Emeryville Public Market, a development project of TMG Partners, was awarded Green Business Certification by the Bay Area Green Business Program (Alameda County). Originally built in the 1920’s as an industrial and trucking facility, the Public Market building was first renovated by TMG Partners in 1988 to become a multi-tenant food court The original project also included an eight-story office tower, a 40k sf United Artists Theatre and a 29k sf space now home to Borders Books.

In 2006, TMG began an upgrade to the Public Market, which they own, with an eye on sustainability. Energy efficient lighting was installed and skylights were added to increase natural daylight and reduce energy reliance. TMG requested a waste stream audit be conducted by environmental professionals in February of 2006, which included all of the individual food restaurants and property-wide janitorial services. This “sustainability team” consisted of representatives from Alameda County StopWaste, Norcal Waste Systems, the City of Emeryville and Science Applications International Corporation.

TMG implemented the suggestions offered by the StopWaste team, and composting and recycling training of vendors began in May of 2006. The City of Emeryville contributed over $1,600 in grant funds for the purchase of equipment for the many food vendors and also dedicated staff time to the training of the Public Market staff and the certification of the facility and operations. The project was so successful that within four months the Emeryville Public Market was able to divert an estimated 11.7 tons of recycling and food waste per month, representing one percent of all waste for the City of Emeryville.

This was not the first award the project received. In October of 2006 the Emeryville Public Market received an Honorable Mention at the StopWaste Business Efficiency Awards Ceremony.

Rachel Balsley, Program Manager for StopWaste.Org explained, "The Emeryville Public Market and TMG Partners received an Honorable Mention at our StopWaste Business Efficiency Awards Ceremony in October 2006 because of their newly initiated organics collection program. Very few property management companies other than TMG Partners have shown the environmental leadership to successfully implement a waste reduction and organics collection program with many tenants or vendors. Their efforts are an example to others and help the County to meet our mandate of 75 percent waste diversion from landfills by 2010,” Balsley added.