New Life for Old Stuff

Mike Ross’ Big Rig Jig, created using decommissioned tanker trucks, is a marvel in repurposing whose message is about man’s precarious relationship with nature.

The artist describes his monumental, interactive, visually compelling creation as: “Big Rig Jig is constructed from two discarded tanker trucks. The work serves both as a sculpture and an architectural space: Visitors may enter the lower truck, climb through the tankers and emerge through a portal at the top. The rear axles of the upper tanker serve as a viewing platform, 42 feet in the air.”

Read more here, at 1800recycling.com.

Pug Goes Green

Santa Clara Valley Aims to Recycle More Water

Expanded use of recycled water on tap for Santa Clara County
Paul Rogers, San Jose Mercury News, February 22, 2009

The Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD) will vote on a plan today to build a new $52 million recycled water facility at the San Jose-Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant in Alviso that will convert sewage water to high-quality water, producing up to 8 million gallons a day.

The water will be suitable for a wide variety of industrial and irrigation uses, such as watering golf course greens, or redwood trees, which can be sensitive to recycled water's higher salinity, and pure enough under state health laws to recharge aquifers used for drinking water supplies. But that use is not being considered at today's meeting.

"We're not in a hurry to do it. We want to make sure it's what the community wants. We'd need five to 10 years of study," said Keith Whitman, water supply manager for the SCVWD. "And we'll certainly learn from what Orange County did."

Two years ago, the Orange County Water District opened a $485 million recycled water facility using the same treatment method that the SCVWD is now pursuing. The largest such plant in the world, it turns sewage water into 70 million gallons a day of recycled water that is blended with Orange County's aquifers.

To address public squeamishness, the Orange County agency conducted nine years of public meetings and outreach, and got a long list of medical leaders to endorse the project. Other places, however, like San Diego, have seen such projects stall over public opposition.

Read the complete story here: http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_14450902

One person's trash is another person's treasure

Did you know that there are a multitude of alternatives to the disposal of materials or wastes, which help conserve energy, resources, and landfill space?

Service providers directly connect one-time or regular generators of traditional or even difficult-to-recycle materials with parties that can use those materials. Instead of paying for hauling and disposal, the generator gets revenue and the recipient gets a resource they need, typically at a lower cost or even for free. A handful of the many opportunities for direct recycling, reuse, and repurposing are listed below.

• The mission of Califorma Materials Exchange (CalMAX) is to build reuse markets for materials from businesses, organizations, industry, schools, and individuals, and to find markets for nonhazardous materials that may otherwise be discarded. And, CalMAX is free.

• Pensylvania Material Trader is a free online service established in 2004 by the Pennsylvania Small Business Development Centers' Environmental Management Assistance Program. This service is intended to help businesses find users for materials they have traditionally discarded.

• NY WasteMatch is a free service, created and funded by the NYC Department of Sanitation, which facilitates the exchange of used and surplus goods and equipment from organizations that no longer need them to other entities that do.

• Acting as an information clearinghouse, directory, and marketing facilitator for reusable industrial materials, the Illinois Industrial Material Exchange Service (IMES) deals with waste by-products, off-spec items, hazardous and nonhazardous materials, overstock, and damaged or unwanted materials.

• The Industrial Materials Exchange (IMEX) matches up business industrial waste generators with waste users in the Pacific Northwest.

• RecycleMatch is an online market for transforming commercial waste into value. RecycleMatch charges a percentage fee for each match that it makes based on the cost savings and revenue produced from each material match.

• Biomass Trader is a free network of regional marketplaces (currently Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania) for buyers and sellers, as well as givers and takers, of biomass and biomass-derived products.

• The British Columbia Electronics Materials Exchange (BC-EMEX) is a program from the Electronics Product Stewardship Association of B.C., Canada, that promotes the exchange (or sale) of electronic items priced from $0 to $99.

• For more directly useable and commercial materials (for example, unused construction materials), Freecycle might be worth checking out. The Freecycle Network™ is a non-profit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free, made up of 4,873 groups with 6,877,000 members across the globe. Membership is free.

12 Alameda County Firms Win StopWaste Awards

Competitive Advantage Cited as Top Reason for Going Green

At a recognition event on October 16, local public agency StopWaste.Org honored twelve Alameda County companies with the 2009 StopWaste Partnership Business Efficiency Awards for outstanding achievements in enhanced operational efficiency, environmental performance and waste reduction.

