Author: Joy Scrogum

Joy is a Sustainability Specialist at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC), a division of the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She has worked on developing & maintaining online resources for the Great Lakes Regional Pollution Prevention Roundtable since 2001. As part of ISTC's Technical Assistance Program, she works on Zero Waste Illinois projects with clients throughout the state, and waste reduction outreach projects including the Illini Gadget Garage and the Green Lunchroom Challenge. Key past projects include coordinating the International Sustainable Electronics Competition, developing & teaching ENG 498 "Sustainable Technology: Environmental & Social Impacts of Innovations," & Greening Schools, which focused on making K-12 facilities & curricula more sustainable. https://www.linkedin.com/in/joyscrogum/
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Healthy Schools Campaign Launches Blog, Website

The Healthy Schools Campaign (HSC) recently launched a new blog to help disseminate information on its activities, as well as regional and national stories related to its initiatives. The blog will feature posts from HSC staff members and invited guest bloggers.

HSC has also launched a new website, GreenCleanSchools.org, which features online access to portions of the free HSC publication, The Quick and Easy Guide to Green Cleaning in Schools. The site also features related news, events and educational opportunities; success stories; regulatory and market updates; featured green cleaning products and equipment; and a question-and-answer style column called Ask Steve, written by Steve Ashkin, president of the Ashkin Group, nationally renowned green cleaning expert and author of The Quick and Easy Guide to Green Cleaning in Schools.

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Industrial Ecology of Metals Forum Launched

A free new tool has been launched to promote the application of industrial ecology and facilities research on material flows. The Industrial Ecology of Metals Forum maintains two web-based dynamic and interactive compendia of data: one containing the concentrations of metals found in various high-volume materials, and the other containing the flow rate information for high-volume materials. A discussion group focused on building and maintaining the compendia completes the Forum. The Forum also contains an area for comments on data quality issues. The compendia are available to the general public for viewing, but only discussion group members can make additions to or comments on data contained in the compendia. Funding for the Forum is provided by the U.S. EPA’s Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO) and by U.S. EPA Region 5. For more information on the Forum, contact Gary Miller, Assistant Director, WMRC.

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Canadian Government Announces ecoENERGY Efficiency Initiative

The Government of Canada has announced a plan to invest $300 million over four years to promote energy efficiency. The ecoENERGY Efficiency Initiative includes three components: a retrofit program that offers information and support for the retrofit of homes, buildings and industrial processes; a program to encourage the construction of more energy efficient buildings and houses; and a program to accelerate energy-saving investments and exchange of best-practice information within the industrial sector. See the Natural Resources Canada Backgrounder for more information on this initiative.

This initiative is the latest in a series of measures set forth by the Canadian government to promote energy efficiency, renewable energy and cleaner energy technologies. See the ecoENERGY web site for more information on all these energy-related initiatives, as well as the Natural Resources Canada Backgrounders on the ecoEnergy Renewable Initiative and the ecoENERGY Technology Initiative.

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Online Training for the P2 Results Data System

GLRPPR will be presenting a free online training on the use of the P2 Results Data System on Wednesday, January 24th at 1:30 PM CT. The course will include a background of the tool, step-by-step instructions for registering and entering data, plans for future improvements of the tool, and a Q and A session. The course will be presented by Ken Grimm of NPPR with assistance from GLRPPR webmaster, Tyler Rubach. To sign up for the course, fill out the online registration form. Upon submission of the registration form you will receive a confirmation email and be put on a mailing list to receive further instructions and details via email as the date of the course approaches.

For more information on the measurement initiative and the P2 Results Data System, see the project fact sheet and the “About the Project” section of the regional module available on the GLRPPR web site.

A similar training session will be presented at the joint GLRPPR/Region 7 roundtable conference in March in Chicago, IL. Continue to check the conference web page for more information on the conference in the coming weeks.

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Best Workplaces for Commuters

A cooperative effort of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and participating corporations (including 1,600 work sites that earned the Best Workplaces for Commuter designation), Best Workplaces for Commuters provides information for employers and employees looking for alternatives to a gas-guzzling commuter lifestyle.

The site includes facts and figures about the program and about commuting more generally, as well as benefits of a sustainable commuter program, resources for setting up a benefits program at your workplace, and summaries of successful programs.

For more information about the benefits of alternative commuter programs, see also:

If you have suggestions for additional resources, please login and post them in the comments.

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Mercury in compact fluorescent lighting

Compact fluorescent light bulbs offer significant environmental benefits over incandescent bulbs because they are more energy efficient, which reduces their climate footprint. However, they do contain a small amount of mercury, which can be released into the environment if the bulb is broken upon disposal.

Vicki Fulbright addressed this topic in her presentation at the 2005 ENERGY STAR Lighing Partners Meeting, “The CFL Mercury Conundrum: Northwest Utilities Respond“. She discusses the conundrum, reasons to recycle, and profiles successful recycling programs from throughout the United States.

