The Blue Pig Receives Green Business Award

Lisa Moir received a special award last week for her dedication to using environmentally friendly business practices at her Croton-on-Hudson ice cream shop The Blue Pig. 

The Blue Pig, which opened in March 2010, was given the Charles W. Brown Jr. Sustainability Award, the newest accolade presented at this year’s Westchester Green Business Challenge recognition ceremony.

“I’m really overwhelmed and honored,” said Moir, a Croton-on-Hudson resident, of winning the award. “My passion is really the environment.”

The Charles W. Brown, Jr. Sustainability Award is given in memory of the founder and owner of C.W. Brown of Armonk, which was the first existing facility in Westchester County to receive LEED Platinum Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Click here for more on the Westchester Green Business Challenge. 

The Blue Pig makes homemade ice cream from locally sourced milk and ingredients that are in season. The Blue Pig's milk and cream come from Hudson Valley Fresh, a non-profit group of nine family owned farms in Duchess and Columbia counties. Their milk is free of steroids, antibiotics, gums and high fructose corn syrup. 

The rest of The Blue Pig’s ingredients come from their rooftop or home gardens, as well as local farmers markets. 

The ice cream shop also uses green construction and has countertops and a new outdoor patio made from recycled wood and bricks that would have otherwise been thrown away.

The Blue Pig—which also sells ice cream cake, sundaes, lunch, and sides and also has a mobile ice cream cart—uses compostable paper products and unbleached napkins and often opts to use their screen door instead of the air conditioning. Every week an employee is awarded with a $25 credit card gift certificate for engaging in outstanding environmentally conscious practices.

Though Moir considers herself a “food person” she is also an environmentalist and was chair of the Cortland Land Trust and fought against the building of the Millennium Pipeline. 

“When I opened The Blue Pig, I wouldn’t do it any other way,” said Moir. “It had to be environmentally friendly. That’s just who I am. You have a big impact when you’re running a business. The amount of waste and resources that go into a business can be much more than a typical household and we have a responsibility to that.”

Moir says it is her hope that other businesses will see how The Blue Pig and other local merchants are engaging in sustainable practices and will be inspired to adopt a green way of doing business. 

The Blue Pig is located at 121 Maple St., Croton-on-Hudson and can be reached at (914) 271-3850. Its hours of operation are: Mon., closed; Tues. – Thurs., 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Fri., Sat., 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.