E-News: Green Star's Electronic, Environmental Newsletter!
Green Star E-News Vol. 2, No. 10 October 5, 2001

Recognizing businesses committed to environmental responsibility.

In this issue:
* Shining Star: Skinny Raven Sports, Wonder Park Elementary School, Alaska Gas Producers Pipeline Team
* Special Awards Given at the Green Star Annual Reception
* Green Events Update
* Recycling 101: Yard Waste
* Tell Your Green Star Success Story
* This Month's Hot Link: Progressive Imaging
* Thank You 2001 Sponsors


SHINING STARS

Green Star added a pocket full of stars to its enrollee list in September! Congratulations to Skinny Raven Sports, Wonder Park Elementary School, and Alaska Gas Producers Pipeline Team for becoming the newest Green Star enrollees.

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SPECIAL AWARDS GIVEN AT THE GREEN STAR ANNUAL RECEPTION

Green Star recently honored several individuals and organizations for their support and hard work during the past year. At a reception hosted on October 1st at the Anchorage Museum of History and Art, Green Star said "hats off" to supporters. About 150 attendees enjoyed refreshments and information about Green Star's history and accomplishments.

Sean Skaling, Green Star's Executive Director, spoke briefly about the organization's goals and accomplishments. He mentioned several new programs introduced within the past two years - an Air Quality Award program, the business glass recycling program, and the Green Events program - and introduced a program to conduct waste assessments for local businesses, expected to begin this winter. He also offered these statistics:

* 6,950,000 kWh have been saved by Green Star businesses annually.
* 39,000 pounds of recyclables have been diverted from the landfill in the first ten months of the Green Events program.
* 344 businesses and organizations have enrolled in the Green Star program.
* 121 businesses and organizations have achieved the Green Star award.

Green Star's newly elected board president, Steve Heinle of Princess Tours Rail Division, expressed Green Star's appreciation for all of the support the organization has received during the past year and presented several awards. The honorees were:

Outstanding Volunteers
* Daniel Lung - for his dedicated service to ensure that recycling efforts were successful at the 2001 Special Olympics World Winter Games, a Green Star certified Green Event.
* Mary Ellen and Robert Mitchell - for enthusiastically overseeing the greatest number of recycling activities at local Green Events.
* The Arc of Anchorage - for its dedication to recycling at the Saturday Market and other Green Events during the summer.

Outstanding Green Team Leaders
* Marcia Kidd, Corporate Express - for her support of Green Star and leadership in establishing effective waste prevention and recycling programs within her organization.
* Sharon Seim, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - for her continued efforts to maintain a strong Green Team within two organizations and increase the waste prevention and recycling activities of the organizations.

Outstanding Sponsor
* Phillips Alaska, Inc. - for its continued financial support, generous in-kind donations, and board leadership, all helping to advance the Green Star program.

Thank You
This event would not have been made possible without the generous support of the following businesses and individuals:

Corporate Express, Phillips Alaska, Glacier Brewhouse, Marx Brothers, Skookums, Half Moon Creek, Alaska Wildland Adventures, Green Connection, Skinny Raven Sports, AT&T Wireless, Dark Horse Coffee, Alaska Center for the Environment, Anchorage Daily News, Anchorage Refuse, Paramount Bicycles, US Postal Service, The Body Shop, Pepsi, American Lung Association, Moose’s Tooth, and Bear Tooth Theater Pub.
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GREEN EVENTS UPDATE

The long summer days are gone, the leaves have fallen, and Saturday Market is over for another year. This year's Market brought with it important changes in waste management. As a certified Green Event, the market manager worked closely with Green Star and the Arc of Anchorage to make recycling a success all summer long. The Arc of Anchorage, a non-profit, non-sectarian organization dedicated to working with people with developmental and other disabilities, stepped up to the challenge of recycling every Saturday at the event from May through September. The Market staff assisted in transporting the cardboard and also publicized the recycling opportunities available at the Market. Green Star coordinated the effort and supplied the bins and bags needed. Anchorage Refuse donated the use of a dumpster for the summer to store the recycling bins during the week.

As a volunteer group for the Green Events program, the Arc used the weekly summer-long event to train its consumers while at the same time helping to make recycling a success at the Market. The workers from the Arc attended the Market weekly, set up the recycling bins, collected the recyclable materials, sorted them, and transported them to the recycling center.

>From May to September, the Arc collected 800 pounds of aluminum cans, 100 pounds of plastic bottles, and, with the help of the Market staff, 14,400 pounds of cardboard. Overall, the recycling effort diverted about 7.65 tons of material from the landfill.

The Arc plans to help at the Market again next year, ensuring that recycling is available for all Market goers. Anyone interested in volunteering for the Green Events program or if you have an event you'd like to certify as a Green Event, please contact Green Star at 278-7839 or jeanne@greenstarinc.org. Visit our web site at www.greenstarinc.org for more details about the Green Events program.

September Green Events (scheduled as of this mailing):

October 9-11 2001 Alaska Travel Industry Association Conference ~ Egan Center and Center for the Performing Arts. For more information, please call Tina Ward at ATIA, 646-3318 or tward@alaskatia.org.

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RECYCLING 101: YARD WASTE

This is the ninth in a series of articles about materials recyclable in Anchorage. With fall in full swing, leaves and other yard waste become a disposal issue. Yard waste includes leaves, grass, brush, wood chips, and other organic yard debris.