The winners are:

• Bayer HealthCare, LLC (Berkeley)
• 555 12th Street by Shorenstein Realty Services (Oakland)
• Boston Scientific Corporation (Fremont)
• Carl Zeiss Meditec (Dublin)
• Costco Wholesale (Livermore)
• La Tierra Fina (Union City)
• Golden Gate Fields Racetrack (Albany)
• Lucky Supermarkets (Alameda county stores)
• US Postal Service's Oakland Processing and Distribution Center

Emerald Packaging (Union City), Heat and Control, Inc. (Hayward), and Peterson Holding Company (San Leandro) received Honorable Mentions.

Speaking to a full house, StopWaste.Org Executive Director Gary Wolff praised the leadership demonstrated by the recognized firms and emphasized their competitive advantage. "The companies we are honoring today are not only saving money and protecting the environment," Wolff said. "By making their operations more efficient, often involving the entire supply chain, these forward-thinking businesses have significantly reduced their vulnerability to economic shocks. In today’s economic climate, that’s valuable."

The 2009 award winners substantiate industry experts' claim that environmental responsibility positively impacts the bottom line. For example, the US Postal Service's Oakland Processing and Distribution Center has realized annual savings of $90,000 through increased recycling and waste prevention efforts, and Boston Scientific Corporation has slashed their disposal services bill by 50 percent. Expanding efficiency efforts beyond their own company, Bayer HealthCare LLC is working intensively with their suppliers while Costco Livermore is promoting their successful waste reduction program companywide.

Contact Justin Lehrer at StopWaste for more information.

Laundry to Landscape

SF backs off on graywater permit requirement
Kelly Zito, San Francisco Chronicle, October 22, 2009

San Francisco's Building Inspection Commission says it will coordinate with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission to develop a pilot program for residential graywater systems, backing away from a controversial proposal that would have required homeowners to obtain potentially costly permits for systems to recycle household water for use in backyards and gardens.

Commissioners are hopeful that this new tack strikes a balance between graywater proponents frustrated by San Francisco's attempt to alter state codes and city inspectors who feared the do-it-yourself systems would result in a plumbing free-for-all. Complicated graywater systems and those for multi-unit buildings would still require permits and detailed plans.

Read the complete story here.

Bay Trash Hot Spots

Plastic bags threaten the bay
Kelly Zito, San Francisco Chronicle, September 15, 2009

In their fourth annual report on the most garbage-strewn sites in the region, Save the Bay says plastic bags remain a severe threat, clogging wetlands, strangling wildlife and harming water quality. The 50-year-old environment advocacy group zeroed in on 10 hot spots where a total of almost 15,000 plastic bags were retrieved from the Bay Area during 2008's Coastal Cleanup Day.

• 1.37 million plastic bags were picked up by volunteers during the Ocean Conservancy's 2008 International Coastal Cleanup Day, second only in number to cigarette butts.
• Californians use approximately 19 billion plastic bags and 5 billion paper bags annually.
• Bay Area residents use 3.8 billion plastic bags every year. Each year about 1 million end up in the bay.
• 12 million barrels of oil are used to produce 30 billion plastic bags in the US every year.
• The average use time for plastic bags is about 12 minutes.
• In San Francisco, as many as 30 percent of people in grocery stores are bringing in their own bags says Mark Westlund, spokesman for San Francisco's Department of the Environment.

Read the complete article here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/15/BAUJ19LT0A.DTL&type=newsbayarea

And please consider donating a few hours of your time for 2009's Coastal Cleanup Day, Saturday, September 19. Volunteers are still needed!

Green Zebra Opens Environmental Action Center

Green Zebra recently opened their Environmental Action Center (EAC) in Crocker Galleria (50 Post Street between Montgomery and Kearny) in downtown San Francisco.

What you'll find at the EAC:

• Determine the solar capacity of your roof and how to have a solar system installed for no money down
• Discover how much water (and money) you can save by collecting rainwater
• Learn about less-toxic products and techniques to keep pests under control in your garden
  
• Try out a few solar and carbon footprint calculators
• Take home informational brochures and wallet guides with information you need to make choices that are healthier for you and the planet
• Demystify what types of waste belong in each of your colored garbage bins
• Learn how to compost
• Drop off your old cell phones, used printer cartridges, and household batteries
• Climb aboard the electricity making machine to pedal off a few calories and get a feel for how much human power it takes to light a bulb, play a radio, or run a fan

You'll also find 2009 Green Zebra guides for San Francisco and the Peninsula/Silicon Valley priced at $15 (40% off retail). Each edition acts as a green business directory that describes and presents thousands of dollars in savings from more than 150 local green companies.

