In this issue
Letter from the Executive Director
2012 Coference and Exhibition
New and Renewing Members RecycleMania and Recycle-Bowl
Project ReDirectoryElectronics Management Resource for Public EntitiesCoca-Cola/KAB Recycling Bin Grant Opportunity
Sponsor Spotlight – GreenCycleSustainable Schools Webinar
Governor’s Awards Nominations Open
Upcoming Events
Eco-Tip:
Are you excited about
the important work
the IRC is doing?
Friends,
We have good news to share on the legislative front! As you may have read in our last newsletter, early in the 2012 legislative session the IRC became concerned about language in Senate Bill 210 that would have drastically changed the way Indiana’s Solid Waste Management Districts are funded. The passage of SB 210 could have resulted in a significant reduction in overall funding for recycling in Indiana.
At critical times in the legislative process we issued calls to action amongst our membership. Action was taken, your concerns were heard and the bill did not pass!
This is a major success for recycling in Indiana. In addition to killing the bill, we educated our legislature about the importance of recycling services in our communities as well as the value of recycling to Indiana’s environment and economy.
Now, we have a chance to build on this awareness and to advance policies and programs that move recycling forward in Indiana. Our work has just begun!
Compost Dialogue
As you may recall, the IRC hosted a well-attended food waste compost stakeholder dialogue last fall. As promised we are hosting a follow up meeting on March 7, to continue this productive process. If you would like to learn more about the upcoming meeting please email me @ carey@indianarecycling.org. There is still room for additional attendees.
Conference and Exhibition
We are planning a great event, May 9-11, full of top-notch educational and networking opportunities. Click here to learn more and to register today!
New Staff
We are glad to welcome Jonathan Allinson to the IRC team. Jonathan brings a wealth of talents including nonprofit experience, graphic design skills and a bachelor’s degree from Butler University, not to mention a passion for the IRC mission. Welcome Jonathan!
Sustainably Yours,
Carey
Carey Hamilton
Executive Director
Indiana Recycling Coalition
IRC Conference, May 9-11, 2012
The IRC conference planning committee is hard at work putting together the 2012 IRC conference and exhibition with a goal of once again providing exceptional value for attendees and exhibitors. Our new venue, the Wyndham Hotel on Indy’s west side has a much larger space for exhibitors than we have had in past years. In addition, we are putting together a program covering timely issues that are important to our attendees. Be a part of the action! Register today to secure the early bird rate.
Welcome newest members of the IRC!
Brent Thorson
Bill Moreau
And Thank You To Our Returning Members!
Steve Akers
Julie Rhodes
Kevin Corcoran
Linda Horvath
Carol Beauregard
Listing in the “New & Returning Members” section is voluntary. The IRC does not share its membership list or member contact information.
RecycleMania
The 2012 RecycleMania competition is now underway and Indiana has 12 schools signed up to participate! RecycleMania is a friendly competition and benchmarking tool for college and university recycling programs to promote waste reduction activities to their campus communities. Over an 8-week period each spring, colleges across the United States and Canada report the amount of recycling and trash collected each week and are in turn ranked in various categories based on who recycles the most on a per capita basis, as well as which schools have the best recycling rate as a percentage of total waste and which schools generate the least amount of combined trash and recycling.
A quick recap from 2011 (most recent data): 630 College/University participants, 7.5 million students and staff involved and 91 million lbs of material recovered!
Indiana winners will be invited to the IRC’s Annual Conference & Exhibition to receive awards for their efforts.
The IRC hopes to continue expanding this program in Indiana, if you are interested in learning more about the program contact Katie@indianarecycling.org.
Recycle-Bowl
The first annual RecycleBowl competition has wrapped up the 2011 competition. 45 schools from across Indiana participated in the competition – the winner was Central Elementary in Greentown, IN!
RecycleBowl is a K-12 recycling challenge sponsored by Keep America Beautiful. There are two categories – the Competition Division and the Open Division. Schools may choose to register for either, based on eligibility requirements and the school’s ability to meet division standards. Individual classrooms will be placed in the Open Division.
If you are interested in participating next year, please visit this website to receive information about joining in on the fun!
Project ReDirectory a Great Success – Nearly 57 Tons of Phone Books Recycled
Click here to read about the exciting results of the 2011 Project ReDirectory K-12 Recycling competition in Indianapolis.
Congratulations to Greenbriar Elementary for recycling nearly 10 tons of phone books and scoring the highly coveted Radio Disney Assembly! Also, many thanks go to City Councillor Angela Mansfield for sponsoring a Council Resolution in support of this tremendous community program. Project ReDirectory is a partnership of the Indiana Recycling Coalition, AT&T, Republic Services and Marsh.
Calling All State, Regional, Tribal, and Local Governments, Including Schools, Colleges, and Universities!
Save Energy & Decrease the Environmental Impact of your Computers
The manufacture, use, and end-of-life management of computers is fraught with environmental challenges. As you know, computers contain a range of hazardous constituents, including lead and mercury. These toxins can enter the environment when disposed of or recycled improperly. The manufacturing and use of computers also consumes a significant amount of energy. As a computer user, your organization could be saving between $25 and $75 per computer while saving energy.
