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What's New at StopWaste? $188,000 in Grants Awarded to Alameda County Businesses
 You asked for free funding, and the StopWaste Partnership delivered over $188,000 in Mini-Grants and Waste Prevention Funds for fiscal year 2009/10. Mini-Grants averaging about $3,500 each were awarded to 38 businesses and non-profits for recycling and compostable collection bins, signage, employee educational materials, and other start-up costs.
The Oakland Museum of California purchased attractive new combination recycling and trash bins that complement their renovated building. Indra Mungal, Museum Community Programs Manager, said, "We appreciate the support for the bins in order to widen our efforts to recycle all materials that pass though the building. Thank you for the grant!"
Latham Square, a property management and ownership company in Oakland, purchased green and blue bins for food scraps and recyclables collection. "We're excited about taking the next step in becoming a "green" building, and the StopWaste financial support makes it even easier," said Property Manager Anya Chanes. "Oakland's goal of 75% waste diversion is our goal, too."
Business Waste Prevention Fund grants were awarded to Periscope Cellars ($29,650) and Catalog Choice ($25,000). Periscope Cellars will invest in reusable bulk wine casks, preventing the environmental impacts of creating, transporting, and recycling or landfilling thousands of tons of glass. They will also collect lifecycle analysis data of wine packaging comparing bag-in-box wines to traditional glass bottles. Catalog Choice will launch an exciting new mail efficiency service benefitting Alameda County businesses on both sides of the mailroom. Businesses mail recipients can remove their address from unwanted or duplicate mailings, saving them time and money sorting and recycling the unwanted envelopes, postcards and catalogs. Business that send direct mail benefit from the Catalog Choice database when they cleanse their mailing lists of bad addresses and non-existent recipients-avoiding unwanted printing and mailing costs. |
Act Now to Influence Sustainable Biz Ratings for Manufacturers
How does your company's sustainability scorecard compare to your competitors'? Greenbiz.com's Joel Makower announced recently that Greener World Media has partnered with UL Environment, a business unit of the venerable Underwriters Laboratories, to create a, "company-level standard for sustainability--that is, environmental, social, and corporate governance issues-to be used as a procurement tool for companies, government agencies, and others." Through StopWaste.Org's early support of this sustainable business rating system--current and former staff members Justin Lehrer and Rory Bakke were founding advisers--we are able to offer an opportunity for a small number of businesses to participate in a formal stakeholder engagement process that will commence this Summer and go into the early Fall.
If your company is interested in reviewing and providing comments on what will soon be the first company-level sustainability standard, email us at Partnership@StopWaste.Org to learn more. |
Businesses like You: Orcon Goes Paperless
 Orcon Corporation manufactures film and seam products for the aerospace and carpet industries. In 2009 Orcon was considering ways to reduce costs and increase efficiency. Ed Jackson, Orcon's Manager of Financial Planning, applied for a StopWaste Partnership Mini-Grant to subsidize the cost of Orcon's switch to a paperless office system in multiple departments. With a goal of 95% of documents stored electronically, Orcon designed a digital program that was easily adopted. "At first employees were reluctant to adopt any changes to the current system," said Jackson, "but once they gathered information in a fraction of time formerly wasted sifting through storage boxes, our staff quickly realized how much of an improvement the paperless system was." Let's do the NumbersThe $5,000 StopWaste Partnership Mini-Grant funds accelerated the ROI of the project by 33%, turning a 6-month payback into just over four. As a result of the new system, Orcon reduced their hard-copies by well over a million documents a year, an 80% reduction. Add those gains to nearly eliminating the costs of long term paper document storage and destruction, plus regaining valuable office space formerly taken by 50 file cabinets, and Orcon expects to save over $11,200 annually. How would a StopWaste Partnership Mini-Grant help your company save money and resources? Contact us at Partnership@StopWaste.Org. |
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Client Spotlight: Emerald Packaging
 Emerald Packaging is one of the largest flexible packaging manufacturers on the West Coast and one of the biggest suppliers of produce packaging in the country. The 175 employees of Emerald Packaging have developed a robust "green" culture encompassing waste reduction, packaging redesign and waste prevention. Emerald Packaging began their go-green journey with close scrutiny of their internal waste stream, and now they recycle 900 tons of plastic a year. Along with other recycling efforts, this translates to an impressive landfill diversion rate of 70% of the company's waste.