The official launch party is Thursday, August 27, from 5:30 to 8:00 pm. There will be music, eco-friendly cocktails, and local, organic snacks. There is no cost to attend, but an RSVP is requested to events[at]remakelounge[dot]com.

RecycleBank Motivates Recyclers With Rewards

New York-based RecycleBank tracks how much you recycle, and awards points that you can redeem for rewards such as groceries. The result: RecycleBank has more than doubled recycling rates in every community that has deployed its program.

According to RecycleBank Co-Founder and CEO, Ron Gonen, "Our goal at RecycleBank is to progress societies' view of the product lifecycle from linear to cyclical. Since the discarding of product in a linear lifecycle destroys value, then the reuse and recycling of that product should create value. I believe that in order for a cyclical product lifecycle to be created and remain sustainable, value must be passed back to the entity, households, who are responsible for providing each product a cyclical lifecycle."

As part of its contract with cities, RecycleBank gives every home a special container with a chip embedded in it. When a recycling truck picks up the container, the weight is electronically recorded and translates into RecycleBank points (1 lb of recycled materials = 2.5 RecycleBank Points). Participants can use the points at retailers such as Target.com and Whole Foods.

When cities and universities asked for a solution to help increase recycling among campuses and apartments (where a household-based curbside program wasn't possible), RecycleBank developed and now offers Kiosk recycling.

In Wilmington, Delaware, for example, RecycleBank has diverted 33 percent of the city's waste into recycling, saving it $1.5 million a year. RecycleBank gets a portion of the city's savings, and citizens get paid to recycle.

StopWaste.Org Wins Award For Outstanding Waste Prevention Program

Innovative Campaign Cuts Transport Packaging Waste and Cost
StopWaste Partnership, Oakland, California, August 12, 2009

Last week, StopWaste.Org's "Use Reusables" campaign won the 2009 award for Best Waste Prevention Program from the California Resource Recovery Association (CRRA). The award honors innovative and effective initiatives that help move California closer to its sustainability goals.

The "Use Reusables" campaign helps companies throughout the Bay Area streamline and "green" their supply chain by replacing cardboard boxes, wood pallets, and other short-lived transport packaging materials with reusable alternatives. Bay Area companies who have already made the switch to reusables have saved millions of dollars in packaging expenses and disposal costs.

StopWaste is currently expanding the program throughout the region to help even more businesses realize the economic, environmental and supply chain efficiencies of reusable transport packaging, and will be offering free training workshops later this year.

For more information about the "Use Reusables" campaign please visit www.UseReusables.com.

Food Waste In --> Clean Water Out

Food waste helps power wastewater plant
Kelly Zito, San Francisco Chronicle, July 24, 2009

Under an innovative program touted as the first of its kind in the nation, the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) collects about 100 tons of food scraps from restaurants and grocery stores each week, speeds up the decomposition process, and uses the resulting methane gases to fuel the energy-hungry pumps and pipelines at its 49-acre wastewater treatment plant. Leftover scraps are turned into compost.

If EBMUD hits its long-term goal of processing 100 to 150 tons of food waste each day, district officials hope to begin selling a steady, sizable amount of renewable energy to Pacific Gas and Electric Co.

"This is a great opportunity, especially since our primary focus is public health and environment," said David Williams, director of wastewater at the utility. "Right now, we take a lot of carbon out of the ground and put it out into the air. In this case you're taking carbon that's already here and getting the energy out of it. That's a great thing."

The US Environmental Protection Agency, which awarded EBMUD $50,000 to study the food waste program, said it is the first wastewater system of its kind in the country. Williams expects more utilities to follow, given that treating wastewater consumes a huge amount of energy and that many facilities already have much of the necessary equipment.

Read the complete story here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/23/BAS618T9N9.DTL

Turning Waste Into Energy

Onion company is one of a growing number of businesses that use their waste to produce electricity.
Tiffany Hsu, Los Angeles Times, July 17, 2009

Steve Gill recently began using juice from his onion crop to create energy to run his refrigerators and lighting, slicing $700,000 annually off his electric bill and saving $400,000 a year on disposal costs at his 14-acre plant in Oxnard. Gill figures the $9.5 million system will pay for itself in less than six years while eliminating up to 30,000 tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions a year.

