TUCSON, Ariz. – Borderlands Brewery recruited three UA interns to make up their first Green Team in the beginning of January.
This group of students will help the brewery compile and organize information about the establishment’s water and energy usage. The information will be used to identify areas where the establishment can improve and help the interns figure out exactly how to ameliorate the issues.
Mike Mallozzi, the co-founder of Borderlands, explained how the idea of a Green Team came into the business’ conversation.
The brewery was approached by an organization they belong to called Local First Arizona in the beginning of last year. According to Mallozzi, the organization is the nation’s largest coalition of independently owned business and they were putting together a sustainability program.
The SCALE UP program asked for businesses to take part in a six-week course that taught business owners how to become more sustainable. By going through the course, the business immediately agreed to become a part of the Tucson 2030 District.
The 2030 District is implemented in many cities around the United States, and according to the organization’s mission, it works to help the cities reach a 50% reduction in energy use, water use and transportation emissions by the year 2030. The 2030 District in Tucson encompasses most of downtown and the UA campus.
Borderlands happens to be one of many establishments taking part to achieve this goal.
“Our product is distributed statewide, so we have a platform where we can spread this message of the importance of sustainability, what we’re doing and how it makes us look better,” Mallozzi said. “That gives other companies and other people ideas about how they can do that for themselves.”
Mallozzi attended the course set up by the SCALE UP program and became inspired by one that explained the importance of a Green Team.
“And if you don’t have that responsibility centered group to do that, then it won’t be a priority because there will always be a million other things to do,” Mallozzi said.
Borderlands Green Team is made up of three UA student interns and the Green Team captain, Pete Corrigan to help the brewery reach its goal.
Anthony Dito, 21, is in his final semester as an Environmental Engineering major. Dito is currently working with Sasha Evans, 22, is a junior majoring in Sustainable Built Environments. According to Evans the two are currently working on collecting and compiling data on the energy performance of Borderlands Brewing over the last 3-4 years.
“The data will be used to create a baseline of historical data that can be used to track future improvements,” Dito said.
Sofia Moraga, 19, is the PR intern for the team and works to inform the public about the sustainability efforts of both the brewery and those working on the Green Team. She is currently a sophomore double majoring in Journalism and French at the UA.
Corrigan bring a different side of the equation to the efforts. Corrigan graduated from the City of Tucson Master of Recycling class and says that it helped him learn and see firsthand how the City of Tucson recycles. “With this we were are able to minimize the contamination in our recycling and make sure our efforts are efficient and impactful.”
Mallozzi labels himself as the team’s instigator and is currently working on setting goals, outlining context and “getting out of the way.”