green Team. The project included an educational barbecue where residents learned about the new sustainability initiatives in the community, and learned from stormwater stewards about stormwater mitigation strategies, such as rain barrels. At the barbecue and throughout the project, community members learned about non-native invasives and plants that are native to the region, and they received hands-on experience both removing non-native invasives and planting natives.