"It's a great sustainability story, but it was first a business decision to solve a waste problem," said Gill, 59, who co-owns the company with his brother David. "But in doing so, we solved a lot of environmental problems too."

Gills Onions is one of a small but growing cadre of US companies generating their own electricity on site with waste from their production processes. In addition to plant material, firms are using a variety of feedstocks, including animal manure, vegetable oil, whey -- even beer.

Farmers and processors in California's $37 billion agricultural industry are looking for ways to save money and reduce their environmental footprint, said Sonia Salas, science and technology manager for the Western Growers Association. "Many growers want technology that helps them handle waste," she said. "This is a concept that other operations can definitely use."

Read the complete story here: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-onions-fuel17-2009jul17,0,5226835.story

EPA Awards StopWaste $35,000 to Promote Reusable Packaging

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded $35,000 to Oakland, California-based StopWaste.Org to expand their "Use Reusables" campaign, which teaches businesses how to reduce costs and improve their environmental performance by replacing limited-use pallets, boxes, and other transport packaging materials with durable, reusable alternatives.

The EPA grant enables StopWaste.Org to partner with agencies around the Bay Area to bring the campaign’s core element — a free, 3-hour, hands-on training workshop — to their communities. The grant was awarded through the EPA’s competitive program for innovative solid waste reduction projects.

The first workshop open to all Bay Area businesses takes place on Thursday, July 9, from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm at the GreenV Sustainable Center, 1 Chestnut Avenue in South San Francisco. For this event, the "Use Reusables" campaign is partnering with co-sponsor and workshop host, San Mateo County RecycleWorks, a program of San Mateo County’s Public Works Department that provides resources to promote environmentally responsible practices.

More information here: http://www.usereusables.com/events/index.html

Garbage Police? Or Good Policy?

San Francisco approves toughest recycling law in the US
John Coté, SF Chronicle, June 10, 2009

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 9-2 Tuesday to approve the most comprehensive mandatory composting and recycling law in the country. It's an aggressive push to cut greenhouse gas emissions and have the city sending nothing to landfills or incinerators by 2020. The ordinance is expected to take effect this fall.

The legislation calls for every residence and business in the city to have three separate color-coded bins for waste: blue for recycling, green for compost, and black for trash. Failing to properly sort your refuse could result in a fine after several warnings, but fines will likely only be levied in the most egregious cases.

Cities from Pittsburgh to San Diego have mandatory recycling. None, however, require all food waste to be composted. Seattle passed a law in 2003 requiring people to have a compost bin, but unlike San Francisco, it did not mandate that all food waste go in there.

About 36% of what San Francisco sends to landfill is compostable, and another 31% is recyclable, a comprehensive study found. By the city's count, it currently diverts 72% of its waste; the best in the nation. If recyclables and compostables going into landfills were diverted, the city's recycling rate would jump to 90%.

Read the complete story here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/10/MN09183NV8.DTL

Earth Day - April 22, 2009

How will you celebrate Earth Day?

• Take action in your own home
• Take action at work or school
• Get some inspiration
  
• Consider volunteering...

• "Clean it, Green it, Mean it" in Oakland
• Help clean up a park with the California State Parks Foundation
• Help reduce soil loss and protect water supplies with the Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service
• Consider joining the Green Generation Campaign, which has the following core principles:

A carbon-free future based on renewable energy that will end our common dependency on fossil fuels, including coal.

An individual’s commitment to responsible, sustainable consumption.

Creation of a new green economy that lifts people out of poverty by creating millions of quality green jobs and transforms the global education system into a green one.

Earth Expo in Oakland

15th Annual Earth Expo at Frank Ogawa Plaza
Wednesday, April 15, 2009 - 10 am to 2 pm

Explore the booths and vendors around Frank Ogawa Plaza (in front of City Hall) and celebrate a sustainable urban environment with opportunities to connect with dynamic and local green businesses, environmental and social change organizations, artists, government agencies, and community groups.

Learn how to:

• reduce waste or compost
• green your workplace
• drive less
• build or remodel green
• reduce energy use
• become a smarter consumer
• bring your own bag
• restore our creeks
• practice bay-friendly gardening
• hold a ZeroWaste event
• reduce your carbon footprint

Bring your mercury thermometers, unwanted medications, batteries and cell phones for recycling.

Make a commitment to take one new green action and receive a pledge pin, reusable bag, special edition poster, or other items!