If you’re interested in lowering the environmental impacts of computers, saving energy and savings costs, consider joining the State Electronics Challenge (SEC), a national program that provides free support to state, regional, tribal, and local governments, including schools, colleges, and universities to:
Purchase greener computer products.
Reduce the impact of products during use & decrease paper usage.
Manage obsolete computer equipment in an environmentally safe way.
Participants also receive sustainability reports and recognition.
To date, 87 government organizations in 32 states, including Indiana, have signed on as SEC Partners. For more information, visit the Challenge Website or send an email.
Coca-Cola/ KAB Recycling Bin Grant Program
The Coca-Cola/KAB Recycling Bin Grant Program supports recycling in communities and on college and university campuses by providing bins to selected grant recipients for the collection of beverage container recyclables. Grants will be provided to applicants who can demonstrate how their proposals will lead to sustainable recycling opportunities.
This year the bin grant program is broken up into two categories:
Public Space: The Public Space bin grant program is open to non-profit organizations, government agencies, schools and religious organizations. Learn more about the Public Space Bin Grants.
Collegiate: The collegiate bin grant program is open to degree granting colleges and universities. Learn more about the Collegiate Bin Grants.
Proposals will be accepted through March 2.
Sponsor Spotlight
GreenCycle was founded in 1992 when it received the contract to compost the leaves for the City of Indianapolis. Since then the company has continued to expand its sites and its products. The company continues to sell compost, but has added many types of mulch that are manufactured from clean wood waste such as brush, tree trunks, wood chips leaves, grass and pallets. All the products are recycled.
The four sites that accept wood waste and sell products are:
4227 South Perry Worth Rd, (intersection of SR 267 and I-65), Whitestown, IN 46075
1103 W. Troy Ave., Indianapolis, IN 46225
2695 Cicero Rd, (SR 19), Noblesville, IN 46060 494 South County Rd 200 East, Danville, IN 46122
GreenCycle is happy to accept any clean wood waste from homeowners, landscapers and wood grinding companies. This material is ground twice with three large grinders to create mulch. Some of it is dyed black, brown, red and gold. Leaves and grass, along with horsebedding are composted and sold as a beautiful dark, black soil amendment which is great for adding to new planting and refreshing tired garden soils.
GreenCycle likes to stress the fact that the company “Makes It Easy Being Green”. By disposing of material at the sites, it does not go to the landfill and instead is recycled back into lawns and gardens saving landfill space and at the same time benefitting the soil that the planet depends on for our plants.
GreenCycle is just now beginning to compost food waste. It is a rapidly growing segment of our business and we look forward to the future.
GreenCycle is a family company operated by the Repenning family. Win Repenning is Vice President of Operations and John Repenning is Vice President of Marketing. GreenCycle also has a company in Hartford, Connecticut, where James Repenning is the Vice President of Operations. The Repenning’s parents, the founders along with David Wagner, are located in the Chicago area and comprise the senior management of the company.
Sustainable Schools Webinar Series
2012: Reducing Waste in Schools
This EPA webinar series will showcase successful, sustainable practices for waste reduction from New York City schools to serve as examples for other schools across the country. While every school is unique, many of these ideas can be replicated to advance sustainability efforts in schools across the country.
Reducing Waste in Schools: Trayless Tuesdays, our first webinar, will discuss the progress in New York City to reduce landfill waste and reduce the use of polystyrene trays in schools. We will hear from NYC Dept of Education, NYC Dept of Sanitation and SOSNYC/Cafeteria Culture about their innovative collaboration to institute an alternative to the foam lunch trays for NYC’s 1.1 million school children.
Please join us Thursday, March 1, 2012 at 1:30pm as we host panelists Stephen O’Brien, Dir. of Food and Food Support, NYC Department of Education; Mary Most, Bureau of Waste Prevention, Reuse and Recycling, NYC Department of Sanitation; and Debby Lee Cohen Dir. of Styrofoam Out of Schools/Cafeteria Culture who will share the story of their ground-breaking collaboration “Trayless Tuesdays,” and how your school or school district can adopt this waste reduction strategy.
Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now.
For more information about “Trayless Tuesdays” check out the Cafeteria Culture site.
Indiana Governor’s Awards for Environmental Excellence
Nominations due 5 p.m. EST on Friday, April 20, 2012.
The Indiana Governor’s Awards for Environmental Excellence recognize exemplary projects across Indiana. Projects must demonstrate significant and measurable results, be innovative, comprehensive and documented.
Nominated projects/facilities must be: located in Indiana; focused on significant environmental protection activity; able to provide at least a year of measurable and quantifiable results; innovative; voluntary; in compliance with environmental health and safety laws; and, willing to share information with others via state publications or Web sites.
Who Can Apply?
The awards are open to all Indiana facilities, state and local units of government, individuals, and technical assistance organizations that operate or support environmental protection efforts of outstanding quality. Eligible technical assistance organizations include, but are not limited to:
public entities, educational groups, trade associations, individuals, public interest and community and labor groups.
Click here for details.
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