PHILADELPHIA, PA July 30, 2025 — The Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia (SBN) is pleased to announce the launch of its 2024-2025 as a part of the Philly Tree Plan, which supports tree canopy expansion in Philadelphia. This year, SBN launched its Food Saver Inventory Wind-Down Challenge in partnership with Saxbys. In total, 28 cafes participated in the challenge with 10 cafes in the Greater Philadelphia Area.

Saxbys is “for students, by students,” meaning that locations are run and operated by student CEOS on college campuses throughout the country. During the end of every semester, Saxbys sees a decrease in consumers. This year’s challenge focused on the collective goal to maintain product availability while cutting down on food waste during the final weeks of the semester.

With invaluable support from the Natural Resources Defense Council’s (NRDC) Food Matters Initiative, SBN coordinated with Saxbys in order to shift production patterns, redistribute food products, and reduce waste through composting. The Student CEOs, tasked with implementing the challenge, each found unique ways to cut down on food waste.

This initiative was driven by the staggering reality that up to 40% of the U.S. food supply is wasted, with Philadelphia alone contributing up to 25% of its waste stream to this figure. On a global scale, food waste accounts for over 8% of greenhouse gas emissions and is responsible for 58% of landfill methane emissions.

Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, approximately 250,000 residents lack access to nutritious food, further highlighting the importance of this challenge. The report celebrates the success of the Food Saver Challenge, a pioneering effort by SBN to address food waste. The collaborative efforts of our partnership with Saxbys has resulted in meaningful strides towards diverting waste from entering landfills, promoting sustainability, and engaging our community in the fight against food waste and food insecurity.

Saxbys is an education company disguised as a coffee company: a one-of-a-kind hospitality platform delivering coveted, career-launching outcomes for students and higher education partners. In 2015, Saxbys pioneered The Saxbys Experiential Learning Platform (The Saxbys E.L.P.), a network of cafes entirely designed for and run by college students. The Saxbys E.L.P. emboldens the next generation of changemakers by providing undergraduates with entrepreneurial opportunities, complementing classroom learning with tangible real-world experience. Founded in 2005 by Nick Bayer and headquartered in Philadelphia, Saxbys operates 30 cafes across nine states; 26 of which are part of The Saxbys E.L.P. network, and include Boston University, Georgia State University, Drexel University, Bowie State University, and an array of other incredible partners.

Find the Saxbys location nearest you at hellosaxbys.com or follow @saxbys on Instagram.You can also stay updated on SBN’s food waste reduction efforts by joining the organization, subscribing to its newsletter, and following it on social media @sbngreaterphiladelphia.

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SBN’s new report highlights the significant strides made in reducing food waste within Philadelphia’s food industry. This first-ever challenge, supported by NRDC’s Food Matters Initiative, saw local businesses adopt sustainable practices, leading to impactful waste reduction and the crowning of Crust Vegan Bakery as the “Food Saver Champion.”

(PHILADELPHIA, PA August 22, 2024) — SBN is proud to publish its 2023-2024 Food Saver Challenge Report! From October 2023 through March 2024, SBN spearheaded its first-ever Food Saver Challenge, a groundbreaking campaign designed to assist Philadelphia’s food businesses in reducing food waste.

This initiative was driven by the staggering reality that up to 40% of the U.S. food supply is wasted, with Philadelphia alone contributing up to 25% of its waste stream to this figure. On a global scale, food waste accounts for over 8% of greenhouse gas emissions and is responsible for 58% of landfill methane emissions. Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, approximately 250,000 residents lack access to nutritious food, further highlighting the importance of this challenge.

With invaluable support from the Natural Resources Defense Council’s (NRDC) Food Matters Initiative, the Food Saver Challenge urged local businesses to adopt sustainable practices in alignment with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Wasted Food Scale. To ensure this Challenge was a success, we partnered with Sharing Excess, Philly Food Rescue, Bennett Compost, Circle Compost, ClearCOGS, and Drexel Food Lab. These efforts not only contributed to the City’s waste reduction goals, but also offered significant financial savings for participating businesses by reducing food purchasing and disposal costs.

Over six months, SBN actively promoted the Challenge and its participants, raising city-wide awareness and fostering collaboration. At the conclusion of the Challenge, the winning business, Crust Vegan Bakery, earned the prestigious title of “Food Saver Champion” and a $5,000 cash prize.

This report celebrates the success of the Food Saver Challenge, a pioneering effort by SBN to address food waste in Philadelphia’s food industry. The collaborative efforts of our partners and participants have resulted in meaningful strides towards reducing food waste, promoting sustainability, and engaging our community in the fight against food waste.

