News & Events

Cities Pave the Way for Native Plants, Composting, EVs, and More

Published on Friday January 10th, 2025

Author: Anna Chott, Sustainability Planner at East-West Gateway Council of Government

Photo Credit: St. Louis Green Business Challenge

 

The St. Louis Green Business Challenge helps businesses, non-profits, and municipalities assess and improve their social and environmental impacts while meeting their fiscal objectives. Municipalities in particular have the ability to implement policies that can have a widespread impact on sustainability. 

 

Municipalities that participated in the challenge in 2024  increased waste diversion, passed native landscaping ordinances, installed public electric vehicle charging, streamlined solar permitting, and more. 

  • The City of Collinsville made major strides in waste diversion. The city’s Willoughby Heritage Farm and Conservation Reserve diverted from landfills 7,196 pounds of coffee grounds, food waste, paper waste, and spent grain. The farm also offered a 10-session educational program about composting with Seed STL and Table to Garden. The city composted more than 70 tandem truckloads of leaves that will provide free leaf mulch to residents in the spring. 
  • The Cities of Olivette and Wentzville also took major steps to reduce waste. Olivette’s Five Oaks on Warson community center uses reusable dishware for meetings and events, offers recycling, has eliminated Styrofoam, and offers paperless towels and composting for employees. Wentzville staff use washable utensils at their quarterly Low-Waste Luncheons, preventing 4,000+ plastic utensils from landfill disposal. 
  • Richmond Heights and Edwardsville joined other local governments in the St. Louis region that have ordinances that facilitate native landscaping. The City of Richmond Heights passed a customized version of the Grow Native! Model Native Plant Ordinance, and the City of Edwardsville passed a Managed Natural Landscapes Ordinance. The City of Hazelwood passed a weed ordinance modification for native plants in 2020, but in 2024 brought Code Enforcement inspectors up to speed on the regulations to better enforce them. Six other local governments in the St. Louis region had previously passed native landscaping ordinances. Find out more at OneSTL’s library of local sustainability ordinances under Native Landscaping Ordinances.
  • The Village of Godfrey stepped up efforts to support native landscapes by expanding a restored prairie, educating municipal workers and landowners about invasive species management, and planting and distributing native trees and plants. 
  • The Cities of Granite City and Maplewood joined a regional effort for No Mow April (or Low Mow April). This campaign encourages residents to mow less frequently in April  to allow bees and other early season pollinators access to nutrient-rich wildflowers like violets and clover. In addition to Now Mow April, the City of Webster Groves facilitated a Leave the Leaves campaign in 2024, to reduce removal of autumn leaves and provide shelter for insects and wildlife. 
  • The City of Berkeley installed electric vehicle charging stations for public use at their city hall and police station. The city also obtained nine electric vehicles for their fleet, a trend that is growing in popularity with municipalities in the St. Louis region. 
  • The City of Clayton adopted a resolution to initiate energy benchmarking for city-owned buildings, with the goal to engage large privately owned buildings in the future. Benchmarking tracks energy and water usage in large buildings and is an important step in identifying efficiency opportunities. 
  • The City of Brentwood joined the City of Clayton in pursuing SolSmart designation to accelerate the use of clean, renewable energy. The SolSmart program helps local governments remove barriers to solar adoption, saving taxpayer resources and reducing the time and cost of business and residential installation. 
  • The Village of Glen Carbon completed an Energy Master Plan Assessment of their municipal buildings and is now investigating recommended energy efficiency improvements and the possibility of a solar energy installation on their municipal complex. 
  • The City of Highland is protecting natural areas by securing grants for projects to reduce sediment erosion around Silver Lake and establish wetlands in Old City Lake.

Local businesses also were recognized in the 2024 Green Business Challenge for purchasing 100% renewable energy, attaining Wildlife Habitat Council Conservation Certification, and more. Read more about participants’ outstanding achievements or join the challenge at stlouisgreenchallenge.com.