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Green Star E-News
Green Star E-News Vol. 6, No. 2 February 2, 2005
Recognizing Alaska organizations committed to environmental responsibility.
In this issue:
* Shining Stars
* Alaska Forum on the Environment Starts February 7th
* Electronics Recycling is on the Horizon
* Green Star Education Series
* The Latest on Waste and Recycling in Anchorage
* Alaska Youth to Learn about Renewable Energy, Water Quality and Toxics at Leadership Training
* UAA Town Square Workshop on Sustainability
* Alaska Conservation Foundation Offer Still Available
* Small Business Innovative Research Opportunities
* This Month’s Hot Link: U.S. Green Building Council
* Thank you 2005 Sponsors
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SHINING STARS
Green Star welcomes our newest enrollee, Peak Oilfield Service Company. Peak Oilfield Service will be working toward achieving both a Green Star and an Air Quality Award. We look forward to working with them to achieve their environmental goals.
A special thank you to Princess Tours for donating a motor coach and driver for a day-oong tour of area recycling facilities on February 10th, as part of the Alaska Forum on the Environemnt.
Thank you to ConocoPhillips for generously supporting Green Star’s 2005 work plan at the Platinum sponsor level.
Thank you to Susan Fenn, who has been volunteering in the Green Star office for the past two months on various projects.
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ALASKA FORUM ON THE ENVIRONMENT STARTS FEBRUARY 7th
This year’s AFE offers numerous learning and networking opportunities. Below is a partial list of sessions and events, highlighting the Recycling, Pollution Prevention, and Waste Management Track. Many more sessions, covering a variety of topics, are listed at www.akforum.com.
Green Star will be hosting a social and our annual meeting at AFE on Monday, February 7th. The social will be from 4:45pm to 5:30pm, with the annual meeting beginning at 5pm. Come join us for refreshments and a brief summary of the year’s accomplishments, meet the staff and board, and share your ideas for the coming year.
Recycling, Pollution Prevention and Waste Management Track highlights:
Monday, Feb 7th
10:45-11:45am Solid Waste Alaska Network
2:00-3:15pm Solid Waste Program Planning in Rural AK
3:30-4:45pm Solid Waste Program Implementation in Rural AK
Tuesday, Feb 8th
9:15-10:15am Can Anchorage Recycling Take the Next Big Step?
10:30-11:45am Hazardous Waste Management and Disposal in Rural AK
2:00-3:15pm Alaska Youth for Environmental Action: Future Leaders Taking Action
3:30-4:45pm Parntering for Solid Waste Reduction, Recycling Summit Part I
Wednesday, Feb 9th
9:15-1:15am ALPAR’s Flying Cans Program
10:30-11:45am Can We Compost?
2:00-3:15pm Hands-On Pollution Prevention Activities
3:30-4:45pm Partnering for Solid Waste Reduction, Recycling Summit Part II
Thursday, Feb 10th
9am–4pm Recycling/Resource Recovery Field Trip – Visit the Anchorage Recycling Center, compost facility, glass recycling facility, Thermo-Kool of Alaska (newspaper recycling), and the Valley’s recycling facility on this all day field trip.
Friday, Feb 11th
8:30–10:00am Recycling Projects Across Alaska
9am–4pm Recycling Summit Part III – This is a full day facilitated session that will build on previous sessions to focus on working partnerships among solid waste programs, funding sources, and service providers that facilitate the removal or reduction of waste for tribal and community landfills in Alaska.
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ELECTRONICS RECYCLING IS ON THE HORIZON
Green Star is again hosting an Electronics Recycling Event on April 29th and 30th. The event has been extremely successful over the past two years, collecting almost 450 tons of electronics and shipping them to recyclers. Despite the huge quantities recycled since 2003, Green Star receives daily calls from households and businesses in Anchorage and elsewhere in the State asking about recycling opportunities for computers and other electronics. It is clear that the peak in waste electronics generation is yet to come.
“The need still exists to offer the annual event, so we will continue to do so until other opportunities become available,” says Sean Skaling, Green Star’s Executive Director.
The event is still a few months away but now is the time to start saving electronics and identifying what you have stashed in spare offices, in the garage, or under the bed. It’s also time to start recruiting volunteers to help make the event a success. Green Star anticipates needing at least 300 volunteers over the course of five days to make the event run smoothly.
“Last year’s effort was an amazing display of volunteerism,” says Jeanne Carlson, Program Director at Green Star and volunteer organizer for the event. “We saw many people returning from the first year’s event and lots of new faces. We hope to repeat that trend, building on an enthusiastic volunteer force who already knows the ropes with new folks who want to get involved.”