The National Picture

In 1997, yard waste accounted for 12.8%, or 27.7 million tons, of the waste generated in the U.S. Approximately 41% or 11.5 million tons of this material was diverted from landfills for composting and other recycling activities, leaving the remaining 16 .2 million tons to be discarded. Yard waste makes up about 10% of the U.S. total waste stream discarded.

Yard Waste in Anchorage

Anchorage generated 13,373 tons of yard waste in 1997. We diverted 1,298 tons of this material from landfill disposal, equaling a 9.7% recycling rate. Yard waste makes up about 5% of our total discarded waste stream.

How Do I Recycle Yard Waste?

The Anchorage Regional Compost Facility (ARCF) at Point Woronzof accepts yard waste and other compostable materials. ARCF also sells compost and mulch products. Materials accepted at ARCF include grass, leaves, manures, mixed loads of at least 50% grass with brush or lumber, wood chips, trees, brush, lumber, sod, dirt, and fish waste.

Loads of grass, leaves, manure, and/or mixed loads under 1000 pounds cost $5 to drop off. Loads more than 1000 pounds cost $25/ton to drop off. Drop off of wood chips costs $10/pickup load and $20/large truck. Drop off of sod and dirt costs $5/small truck load and $10/large truck load. Hours are Monday through Friday, 9am - 5pm; Saturday 9am - 4pm, and Sunday, 10am - 4pm. Call 243-8577 for current fees and hours.

Products that can be purchased at the ARCF include bulk and bagged compost potting soil, and wood mulch, as well as firewood. Call for prices of these materials.

If you can't take yard waste to the ARCF yourself, Girmscheid Enterprises can pick up materials for a fee. Contact them at 770-1720 for details.

Reducing Yard Waste Disposal

Several alternatives exist to transporting your yard waste to the composting facility or sending it to the landfill. If you have space in your yard, you can compost the materials yourself. The compost you make acts as a wonderful soil amendment for your flowers or garden. Or consider simply leaving lawn clippings on your lawn. If you mow often enough, the cut grass acts as a healthy mulch for the lawn. Avoid mowing altogether by landscaping your yard with gardens, groundcover, and native vegetation. Rather than hauling away fallen trees and brush, you can cut up larger pieces for firewood. Other wood can be chipped and used around the yard as mulch under trees, in flowerbeds, or as garden paths.

Resources

There are hundreds of good resources on building and maintaining a composting bin. Contact Valley Community for Recycling Solutions to purchase an excellent composting instructional video geared toward our area. The cost is $20. Call (907) 357-4765 or email solutions@valleyrecycling.org.

Can 'O Worms is another local composting resource. Contact Cheryl Paige at 552-7753 for more information about composting with worms.

Here are a few additional resources:

U.S. Composting Council http://www.compostingcouncil.org

The Compost Resource Page http://www.oldgrowth.org/compost/

Rot Web http://www.a-horizon.com/compost/compost_menu.html

Emilycompost.com http://www.emilycompost.com/compost.htm


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TELL YOUR GREEN STAR STORY

Do you want to get the word out about the innovative environmental initiatives you have implemented? Green Star is developing a series of success stories to be used in a variety of ways. We want to spotlight your efforts so that others can emulate your good business practices. We posted about 20 success stories at our recent reception and we received many favorable comments about the information and the businesses and organizations highlighted. The success stories are also posted on our web site. Visit http://www.greenstarinc.org and click on Green Star Award Winners to view the success stories. Green Star also plans to place summaries of the success stories in the Anchorage Daily News twice a month.

If you would like us to create a success story reflecting your hard work and good business sense, let us know. We can work with you to develop it. Take advantage of this opportunity to let others know what you are doing.

We would like each one-page success story to describe the innovative waste prevention and recycling efforts you've implemented, along with any waste reduction and cost savings figures that might be available. The more numbers you can provide, the stronger your story will be. In addition, we'd like to include a photo of your Green Star team or of an especially interesting waste prevention practice in action. Remember, a photo is worth a thousand words.

Contact us at 278-7839 or Jeanne@greenstarinc.org to let us know you'd like to be represented with a Green Star success story.

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THIS MONTH’S HOT LINK:

Progressive Imaging has technicians with expertise in document imaging, database solutions, computer troubleshooting, accounting and web design. They are also one of our newest Green Star Enrollees. Check out the Progressive Imaging website at http://www.logicweb.net/progressive.

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THANK YOU 2001 SPONSORS

Platinum: Phillips Alaska, Alaska Science & Technology Foundation, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Municipality of Anchorage Solid Waste Services

Gold: AT&T Wireless, Alaska Conservation Foundation, BP

Bronze: Sam's Club, Smurfit Stone Recycling, Anchorage Refuse, Odom Corporation. Chugach Electric, Nabors Drilling

Supporter: Alaska Wildland Adventures, Pepsi Cola Bottling of Anchorage ,Yukon Equipment, Corporate Express Alaska, Spenard Builders Supply, The Body Shop, ALPAR, TimeFrame, Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Tire Recycling

In-kind: Wells Fargo, Data Pro, Phillips Alaska, 2011 Enterprises, Shoot-N-Edit, Desert Ice

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Please send comments, questions, or suggestions for future E-News topics to us at betsy@greenstarinc.org. Forward this newsletter freely. Send us any e-mail addresses you wish to add to our mailing list. Thank you!

The staff of Green Star, Anchorage:
Sean Skaling, Executive Director
Jeanne Carlson, Recycling Program Coordinator
Betsy Goll, Membership & Communications Coordinator

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