About the Green Star Program

Green Star® is a program now operated with the support of the Alaska Forum, a 501c3 nonprofit organization. The Green Star Program supports businesses and organizations that wish to practice waste reduction, energy conservation and pollution prevention through education, technical assistance, and an award-winning voluntary "green business" certification program. Green Star began in 1990, in Anchorage, Alaska, as a cooperative effort. The Anchorage Chamber of Commerce successfully partnered with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) and the non-profit Alaska Center for the Environment (ACE) to create the Green Star program. The program, represented by this diverse group of state regulators, environmentalists and business leaders, was created to give positive recognition to organizations that exercised environmental responsibility. Green Star is both pro-business and pro-environment. Through the Green Star program, it was found that organizations that are environmentally responsible also have a stronger bottom line. By examining an organization’s waste streams and making internal changes to reduce them, significant financial savings—as well as environmental savings—are possible. The core Green Star Award program focuses on aspects of operations, which includes examining all waste streams (solid waste, utility usage etc.) and eliminating waste through smarter purchasing, restructuring employee procedures, maintaining or updating equipment and recycling. By meeting the Green Star Standards, these organizations can demonstrate to the public that they have gone well beyond compliance with environmental regulations, and have voluntarily implemented a thorough waste prevention and pollution prevention plan. As the program expanded, the partners decided to incorporate Green Star into a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization (in 1996) and over time expanded the program to include other waste concerns, i.e., air quality. Today, Green Star Program continues as a US EPA-award-winning organization recognizing businesses and organizations that continue to voluntarily meet and exceed Green Star’s high standards of environmental responsibility. When these standards have been met and peer-reviewed, the organization receives a Green Star Award. Advocacy Statement: The Alaska Forum and the Green Star Program do not advocate for or against legislation, politicians, affiliations, or citizen initiatives. Alaska Forum, its Board of Directors, Green Star professional staff and business members adhere to the philosophy of educating and encouraging robust and responsible business development without political motive.