Individuals and groups are welcome and Green Star encourages businesses and organizations that will be taking advantage of the recycling service to consider putting together a team of employees to help out for a shift at the event.
If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Jeanne at 278-7839 or Jeanne@greenstarinc.org. Details will be posted on the web within the next few weeks at www.greenstarinc.org (click on Electronics Recycling in Anchorage).
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GREEN STAR EDUCATION SERIES
Green Star continues to host a series of education programs throughout the year on a variety of topics. Here is the schedule for the first part of 2005. Stay tuned for additional topics later this year.
Wednesday, February 23 ~ 11:45am–1pm ~ BP Energy Center
Environmental Management Systems – An EMS is a continual cycle of planning, implementing, reviewing and improving the processes and actions that an organization undertakes to meet its business and environmental goals. Come learn how small businesses can develop an EMS.
Wednesday, March 23 ~ 11:45am–1pm ~ BP Energy Center
Mercury Reduction for Fleets – Numerous makes and models of vehicles have lighting switches that contain mercury. Fleet managers should consider attending this program to learn how to best remove and replace these switches. Replacing switches reduces 90% of the pollution generated during automobile recycling.
Tuesday, May 24 ~ 11:45am–1pm presentation; noon–7pm fair ~ BP Energy Center
Sustainable Building and Design Fair (rescheduled from last year) – Learn what sustainable building is about and see what products are available in Alaska.
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THE LATEST ON WASTE AND RECYCLING IN ANCHORAGE
As many of you may have learned through several recent Anchorage Daily News articles, the face of waste management in Anchorage is changing. Waste Management, Inc. (WMI), a large international waste company, has been bought out in Anchorage and several other Alaska communities by Alaska Pacific Environmental Services, an Alaska-owned company that operates Alaska Waste Transfer (AWT) in Anchorage.
WMI also recently announced that it was suspending its pilot curbside recycling program for financial reasons. Outcry from the public and several local groups that encourage recycling led to discussions between WMI and AWT that will keep the recycling bins in place so that AWT can pick up operation of the program when it takes over WMI’s services in the spring.
This is a positive move toward improving recycling in Anchorage. Besides AW T’s recycling activities, Great Alaska Sanitation is another waste hauler in Anchorage interested in getting into the recycling business. Great Alaska Sanitation (GAS) has been in business for about a year and currently provides residential waste hauling services.
Another positive move in recycling was the appointment of a Municipality of Anchorage recycling coordinator in June 2003. Teri Crawley-Norton, who was executive director of Alaskans for Litter Prevention and Recycling several years ago, is now the part-time city recycling coordinator.
If you are interested in seeing continuous improvements to recycling, more city involvement in recycling, increased curbside, or some other recycling services, let the City know by contacting Teri at 343-4487.
Another opportunity to voice your views comes on Thursday, February 3rd at the Turnagain Community Council meeting at 7pm. Teri Crawley-Norton will be speaking about her role in recycling at the Municipality. Citizens are encouraged to attend to show support for recycling improvements in Anchorage. The meeting will be at Turnagain Elementary School’s library at 3500 W. Northern Lights Blvd.
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ALASKA YOUTH TO LEARN ABOUT RENEWABLE ENERGY, WATER QUALITY AND TOXICS AT LEADERSHIP TRAINING
Chris Rose, Executive Director of REAP (Renewable Alaska Energy Project) will speak at Alaska Youth for Environmental Action’s annual Leadership Training on February 5th about renewable energy and its role in Alaska. In addition, Holly Kent, Executive Director of the Anchorage Waterways Council, will discuss water quality issues and toxicity in Anchorage. Renewable energy, water quality and toxics are a few of the topics AYEA hopes to focus on this year.
February 4-5 ~ Youth Environmental Leadership Training. Rabbit Creek Community Church. This two-day (overnight stay) training will focus on issues such as climate change, water quality, and toxics, and features issues presentations, skills training, and fun. Interested youth can contact 339-3907 or ayea@nwf.org to register.
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UAA TOWN SQUARE WORKSHOP ON SUSTAINABILITY
Green Star will participate in a workshop focusing on ways to implement the Talloires Declaration at the University of Alaska Anchorage. The workshop will be held March 9 – 11, 2005 and will involve representatives from UAA faculty, staff, administration, and student body, as well as community members. Participants will be asked to tackle specific questions about sustainability at UAA.