View the full report here: 2023 – 2024 Food Saver Challenge Report

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SBN’s new report offers a detailed look at how GSI can be used as a tool for economic recovery and equitable growth throughout the Commonwealth and serves as a call to action for increased funding for public and private investments.

(PHILADELPHIA, PA June 1, 2021) — SBN is proud to publish a new report that examines the size and scale of Pa.’s green stormwater infrastructure industry over the last ten years. The report, Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI): A Tool for Economic Recovery and Growth in Pennsylvania, assesses the industry’s growth from 2011 to 2019, evaluates stormwater management needs and opportunities in urban and rural areas throughout the state, and provides policy recommendations to further strengthen and grow GSI infrastructure investment. 

Inside the Report 

The report, conducted by Fourth Economy, a national community and economic development consulting firm, conveys a resounding sentiment that by investing in GSI, Pa. could reap billions of dollars of economic activity that supports small businesses and create family-sustaining jobs while providing access to well-maintained public spaces, healthy rivers and streams, manage agricultural runoff, and reinforce climate resilience. As Pa. and the nation sits at the crossroads of several challenging circumstances: a global pandemic that triggered an economic recession, continued racial injustice, and an ongoing effort to mitigate climate change, this combination of crises presents a unique opportunity to recognize their intersectionality and embrace a holistic approach to problem-solving.

“SBN has been a champion for Pennsylvania’s green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) industry for the last decade,” said Anna Shipp, Executive Director of the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia. “This report underscores why our federal, state, and local policymakers need to provide increased investment for GSI through economic stimulus bills and to ensure its prioritization in state and city funding allocations.”

The importance of increased investment into GSI poses great economic benefits that foster equity and climate resilience for the Commonwealth. Infrastructure investments proved successful during the Great Recession, with every dollar invested in infrastructure resulting in a 1.5x return in GDP growth. And current forecasts show that investing $1 trillion in infrastructure would create 11 million jobs. For Pa., this could be a win-win outcome for years to come providing scores of jobs, an upgrade to the state’s stormwater management infrastructure, enhanced water quality, and dividends for decades.

Key Findings

• The GSI industry spans various sectors including planning, engineering, and design, construction and material supply, inspections, operations, and maintenance. There are upwards of 34,000 GSI workers across Pa. That’s more than the number of middle school teachers!
• The number of jobs in Pa.’s GSI industry is growing faster than the Commonwealth’s overall job growth. From 2011 until 2019, jobs in the state’s GSI industry grew at 9.2% compared to Pennsylvania’s 6.3%. In Philadelphia, where there is a comprehensive GSI-based stormwater management plan, the numbers are even stronger. From 2011, when Green City, Clean Waters was fully adopted, to 2019, jobs in Philadelphia’s GSI industry grew by 13.3%, more than double the state’s 6.3%. The Greater Philadelphia region now boasts upwards of 10,300 GSI workers.
• The GSI industry provides family-supporting jobs and accessible opportunities for career advancement for people with all education and work experience levels. 52% of GSI workers earn at least $15/hour, even without a high school diploma or equivalent. Additionally, several of the sectors in the GSI industry is known for being accessible to returning citizens.
• The GSI industry spans the state and urban and rural geographies. 55% of Pa.’s GSI workforce live outside of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia metro areas.
• Pa. has an $8.4 billion funding gap for stormwater management needs over the next ten years. Available funding over that time is estimated to be only $900 million, just 10% of the required annual investment.

Pa. has everything to gain from growing the GSI industry: advancing opportunities for small businesses, increased family-supporting jobs, healthier air and water, stronger climate resilience, and equitable community development. The report outlines the need for cost-effective investments in green infrastructure combined with the urgency for economic recovery, equity, and climate action presents a clear chance for Pa. to leverage GSI as a solution that provides economic, social, and environmental benefits.

View the full report here: Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI): A Tool for Economic Recovery and Growth in Pennsylvania  

*For the best viewing and reading experience, please download and view the report in a 2 page spread. 

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SBN identifies twenty-five issues impacting the region’s ability to achieve equitable, inclusive, climate resilient economic growth.

(PHILADELPHIA, PA February 20, 2020) — The Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia (SBN) is building a new economy built on equity and climate resilience.  Since its founding in 2001, SBN has been serving independent businesses based in Greater Philadelphia, helping them to improve their social and environmental practices, as well as their profitability.

SBN often gets asked, “What does a just, green, and thriving economy look like?” so they embarked on a year-long project to offer an answer.  Informed by SBN’s 20 years of leadership, as well as substantive research and input from their membership, SBN selected 25 issues that are core to any metropolitan area’s ability to achieve equitable, inclusive, and climate resilient economic growth.  SBN elaborated on these issues in their recently published paper, Vision for a Just, Green, and Thriving Local Economy, which covers everything from equitable transportation systems, renewable energy, nature-based stormwater management, resources for business owners from historically marginalized communities, and incentives for socially and environmentally responsible business practices.