For more information on the topic, see also:

If you have other suggestions for other resources on this topic, just login and leave a note in the comments.

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Making the Holiday Season Greener

December is almost here, which means that the winter holidays are once again upon us. In the spirit of the season, check out these resources to help make your holiday season a little greener.

P2 for the Holidays is an excellent compendium of resources that encourage celebrating the season while avoiding waste. NewDream.org’s Simplify the Holidays web site is also an excellent resource for making your holiday season greener and less hectic.

Brian Smith wrote “Recycling Christmas” for the Environmental News Service in December 2002. In it, he told the story of how his family decided to make the holidays simpler by giving “recycled” holiday gifts and avoiding the hectic shopping season.

About.com’s Family Crafts editor has compiled a nice list of instructions for making recycled ornaments out of everything from used lightbulbs to CDs. AllFreeCrafts.com provides instructions for making ornaments out of old holiday cards.

BellaOnline offers suggestions for making earth-friendly gift wrap.

If you know of other resources, login and leave them in the comments.

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Illinois organizations receive Governor’s Pollution Prevention Awards

Governor Rod R. Blagojevich and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources have named 24 Illinois companies and organizations 2006 Governor’s Pollution Prevention Awards winners for their significant achievements in protecting the environment and boosting the economy. The 20th annual Governor’s Pollution Prevention Awards were presented in Bloomington during a luncheon hosted by the Waste Management and Research Center (WMRC), a division of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR).

Applicants for the awards were judged in a statewide competition on criteria including technological innovation, environmental significance, economic benefits and commitment to pollution prevention.

“We were impressed again with the variety and quality of the projects undertaken by the winning companies,” said George Vander Velde, WMRC Director. “These businesses and organizations have proven that pollution prevention makes good sense for the environmental and economic health of Illinois. They have achieved their pollution prevention goals and saved millions of dollars in pollution control, waste disposal, energy and raw material costs.”

The winners include:

Small company
Chem Processing, Inc. (CPI), Rockford
PortionPac Chemical Corporation, Chicago
Spraylat Corporation, Chicago
Consolidated Printing Co., Chicago

Large company
Farmland Foods, Inc., Monmouth
Illinois Department of Military Affairs, Springfield
CITGO, Lemont

Vendor/Supplier
Finishes Unlimited Inc., Sugar Grove

Educational Organization
Pontiac Township High School, Pontiac

Continuous Improvement
Small company
Lansing Cleaners, Lansing
R.B. White, Inc., Bloomington

Large company
GE Healthcare, Arlington Heights
Abbott, Abbott Park
ITT Bell & Gossett, Morton Grove
Gates Corporation, Galesburg
Nestle’ USA, Jacksonville
Cardinal Health, McGaw Park
Continental Tire North America (CTNA), Mount Vernon
International Truck & Engine Corporation, Melrose Park

Service Organization
St. Joseph’s Hospital, Breese
Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System (SBLHS), Charleston/Mattoon

Innovate Illinois Award
Caterpillar’s Mossville Engine Center, Mossville

For more information on the Governor’s Pollution Prevention Awards, visit the WMRC website.

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Welcome to the GLRPPR Blog!

Welcome to the GLRPPR Blog–a new service we’re providing to help keep you informed about pollution prevention resources from throughout the Great Lakes region and beyond.

The Great Lakes Regional Pollution Prevention Roundtable (GLRPPR) is a professional organization dedicated to promoting information exchange and networking to pollution prevention (P2) professionals in the Great Lakes regions of the United States and Canada. GLRPPR is a member of the Pollution Prevention Resource Exchange (P2Rx), a national network of regional information centers funded in part by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The GLRPPR Blog is meant to facilitate and encourage networking and information exchange among P2 professionals and others in the Great Lakes region who are interested in promoting sustainability principles in industry and everyday life. We hope you’ll come to view the blog as a means to stay up-to-date on environmental issues and to share ideas and techniques with your colleagues. Not everyone can come to conferences for direct interaction with their colleagues; let the GLRPPR Blog bring the benefits of such interaction to your desktop.

Read on, and don’t hesitate to leave comments on posts that you find interesting. For further information about weblogs and answers to commonly asked questions about the GLRPPR Blog, see our FAQ page.

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Plastics Energy Best Practice Guidebook Available from Focus on Energy

Wisconsin’s Focus on Energy program recently released a Plastics Energy Best Practice Guidebook. According to a Focus on Energy press release, the guidebook emphasizes not only the energy savings advantages, but the additional benefits, such as improved production, reduced waste and lower materials and water usage that result from improving plastics-specific manufacturing processes. The guidebook includes a discussion of energy use in the plastics industry, ways to compare a facility’s performance with other plastics processors, guidelines for energy management best practices and summaries for more than 20 technical best practices for plastics-specific production processes that have been reviewed by plastics industry leaders. To request a copy of the guidebook, contact Craig Schepp at 608-277-2948.