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Green Star AK Keep up with Green Star's busy schedule; come join us, friend us, like us!
Anchorage Recycles
Stay current on what's happening in recycling around Anchorage. Several recycling organizations post regularly.
Plug at 20 Anchorage
Keep up with local events and cold-weather driving tips.
Bike to Work Anchorage
The bicycling community pedals into fall with events and trainings.
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| Thank You to our Sponsors | Thank you to all of our sponsors and donors for supporting Green Star.
ALPAR
Toyota's
100 Cars for Good
Thank you to the sponsors of this year's
Bioneers in Alaska.
Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT)
Dr. Roderic Smith & Dr. Christine Wilcox with Pediatric Neurology
Christina Quilter
Terri Pauls
Visit Our Sponsor List
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| Green Star Staff |
Kim Kovol Executive Director Josh Sherwood |
What's New
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Green Star's address is
333 W. 4th Avenue, Suite 310, Anchorage, AK 99501. PLEASE MAKE A NOTE! Several web listings that are beyond our control list out-of-date contact information for Green Star in Anchorage. |
Member Benefits
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Green Star offers benefits to its members beyond just energy savings and waste reduction. Many local businesses offer product and service discounts to Green Star members. Visit our Member Benefits page to learn more. |
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SHINING STARS Congratulations to our latest Green Star Award certified businesses!
Thank you to Paula Williams, Sustainability Director at UAA, for arranging 11 student volunteers to help Green Star this semester!
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EVENTS & REMINDERS
Find events on Green Star's web calendar. Alaska Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC) recently released a white paper summarizing the results of energy audits conducted in 327 commercial buildings around Alaska. Alaska Winter Gear & Ski Swap -- Nov. 10 & 11 The ultimate in gear recycling! The swap is held at West High School and is organized by the Alyeska Ski Club and the UAA Ski Team. This year will be better than ever with an expanded list of accepted items, online registration for sellers, and new drop-off locations. Visit www.akskiswap.com for all the details.
REAP Clean Energy Lecture Series -- Nov. 14
Renewable Energy Alaska Project (REAP) hosts FREE forums from 6 to 8pm on the 2nd Wednesday of every month from September to May at the Anchorage Museum auditorium, 625 C Street. Those who can't attend can listen via live podcast or download a podcast posted after the event.
The November lecture is "The Power of Water - Tidal and Hydrokinetic Energy in Alaska." Doug Johnson and Monty Worthington of Ocean Renewable Power Company will talk about Alaska's tidal potential and the work they have been doing in Cook Inlet and False Pass. Jerome (Jerry) Johnson, research professor and director of the Alaska Hydrokinetic Energy Research Center at UAF, will talk about hydrokinetic power generating devices, recent Alaskan hydrokinetic demonstration projects and what needs to be done to evaluate the economic viability of this energy resource in Alaska.
Visit http://alaskarenewableenergy.org/ for more information, to register for the lecture as a webinar, or to see a list of future lectures.
Anchorage Recycles Day / America Recycles Day -- Nov. 15
Events are taking place all over the Anchorage area. Visit www.americarecyclesday.org and click on Join An Event to see what's happening! See the article below for more information about local events.
 Anchorage to Zero Waste Guide -- Download the guide. Produced twice a year by the Municipality of Anchorage's Solid Waste Services, the guide is your definitive source for recycling information in Anchorage. The new fall/winter issue includes information about winter water quality, heating with wood cleanly, and updated recycling, energy efficiency, and waste prevention information. Alaska Materials Exchange. Don't forget to list your used items on the exchange or look there for items before going shopping. At any given time, you can find office furniture and supplies, chemicals, pallets, constructions materials and more. Visit AME for more information. |
AMERICA RECYCLES DAY EVENTS  Alaska Aces Game -- November 14
Join Green Star, along with MOA Solid Waste Services, ALPAR, and others at the November 14 Alaska Aces game to spread the word about recycling and America Recycles Day events.
recyclART -- November 15Stop by Kendall Lexus of Alaska (6930 Old Seward Highway) between 5 and 7pm. Green Star is hosting a recycling bin art contest called recyclART as part of this year's celebration of America Recycles Day. The goal of the event is to create recycling bins that are more visible and their purpose more obvious to the public. Each bin will be displayed and auctioned off with the hope that the bins will be used by businesses in the Anchorage workplace as both functional recycling bins and works of art to raise awareness about recycling.
