Firms in Cambridge, Greenfield, Holyoke, Waltham, West Bridgewater named winners of 2017 Massachusetts Sustainable Business of the Year Awards

Real Pickles, a Greenfield worker-owned cooperative, buys 300,000 pounds of local organic vegetables each year and uses solar energy from rooftop panels to turn them into 300,000 jars of pickles, kimchi, kraut, beets and other fermented foods.

That's how Real Pickles earned one of five 2017 Sustainable Business of the Year Awards from the Sustainable Business Network of Massachusetts. With 22 employees, Real Pickles is a winner in the small business category for Western Massachusetts.

This is the third annual Sustainable Business Network of Massachusetts awards. The ceremony is Dec. 14 in Somerville.

PeoplesBank, headquartered in Holyoke, won in the category of midsize business for Western Massachusetts.

Equal Exchange, a fair trade, worker-owned food cooperative headquartered in West Bridgewater, won in the category of midsized business in Eastern Massachusetts.

Preserve, of Waltham, which takes in recyclable plastic and makes consumer products including toothbrushes, razors and kitchenware, won as a seasoned, or established, small business in Eastern Massachusetts.

Bon Me, an Asian food truck in Cambridge with sustainable business practices, won in the category of budding small business-Eastern Massachusetts.

"We are really happy about this award," said Addie Rose Holland, co-founder and co-owner of Real Pickles. "It's not often you get an award for doing something that is so central to your mission. We are really excited."

Holland and her husband, Dan Rosenberg, founded the business in 2001. In 2013, they turned it into a worker-owned cooperative, and now 10 of the 22 employees own shares in the business.

The solar panels make 75 percent of the power they need, she said.

The products, all naturally fermented, are available at natural food stores like River Valley Market in Northampton, Atkins Farms in Amherst, Fresh Acres in Springfield and at Big Y locations.

PeoplesBank touts a number of green initiatives including its funding of $145 million in sustainable energy projects, energy-efficient offices in Northampton, Springfield and West Springfield and electrical vehicle charging stations available at its offices in Springfield and West Springfield and the headquarters on Whitney Avenue in Holyoke.

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