Visit the Oakland Public Works Environmental Services Division here:
http://www.oaklandpw.com/Page291.aspx

Oakland's Green Building Requirements

Oakland - Building a Sustainable Future

The City of Oakland is considering mandatory Green Building requirements for private development. Green Building emphasizes maximizing efficiency and reducing consumption, and will mitigate the negative environmental and health impacts on many people living and working in Oakland.

A public hearing has been scheduled:
Thursday, February 19, 2009
5:30 to 7:30 pm
Oakland City Hall
Hearing Room 1

For more information:
Heather Klein, Planning and Zoning Division
510.238.3659, hklein@oaklandnet.com

Other Green Building requirements in the Bay Area:

Oakland already has Green Building requirements for applicable city building and traditional public works projects, setting LEED Silver standards for city buildings, and has adopted Green Building guidelines for private sector building. The city maintains a Green Building Resource Center to provide recycling and green building education and assistance.

Effective November 2008, Chapter 13C of the San Francisco Building Code requires new buildings constructed in the city to meet green building standards, which were developed by the Green Building Task Force.

San Francisco's priority permitting program provides expedited permit review in the Planning Department, Department of Building Inspection, and Department of Public Works for LEED Gold projects.

All San Francisco municipal projects (new construction and major renovations over 5,000 square feet) are required to achieve LEED Silver certification.

The city of San Francisco is banned from purchasing or using tropical hardwoods, virgin redwood, and wood treated with arsenic-based preservatives.

The City of Berkeley does not have green building standards, but requires that projects that require a Use Permit or Administrative Use Permit and involve demolition or construction, to consult with a green building expert provided at no charge by the Berkeley’s Best Builders Program. Applicable projects may also require completion of a Green Building Checklist, an Energy Conservation Analysis, or specific conservation measures.

All Alameda County projects must meet at least LEED Silver rating or equivalent. Traditional Public Works projects (e.g., pump stations, flood control improvements, roads, bridges, sidewalks, etc.) are exempted.

Alameda County projects with a total estimated construction costs exceeding $100,000 must divert at least 50% of debris from landfill via reuse or recycling. Traditional Public Works projects must also divert 75% of asphalt, concrete, and earth debris from landfill via reuse or recycling.

In San Jose, commercial and industrial buildings that are 25,000 square feet or more must meet LEED Silver standards. Residential developments of 10 or more units must meet basic LEED certification standards or achieve 50 points under the GreenPoint rating system. Housing structures that are 75 feet high or taller are required to meet basic LEED standards. In 2012, commercial and industrial buildings of 10,000 square feet or more and residential buildings 75 feet high or taller must meet LEED Silver standards.

Structures 10,000 square feet or more that are built by the city of San Jose or the San Jose Redevelopment Agency are required to meet LEED Silver status.

REDUCE, REUSE, and if you must, recycle

Recycling is not the end-all, be-all in sustainable consuming.

According to Earth911:
- a trillion sheets of paper are tossed within a day of being printed, equating to 90 million trees even if all that paper were 30% post-consumer recycled paper
- reducing the margins from 1.5-inches to 1-inch can save the average office worker 475 pages a year, even more if you can reduce your margins to 0.75-inch

Consider these three simple questions each time you prepare to click Control-P:

• Do I need to keep this for more than a few hours or days?
• Does this really require a paper copy, or can it stay on my hard drive?
• Has this already been printed by someone else?

Also please consider adding a footnote to your emails encouraging others to kick their printing habit. Here is some simple sample text:
Please consider the environment before printing this page.

And here's an idea of something to print on the back of that page you just printed and no longer need: a suggestion card to leave with your bill at your favorite restaurant to encourage them to "go green": http://www.dinegreen.com/images/suggestioncards.pdf

Take Steps to Reduce Junk Mail

Did you know that...?

• More than 100,000,000,000 pieces of junk mail are delivered each year, more than 800 pieces per household
  
• US junk mail accounts for one-third of all the mail delivered in the world
• 44% of junk mail goes to the landfill unopened
• It takes the equivalent of >100 million trees to produce the junk mail that arrives in US mailboxes each year

Efforts are underway to create a national Do Not Mail Registry, similar to the Do Not Call Registry that was officially enacted in 2003. It's not there yet, but Forest Ethics has some great tools for helping you get off mass mailing databases. It's easy.

Read more here: http://donotmail.org/index.php