The University’s Former Chancellor Lee Gorsuch presided over the signing ceremony of the Talloires Declaration on April 16th, 2004. The Talloires Declaration is an international document, signed by the leaders of more than 300 colleges and universities around the world, recognizing higher education's special responsibilities to promote environmental sustainability. The Declaration's 10-point action plan calls for community engagement, partnership building, and public outreach -- values to which UAA is strongly committed.
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ALASKA CONSERVATION FOUNDATION OFFER STILL AVAILABLE
Two years ago, Alaska Conservation Foundation (ACF) challenged the conservation community to earn Green Star Awards. ACF put aside funds to pay the enrollment fee for any conservation group to enroll in Green Star and even offered a bonus of $500 to the first ten organizations to achieve the Green Star Award. The offer is still good! The next application deadline is March 31st. Make time to earn a Green Star Award and you will gain $500 for your organization.
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SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATIVE RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES
The Technology Research Development Center (TREND) in Anchorage and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are hosting a workshop on Thursday, February 10th about obtaining technology funds for small businesses. Alaskan entrepreneurs and small businesses are encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity to learn how to win contracts under the U.S. EPA’s Small Business Innovation Research program. Meet with James Gallup, SBIR Manager for U.S. EPA, to find out about the Agency’s environmental technology needs.
This year’s U.S. EPA SBIR solicitation includes a special topic for the Protection of Environmental Health at Tribal Reservations and Alaska Native Villages. Other SBIR topics include needs associated with air and water pollution, solid and hazardous waste management, pollution prevention, monitoring and measurement, and homeland security.
This free workshop will be held on February 10th from 8:30am until 1:00pm at the Anchorage Marriott Downtown. Registration is required so contact 274-7232 or email@trendalaska.org for information or registration. TREND is a program of the Alaska Small Business Development Center.
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THIS MONTH’S HOT LINK: U.S. Green Building Council
The U.S. Green Building Council is a national organization formed in 1993 in an effort to meet building industry needs and provide a single entity to encourage leadership and education to encourage environmentally sound building practices.
The USGBC organizing chapter in Alaska has applied for provisional chapter status as a step toward becoming a full USGBC Alaska chapter. The group hopes to positively influence Alaska’s built environment by accelerating the adoption of sustainable building practices, technologies, policies, and standards. Sustainable design and building are relatively new concepts for Alaskans and a State USGBC chapter can help develop sustainable standards of practice for our varied northern climates.
The Alaska Chapter would educate those in the building industry about the benefits of sustainable design and endeavor to move the green building industry forward with market-based solutions. Membership would extend to local product manufacturers, environmental organizations, builders, building professional, building owners, educational and research institutions, city and borough governments, and professional organizations.
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THANK YOU 2005 SPONSORS, GRANTORS & CONTRACTORS
Green Star could not exist without the generous financial and in-kind support of many individuals and leading local businesses and organizations. To become a Green Star individual member or corporate sponsor, please call (278-7827) or visit our web site at www.greenstarinc.org. A huge thank you to our 2004 sponsors!
Platinum ($10,000+): Anchorage Department of Health & Human Services, Anchorage Solid Waste Services, BP, ConocoPhillips Alaska, Rasmuson Foundation, University of Alaska Anchorage,
Gold ($5,000-$9,999): Alaska Conservation Foundation, Ivan Moore Research
Silver ($2,500-$4,999): Anchorage Daily News, Denali Commission, KTUU - Channel 2, Princess Tours
Bronze ($1,000-$2,499): Alaska Public Interest Research Group, Alaska Village Electric Cooperative, Cellular One, Chugach Electric Association, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, Municipal Light and Power
Green ($500-$999): Air Van Lines, Alaska Power Association, Alaska Support Industry Alliance, Corporate Express Alaska, Kotzebue Electric Association, Sierra Club
Supporter ($250-$499):
Contributor (up to $250): Alaska Center for the Environment
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Past issues of E-News are available on our web site, sorted by topic or date: http://www.greenstarinc.org/enews/enewsindex.php. Please send comments, questions, or suggestions for future E-News topics to us at enews@greenstarinc.org. Forward this newsletter freely. Send us any email addresses you wish us to add to our mailing list. If you wish to unsubscribe, please email a request to unsubscribe to enews@greenstarinc.org. Thank you!
The staff of Green Star, Anchorage:
Sean Skaling, Executive Director
Beth Verrelli, Program Director
Jeanne Carlson, Program Director
Jean Doherty, UAF Research Intern
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