Cypress Creek Renewables Goes Big for Earth Day

This year Cypress Creek Renewables celebrated Earth Day in a big way. Team members in our offices across the country participated in a company-wide community service holiday on Friday, April 21. The teams used their time to clean trash from their local streets, rivers and beaches, they planted flowers and trees, and beautified the neighborhoods where they live and work.

“It was important for us, as a company, to take this day to put coordinated action behind our commitment to a cleaner, healthier future even beyond the work that we do every day as a clean energy leader,” Sam Hockaday, Executive Vice President of Human Resources said.

Here is how our offices spent the day:

In Asheville, North Carolina, team members joined forces with Asheville GreenWorks to do a trash cleanup of the downtown streets surrounding the office, clearing 9 bags of trash, ensuring it would not end up in the river. They also beatified their porch area and planted trees and flowers using soil created from the year-round composting of the office trash.

The Asheville office has been composting since 2017, diverting 1,786lbs of waste from the landfill and creating enough compost soil to grow 3,350 tomatoes!

In Durham, North Carolina our team took to the streets where they gathered litter left along the roadway and sidewalks surrounding the office into two 100-gallon trash bags. In their efforts they removed everything from plastic bottles to broken car parts while beautifying the neighborhood where they work.

In San Francisco, California the team cleaned up trash from Golden Gate and La Playa Parks. They were able to collect 11 bags of trash, diverting it from the ocean and nature areas and creating a better environment for park and beach-goers to enjoy.

In Santa Monica, California the team spent the day on the Santa Monica beach where they collected 16 bags of trash! Much of this trash included microplastics that can lead to the destruction of the beautiful coastline.

In Washington, D.C. the team joined the Anacostia Community Boathouse Association to clear litter and debris from the Anacostia River bioswale. A bioswale is a landscape element that, by catching and slowing runoff, removes silt and pollution before it can reach the water making the river cleaner and healthier. The team collected three bags of trash that otherwise could have found its way into the river. They ended the day with a boat tour to educated themselves on the efforts made to turn the watershed back into the beautiful environment it was meant to be.