A local winery has been awarded for their sustainability.
Cooper's Hawk Vineyards Winery, located in Harrow, has been awarded a Bronze Certification from GreenStep Sustainable Tourism.
GreenStep is North America's largest certification program for the tourism and hospitality industry.
To receive a Bronze Certification, Cooper's Hawk had to meet specific standards after a one-on-one assessment with an assessor from GreenStep, and the standards must aligns with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The process of the assessment compares the wineries practices against a set of criteria in 16 categories such as management, community development, sustainability and much more.
Thomas O'Brien, co-owner of Cooper's Hawk Vineyard, says what the certification means.
"It's not just green-growing and recycling, it's about staff development, it's about community commitment, it's about watching your hydro usage, it's about taking care of the environment. So for us to actually be recognized for things that we've been doing for the last 15 years just because we think it's the right thing to do, it actually makes us feel pretty good."
He says there were many assessment categories that he wasn't expecting.
"It's the vineyard, it's the wine making, it's the property, it's the trees, the wildlife, the customer interaction, the support that we give to all of the community. It was much broader. I thought sustainable was just trying to be green and reduce waste, but it's much, much more than that."
O'Brien says it was a long process, but was well worth it.
"We had to go through a huge assessment, answer all kinds of questions, get interviewed, and then we had to provide hard evidence of all the things that we said we were doing like the thermostats, helping other businesses, helping our community organizations. So, it took us about six months to actually get the certification."
Cooper's Hawk will look to move up in certification when they are re-assessed in two years.
O'Brien says GreenStep provided ways to improve to potentially receive a silver or gold certification.
The Vineyard is located at 1425 Iler Rd in Harrow.