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E-News: Green Star's Electronic, Environmental Newsletter!
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| Green Star E-News Vol. 1, No. 10 December 4, 2000 Ten years of recognizing businesses committed to environmental responsibility. In this issue: * Shining Stars: Profit Plus, BP Endicott Environmental, UAA * Care About Air Week A Big Success * Don't Let Winter Weather Chill Employees and Bills * Glass Recycling in Anchorage * Green Star Goes to Sitka * New Computer Recycling Optionsr * Thank You 2000 Sponsors SHINING STARS Profit Plus, Inc A warm welcome to Profit Plus, and BP Endicott Environmental, Green Star's most recent enrollee. University of Alaska, Anchorage UAA has submitted their application for a Green Star Air Quality Award. The Air Quality Standards Committee has reviewed the application and expects to conduct an on-site visit of UAA soon. ============================= CARE ABOUT AIR WEEK A BIG SUCCESS: Green Star gets on the bus to participate Technical Sargent Wilson and other Green Star team members from the USAF 3rd CRS Propulsion Flight helped hand out free timers from the Municipality of Anchorage during Care About Air Week at the Sears Mall. TSgt. Wilson recently helped his Flight earn its Green Star Air Quality Award. As part of Care About Air Week, Green Star staff decided to make a yearlong commitment to air quality. Staff members are commuting to work on the People Mover under the Municipality's Transit Check Program. This program provides discounted monthly bus passes for organizations through a voucher system. If an employee chooses to use the voucher, he or she is allotted unlimited use of the transit system for the calendar month. Says one Green Star employee: "I love taking the bus to work! I don't have to deal with rush hour traffic or icy roads. I even take my bike with me so I have easy access to meetings downtown." ============================= DON'T LET WINTER WEATHER CHILL EMPLOYEES OR BILLS As we head into winter, you may start to notice things about your workplace that might not have been evident during the warmer months. Buildings that seemed perfectly comfortable suddenly begin to show signs of drafts, chills, and downright freezing temperatures. Those who pay the bills also are feeling the squeeze as they dole out more and more money to keep the building comfortable. Now is the time to consider weatherproofing your workplace so that you and your employees are comfortable and your budget is not blown. Here are a few tips to weatherizing your workplace: *Start by determining where cold air leaks are occurring. Feel around walls, windows, doors, outlets, light fixtures, vents, ductwork, chimneys, and other equipment that leads to the outdoors for cold breezes or just colder air than elsewhere in the room. This can be done simply by feeling with your hands, holding a piece of paper in front of door jams, outlets etc. to see if a breeze moves the paper, or calling in a professional auditor. Numerous energy auditors in Anchorage can assess your building's shortcomings or conduct a blower test to determine the energy efficiency of a building. *Fix the leaky spots. When you find an air leak, add weather stripping, caulking, or insulation to eliminate the problem. Make sure insulation is the proper thickness and that it has a vapor barrier. *Check and seal around anything that protrudes through the insulation, such as bathroom vents, recessed lighting cans, and water pipes, even if they do not lead outside. These are all areas where cold air can seep in or warm air can escape. Sealing these spots also ensures that warm, moist air isn't entering attic areas, where it can condense and freeze, causing ice damage, mold and mildew, and other problems in an unheated space. *Consider installing more energy efficient windows. Up to 35% of the heat you lose goes out through your windows. Newer double-pain windows help to hold in heat and reduce the annoying problem of condensation and ice on the insides of windows. Gas-filled double pain windows are even more efficient. These argon- or krypton- filled windows reduce convection heat loss and are best for cold climates. Are you heating everywhere but where the people are? Often buildings with high ceilings lead to employee complaints about the cold even when the heat is constantly running because, as we all learned in eighth grade physics, heat rises. If we all worked on the ceiling, the issue would be solved! By installing ceiling fans, you can push some of that desired warm air back down to where it will do the most good. If possible, install heating systems as low as possible, such as floor vents instead of wall systems, so that heat passes by employees as it rises, keeping them warm. If your facility requires open bays or garage doors, consider installing vinyl strips. These transparent strips lay snugly together, locking out cold, as well as dust, noise, and fumes, while allowing staff, forklifts, and other things to pass easily through. For our extreme winters, special low-temperature strips are available that withstand temperatures down to -60 degrees. These are just a few of the ways to reduce energy costs this winter while still maintaining, and in many cases drastically improving, the comfort level for employees. Additional information about insulation, windows, and other energy issues can be found at the following web sites: Efficient Windows Collaborative, U.S. Department of Energy Windows and Glazing Program, http://www.efficientwindows.org National Fenestration Rating Council, http://www.nfrc.org Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Network, http://www.eren.goe.gov ============================= GLASS RECYCLING IN ANCHORAGE Glass Recycling Continues to Thrive in Anchorage Businesses Kudos go out to the exemplary businesses who are working hard to make commercial glass recycling a success in Anchorage. You probably visit many of these businesses, but you may not know that behind the scenes they are separating their glass from other waste materials so that it ends up as a useful product and not one more landfill filler. Chilkoot Charlie's has been filling a dumpster to the brim with empty liquor bottles every week since mid summer. If you frequent Chilkoot's, you may have seen bins inside for your empty beer bottles too. Other bars recycling glass include Hot Rods, Crazy Horse, and the Fly By Night Club. Glacier Brewhouse and Ristorante Orso share a glass dumpster, and judging from the full load every week, the wine list at both restaurants is very popular. Other restaurants recycling glass include Benihana, all three La Mex locations, Gwennie's, and the Sourdough Mining Company. Did you ever wonder what happened to all of those bottles of flavored syrups at Kaladi Bros.? Well, every last one is recycled. Dark Horse Café also recycles glass bottles that customers generate with the help of a prominent bin on their front stoop. Hotels also have joined the glass-recycling bandwagon. With all of the restaurants, bars, and room service activities within a hotel, glass is a large part of the waste stream. The Sheraton Hotel was one of the first hotels to begin glass recycling, and the Westcoast International Inn is the newest glass recycler, starting just a few weeks ago. Glass bottles are not the only recyclable glass product here in Anchorage. Numerous plate glass companies generate mountains of waste glass. Trans-America Glass and Capitol Glass both have a dumpster on-site for collecting glass waste for recycling. In all, almost 20 businesses in Anchorage have begun glass recycling. Together with the efforts of residents, we are recycling almost 75 tons per month. All of which is processed and bagged for resale at a facility at Point Woronzof. The ground glass is sold as blast media for sanding corroded tanks, and other uses, such as septic system fill. If your business is interested in establishing a glass-recycling program, contact Green Star at 278-7839 or visit our web site at http://www.greenstarinc.org for more information. ============================= GREEN STAR GOES TO SITKA Green Star staff trained nearly twenty youth and community members on waste reduction and the Green Star Standards this month. As part of the growing relationship between Green Star and the National Wildlife Federation's Alaska Youth for Environmental Action, NWF invited Green Star to Sitka for this special training. Students represented Mt. Edgecombe and Sitka High School. The participants hope to bring Green Star not only into Sitka schools, but businesses in Sitka, as well. An isolated island in Alaska's Southeast Panhandle, Sitka hopes that a strong Green Star Program in its city will help launch a better recycling program for the community. Free shipping of recyclables to Seattle has been arranged--the town just needs a facility and bailer. The two high schools plan to achieve their Green Star Awards by May 2001. ============================= New Computer Recycling Option IBM recently announced a new nation-wide computer recycling program for any computer brand. The program is designed specifically for small businesses and individual consumers, two groups that have historically had trouble responsibly disposing of computer equipment. For $29.95, IBM will send a postage-paid kit for mailing unwanted computer equipment to Envirocycle, a designated recycler. Your old equipment will either be refurbished and donated to Gifts In Kind International, an organization that donates computers to schools and charities (http://www.GiftsInKind.org), or its parts will be recycled. If your equipment can be donated, you will receive a receipt for possible tax deduction purposes. Unlike many other computer recycling programs, this program is not contingent upon purchasing a new computer or recycling only certain brands of computers. IBM will accept whatever computer equipment fits into the 26" x 26" x 26" box. The weight limit for each box is 69 pounds. Green Star is taking advantage of this program by recycling two unusable computers and monitors. Allow up to two weeks to receive your kit and an additional 6-8 weeks to receive your donation receipt. For more information go to: http://www.ibm.com/ibm/environment/products/pcrservice.phtml. To purchase this service, call (888) SHOP-IBM. For information about recycling a large volume of computers, call (800) 711-6010 ext. 231. ============================= THANK YOU 2000 SPONSORS Platinum: Phillips Alaska Gold: AT&T Wireless, BP Exploration (Alaska), Anchorage Daily News Bronze: Montgomery Watson, Pepsi-Cola Bottling of Anchorage, Smurfit-Stone Recycling Supporter: Alaska Conservation Foundation, Dowland-Bach, Green Connection, TimeFrame, Yukon Equipment In-kind: National Bank of Alaska, EMCON Alaska, AMC Engineers, the Municipality of Anchorage, Anchorage Chamber of Commerce, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, SST Travel Schools ============================ 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, and let us know if you would like to be removed from the list. Thank you! Past issues are available at http://www.greenstarinc.org. The staff of Green Star, Anchorage Sean Skaling, Executive Director Jeanne Carlson, Recycling Program Coordinator Betsy Goll, Program Assistant |
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