Emerald Packaging also takes the lead in sustainability by actively engaging their clients to collaborate on packaging designs that are more efficient, biodegradable or both. In addition to their recycling and redesign initiatives, Emerald Packaging prevents waste before it needs to be recycled. Their durable plastic core program leveraged a StopWaste Partnership Mini-Grant to purchase reusable plastic cores. These cores last through hundreds of reuses, replacing cardboard cores that were only used twice. Their adoption of more efficient reusable materials saves Emerald Packaging $20,000 dollars a year by preventing 50,000 pounds of cardboard.
If your company is interested in free StopWaste Partnership Mini-Grant funding, click here or contact us at Partnership@StopWaste.Org. |
Wanted: Your Opinion: How have you reduced paper use at the office?
Maybe your office implemented print-to-PDF technology or designated a second-side paper tray in the hallway printer? Was there resistance to change? How were perceived barriers overcome? Did you track the savings?
Share your real life office story with us so that we can learn more about on-the-ground paper prevention in Alameda County. The first three respondents will receive a free reusable mug or water bottle as an appreciation of our thanks. All responses will be considered for a future client success story. Email your story to Partnership@StopWaste.Org.
Looking for office paper prevention ideas? Check out the easy-to-use resources and internal communication templates in our Paperless Express guide. It's an all in one kit!
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StopWaste Business Resources: Order Go Green Business Recycling Kits
Whether you're just starting to consider how to green your business or you're way ahead of the pack, we've got two new free business kits available.
 Business Recycling Starter Kit
It's easy to recycle at work, and this kit gets you started. Inside you'll find labels and sample signage for bins, a list of recycling bin suppliers, an A-Z directory of local recycling vendors, a stop junk mail kit, green purchasing information, a step-by-step mixed paper recycling guide and information on green business certification from our partners at the Alameda County Green Business Program.
 Advanced Business Greening Kit
Already recycling bottles, cans, paper and cardboard? Take business recycling and waste prevention to the next level with the Advanced Business Greening Kit. Inside you'll find our stop junk mail kit, next-level guides to green office maintenance and operations and paper reduction, two inspiring case studies from successful businesses, and special event planning information.
Order your kit today! Visit our online store or email your order to us at Partnership@StopWaste.Org. Mention your industry and interests and we'll customize your materials.
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Ask StopWaste: Is Mandatory Business Recycling on the Horizon?
 In a word: Yes. The state of California is developing a mandatory commercial recycling regulation as part of AB 32 regulations to reduce greenhouse gases. Recycling reduces greenhouse gas emissions by avoiding the emissions associated with extracting and processing raw materials to make products and packaging. Recycling also helps to reduce landfill emissions. The emissions associated with transporting recyclables are far offset by the upstream emission reductions associated with recycling.
The mandatory commercial recycling regulation will require businesses generating 4 or more cubic yards of garbage each week to subscribe to a recycling service or self-haul recyclables to a recycling facility. The regulation goes into effect in 2012. The StopWaste Partnership can help your business set up a recycling program now to get ready for the new requirements.
To get assistance, call 1-877-STOPWASTE (786-7927) or email us at Partnership@StopWaste.Org.
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Community Spotlight: CP Professional Document Services
 Businesses across Alameda County are saving time and money by reducing their reliance on paper documents. Why thumb through paper files and pay for storage and cabinet space when digital storage is instantly searchable? Business records, patient files, real estate and accounting documents, invoices, maps, plans, checks and more - everything is going digital.
Whether your company needs HIPPA-compliant security, barcode index capture, or manual data entry, the Cerebral Palsy Center of the Bay Area (CP Center) can help. Their professional technicians use the latest technology to process jobs with precision, utmost care, security and guaranteed accuracy. CP Professional Document Services provides real employment for adults with disabilities and 100% of business proceeds are used to support CP Center programs. This business is helping to create a world where people with disabilities are welcomed, productive, and living fulfilled lives.
To learn more contact Bill Pelter at bpelter@cpcoak.org or (510) 531-3323.
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