The Cedar Park Chamber of Commerce and the city have been exploring developing a green business initiative to encourage local businesses to develop environmentally-friendly practices.

Representatives with the city and the chamber presented on the joint initiative before Cedar Park City Council March 8 to seek council feedback.

Tony Moline, the president of the Cedar Park Chamber of Commerce, said he previously led a county-wide nonprofit that promoted recycling and green initiatives to businesses.

“From the [previous] comments on council, and the direction that the city is going, we wanted to try to reach out and see how we can help come up with a green business initiative to develop a program where businesses can make those achievable goals and do it voluntarily to incorporate green practices within their facilities and everyday business operations,” Moline said.

Cedar Park City Council had previously instructed city staff to research zero-waste policies during a meeting in September, including exploring the recycling policies of area benchmark cities, the option of providing quarterly recycling events for hazardous waste, possible mandates to area businesses and cost implications for the city.

Moline said the joint program would develop a scorecard to recognize environmentally-sustainable accomplishments within different categories. The program would also reward and recognize businesses that meet green initiative threshold within those categories. Local businesses could also participate in education forums where experts could share ideas, concepts and business practices, he said.

Fran Irwin, the director of community affairs with Cedar Park, said the city could assist in developing the program criterion, help design marketing and promotional materials and promote the program, and partner with the chamber to host educational forums.