Bellam Self Storage & Boxes in San Rafael, Calif., continues to garner praise for its community involvement and dedication to environmental conservation. Two years ago, owner Andree Jansheski was recognized as a “Hero of Marin” County for environmental stewardship by local newspaper “Pacific Sun,” and the paper recently interviewed Jansheski about the business’ continued efforts.

Bellam became a Bay Area Certified Green Business in 2006 through the Marin County green-business program. Among its eco-friendly initiatives are energy-efficient lighting, solar panels, environmentally friendly paint and insulation materials, low-flow toilets, sensor faucets, and a strict policy against the storing of hazardous materials, according to the facility website. The company is also dedicated to keeping the city free from litter, particularly cigarette butts.

“When I learned that cigarette butts were not just unsightly but outright toxic, the company shifted into gear to raise awareness of this lethal litter problem,” Jansheski told the source. “In 2013, Bellam took things a step further, working through the city with the San Rafael Clean Campaign, to support the educational and outreach efforts of the ‘Park Your Butt Here’ program.” The local initiative is combined with an educational, environmental sculpture designed to demonstrate the serious contamination issue and wildlife impact caused by cigarette butt litter, she said.

As a sponsor of the “Park Your Butt Here” campaign and an initiative called “Bounty for Butts,” in which Bellam donates a penny for every cigarette butt collected, the company has helped collect 360,000 butts. Bellam also recently pledged a penny per butt collected as part of the San Rafael Downtown Streets Team campaign, which reached a goal of collecting 700,000 butts, Jansheski told the source. The company has pledged a penny per butt to reach a new goal of 1 million.

Rather than have the cigarette butts wind up in a landfill, they are sent to TerraCycle, a New Jersey-based company that collects difficult-to-recycle products and repurposes them.

Bellam also supports community youth programs, particularly those that promote the arts. Moving forward, the company will continue its dedication to environmental causes. “While there are a number of dedicated environmental agencies and organizations, as a small business, Bellam walks its talk and contributes to the business community in doing so,” Jansheski said. “Most important is my enthusiasm for making our business an agent for positive change.”

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