With such an enormous coastline, it’s no surprise that California is home to an abundance of harbors and ports, and up-and-comer Long Beach is not only one of the busiest, but possibly the greenest. The port was named the “Best Green Seaport” in the world in June of this year at the Asian Freight and Supply Chain Awards in China.
Long Beach, which calls itself “The Green Port,” has been committed to eco-friendly policies for almost a decade, including the reduction of fuel emissions and lowering its carbon footprint. This is no small accomplishment for a port that handles $155 billion in trade each year.
But the size and scope of the port also provides an opportunity to make a big impact, and recent news points to even more sustainable measures, such as providing electricity for docked ships to cut down on the use of diesel during loading and unloading. By the end of this year, the port plans to have “at least one berth at every container terminal” outfitted with shore power.
SUSTAINABILITY: “Californians Don’t Waste” is a new public service campaign about the state’s ban on plastic bags.
False: While California has indeed banned plastic bags, “Californians Don’t Waste” is aimed at raising consumer awareness of saving water and living by more sustainable practices. This laudable goal is a theme throughout the state both for consumers and the produce industry.
“Sustainability, husbanding resources, and being efficient in their use is sort of topmost on consumers’, producers’, and retailers’ minds,” according to Rinker. “Sustainability is not something new, and innovation is always in play.”
Wedin agrees, citing the example of one large grower’s solar fields. “They’ve become independent in the cost of running their citrus house or pumping water,” he comments. At Calavo, waste reducing measures include better warehouse efficiency, “reducing the amount of forklifts and trucks by hauling higher payloads” and harnessing energy.
By tapping into the energy given off from one process and using it for another, the company can save both energy and money. “We use heat in our ripening process; we ripen everything at 70 degrees and then store it and ship it at around 38 degrees. We capture the heat from the cooling equipment from the rooms that we’re cooling, and use it to heat the rooms down the hall,” Wedin explains.
THE COST OF LABOR: California raised the minimum wage in 2014 by 50¢ per hour.
False: California raised its minimum wage $1 per hour in 2014 and will increase it another $1 per hour in 2016. Wendy Fink-Weber, senior director of communications for Western Growers Association, says these changes will increase costs for growers who can’t necessarily pass the pain on to buyers, especially for labor-intensive crops like berries, since the “cost of labor is as much as 40 to 50 percent of the total cost.”
