Richland coffee shop receives state award

Richland's Barracuda Coffee was recognized by the state Department of Ecology for using sustainable business practices Thursday.

Jake and Michelle Shupe are receiving an environmental excellence award for sorting and recycling more than 1,000 pounds of waste products each month, reducing energy consumption and making used coffee grounds available to their customers for use in their home gardens.

They have gone from filling two or three 55-gallon garbage cans with waste a day to less than that per week.

Barracuda Coffee is at 2171 Van Giesen St. in Richland.

The award recognizes the outstanding environmental stewardship of Washington citizens and businesses.

This story was originally published March 9, 2012 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Richland coffee shop receives state award ."