“This paper is SBN’s stake in the ground. We wanted to be transparent with and accountable to our members and other stakeholders about what needs to change in order for our region to have a thriving local economy rooted in equity and climate resilience,” said SBN’s Executive Director, Anna Shipp. “SBN believes in the extraordinary power that businesses have to be a force for good, and we know they can’t move the needle alone. Government and our local business community must work together to innovate and advance policy solutions that drive real systemic change.”

“I’m proud to see SBN step into a new era of its advocacy,” said Heather Hanowitz, Chair of SBN’s Board of Directors. “This paper demonstrates the uniqueness of SBN and its membership, the commitment that these incredible businesses have to the region, and the necessity of partnership between the private sector, government, and communities in creating an economically vibrant, socially equitable, and climate resilient Philadelphia region.”

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The Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia (SBN) is building a just, green, and thriving economy in the region.  We inspire, challenge, and support the local independent business community to be change agents in the movement towards social equity and climate resilience.  SBN members are independent businesses based in Greater Philadelphia that practice – and measure success by – the triple bottom line of people, planet, and profitability.  Since our founding in 2001, SBN has remained the region’s leading membership and advocacy organization serving the local triple bottom line business community.

www.sbnphiladelphia.org

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The region is experiencing a dynamic movement.

We are thankful that our community is a driving force at the heart of it.

A thriving impact economy is evolving from possibility to practice, and Greater Philadelphia is a beacon.

Our local economy is and can continue to be, a proof of concept that measuring success beyond a conventional bottom line is more than just the right thing to do, but also the future of business.

Since we cannot logistically join all of you around your dinner table to join in on the required “What are you thankful for” conversation, and because our invitation must have gotten lost in the mail, we want to take this time to share with you why we are thankful for the many expressions of the triple bottom line in our region and what this signals for our future as a just, green, and thriving local economy.

From local government to the local business ecosystem, the spirits of localism and the impact economy are energized.

Last week, at our final Entrepreneurs’ Roundtable policy breakfast of the year, members sat down with Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney at R2L Restaurant.

We are thankful for his commitment to protecting our sanctuary city status, to investing in the education of our region’s future workforce, to upholding the values of the Paris Accord on a local level, and to working to improve energy use and costs for government buildings with the Philadelphia Municipal Energy Master Plan for the Built Environment.

For this and many other reasons, we continue to be thankful that our local officials share a similar vision for how we can support the resiliency of our neighborhoods and the protection of our waterways and green spaces.

We are thankful for Greenworks, the city’s sustainability plan, and the city’s bold Zero Waste goal to divert 90% of our waste from landfills by 2035, and all the people who are helping to successfully implement these plans.

We are thankful for Rebuilding Community Infrastructure aka Rebuild and its vision to engage WMDBE owners and support a diverse workforce to improve our public spaces.

We are thankful that Philadelphia is a leader and innovator in green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) and for Green City, Clean Waters, Philadelphia’s long-term control plan to protect and enhance our urban watersheds, manage our urban stormwater, and meet EPA Clean Water Act regulations with the power of nature-based systems. Through our signature initiative, GSI Partners, we have front row seats to witness advancements and connections being made in the local GSI industry every day.

We are thankful for examples of initiatives like Clean Power PA where business owners and community members convene to make a positive impact in our region. SBN is proud to be part of this coalition to protect the environment and power the economy through clean energy. 

We are also thankful to be a lead partner in the Best for PHL initiative, which empowers businesses to improve their workforce, environment, and community through awareness and connection to resources. (Click here to take the Best for PHL Challenge.)

We are thankful for the support of our funders and sponsors and for the members who every day demonstrate the degree to which businesses can build profitable enterprises AND serve community needs and protect the environment.

For those fighting to make our local economy more diverse and inclusive, for those who are challenging and reinventing business as usual, for those who are forming partnerships that will birth innovation, for those who mentor and teach young entrepreneurs, and for those who would get more sleep if it wasn’t for that unrelenting and inspirational urge that gets you out of bed to use business as a force for good — we are thankful for you.

Get some rest and let’s hit the ground running after the holiday.

And as you prepare for a season of purchases, don’t forget that our online Sustainable Business Directory is the go-to resource for locating local independent businesses in the Greater Philadelphia Region.

Sincerely, 
Your SBN Team

Not a member? Click here to learn more and join today for less than $11/month.

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