Environmentally-conscious Thurston County leaders gathered at Saint Martin’s University on Wednesday to celebrate local businesses and organizations that steward sustainable practices.
Presented by the Thurston County Chamber of Commerce, the annual Green Business Forum & Awards formally recognizes three businesses and a municipality for their leadership in environmental stewardship.
This year’s award recipients are the Olympia franchise of Filta Environmental Kitchen Solutions, Holy Lamb Organics/Olympia Bed Store, Sunset Air, and Thurston County.
Filta’s Olympia location, called OlyPure Inc., provides fryer cleaning and oil management services to commercial kitchens in Thurston and South Pierce counties, with a focus on eco-friendly options to manage commercial fryers and dispose of used oil.
“I just wanted to say thank you — thanks to our customers, thanks to the Chamber, thanks for this community. I just love all the support I've been getting here, and it's a great business,” said Filta representative Nate Gunderson when accepting the 2026 Thurston Green Small Business of the Year award on Wednesday. “If you guys know anybody that's ready to up level their kitchen operations and join this green movement, let me know.”
Olympia Bed Store is the flagship showroom for Holy Lamb Organics, a sustainable local bedding company that also carries a curated selection of natural and organic home products.
The business’s main production facility was recently hit by a car, and was sustainably rebuilt and reopened.
“As a small business, it can be really hard to do things like keep sustainability first when we’re just trying to get things done like pay people, get product out the door, keep everyone happy,” said Holy Lamb Organics/Olympia Bed Store co-owner Mindy Schaefer while accepting the 2026 Thurston Green Medium Business of the Year award on Wednesday. “Even though it can feel like the hardest thing to do, to make change, it's the most important thing that we’re doing for our future.”
Sunset Air provides HVAC, electrical and water heater services in the greater Olympia area. The company is one HVAC provider in Thurston County with a federal energy service company (ESCO) designation, which allows it to do energy audits and provide energy solutions for public scale construction. The company’s headquarters in Olympia is also the first privately-owned LEED-Gold certified building in Washington state.
“Just proud to be an example that you can be a for-profit business and still be a good community and environmental supporter,” said Sunset Air representative Trenton Fluetsch while accepting the 2026 Thurston Green Large Business of the Year award on Wednesday.
Thurston County finalized its latest comprehensive plan, Thurston 2024, late last year, which included a first-of-its-kind implementation plan that assigned specific climate-related tasks and timelines to county departments, ensuring accountability and transparency in meeting climate goals.
The county also contributes ongoing stewardship efforts, including Energize Thurston, the Fix-It-Fair, and climate collaboration with the cities of Lacey, Olympia and Tumwater.
“This recognition reflects more than a decade of steady practical work turning climate goals into real action,” said Thurston County Commissioner Carolina Mejia while accepting the 2026 Green Municipality Award on behalf of Thurston County. “We're focused on the solutions that meet people where they are, and deliverable measurable results.”
As part of the event, the Thurston County Chamber of Commerce welcomed Dr. Amanda Bielawski as a keynote speaker to talk about her work with the United Nations, Fortune 500 companies, and Project Drawdown on environmental sustainability.
“By taking action wherever we are, here in this room today, by centering science in our decision making and by boldly collaborating together, we can not only make a difference locally and within our own organizations, we can also move toward those larger systems level changes, concretely improving the reality for future generations,” Bielawski said during her keynote address.
The annual event also serves as an opportunity for the Thurston Green Committee to acknowledge the nearly 100 businesses and nonprofits that successfully applied for and earned Thurston Green Business status for 2026.
The designation comes with a certificate, a window cling film, and a spot in the Thurston Green Business directory at https://thurstongreenbusiness.com/2026-shop-green/.
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