Organizations that are trying their hand at creating a recycling bin include the Alaska Chamber of Commerce, Midnight Sun Brewing Co., Denali Elementary School, Highland Tech, and Jennifer Stratton, owner of Kaleidescope.
The event is sponsored by Green Star, ALPAR, Kendall Lexus of Alaska, AIH, Green Alaska Solutions, and Midnight Sun Brewing Co. Come enjoy food, drinks, Midnight Sun beer, and interesting, functional art.  | |
Here's one recycling bin that will be part of the auction. This one is made with a Brute 10-gallon container, bicycle tires, soda cans, water bottle lids, water bottle wrappers, water bottle, denim jeans, and plastic wrappers.
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E3: Economy - Energy - Environment
 Green Star staff recently attended the 2012 Regional Pollution Prevention Roundtable in Washington state. This year, the focus was E3, green chemistry, and chemicals of concern to Puget Sound.
The topic of sustainability often centers on the triple bottom line of economic considerations, social responsibility and the environment. In these challenging times, more and more manufacturers are adopting sustainability as part of their overall business strategies. They understand how sustainable business practices reduce waste, improve the efficiency of their operations, and position their firms to be more competitive in the global marketplace.
Small- to medium-sized manufacturers, however, often lack information to integrate practical, sustainable approaches in their operations. In 2009, the federal government created a framework called E3: Economy, Energy and the Environment to help bridge that gap.
E3 brings together federal agencies, states, and local communities for a broad discussion on how to connect respective programs to deliver responsive, coordinated solutions in a manufacturing environment. The E3 Framework facilitates collaboration among groups with common interests and a common agenda. This framework focuses on strengthening small- to medium-sized American manufacturers, which represent the largest proportion of the manufacturing sector. State and local communities use the E3 framework to help boost local economies to achieve their sustainability goals. Take a look at this E3 video.
 During Green Star staff's Washington trip, they had the opportunity to participate in a site tour at Watson, a local manufacturer of environmentally responsible and sustainable stand alone office equipment. Watson provides office furniture to companies such as Boeing and Nike. Every piece of furniture the company builds uses recycled materials in the design. Watson has even purchased the equipment to reuse all scrap lumber by creating biomass pellets.
All items are shipped on heavy-duty reusable wood pallets and covered with reusable shipping blankets to reduce waste. The company is extremely responsible in all its operations and the tour was truly an eye-opening experience for Green Star. Watson sets the bar high and Alaska needs to strive to mimic some of Watson's most basic practices in the manufacturing industry. Visit
for more information about Watson's initiatives.
for highlights of Anchorage's own Midnight Sun Brewing Company's recent E3 efforts. Green Star and Alaska Manufacturing Extension Partnership have teamed up with Midnight Sun Brewery to launch the brewery's E3 initiative.
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CONOCOPHILLIPS ALPINE KEEPS POLLUTION PREVENTION IN THE FOREFRONT
ConocoPhillips Alaska implements its Alpine Pollution Prevention Programs at the ConocoPhillips Alpine Facility in the Western North Slope. CP encourages the crew there to share their pollution prevention ideas and inventions, so that these ideas can be shared and implemented. CP gives quarterly prizes for the best invention or idea, as well as personal recognition to the inventor. Below was this quarter's winner and the announcement sent out.
"I wanted to share what was implemented as a result of the idea turned in by one of our crew members, " said Jodi Smith, ALP Environmental Coordinators, ConocoPhillips Alaska, Inc.
Congratulations to John Collins with KAS!
John is the winner of the third quarter Pollution Prevention Award.
John recommended Alpine replace the non-rechargeable batteries in our paper towel dispensers at the camp, kitchen, and in the Enviro Vacs, with rechargeable batteries or electric plug-in/rechargeable battery combination.
Alpine has replaced roughly 40 units with the rechargeable plug in combination!
This is saving Alpine and the environment the cost of purchasing, shipping, dispensing/installing and disposing of
~ 2000 D cell batteries a year to the tune of ~
$$$5000.00 dollars in savings for Alpine.
Great job John!!
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Access past issues of E-News, sorted by topic or date. Please send comments, questions, or suggestions for future E-News topics to us at jeanne@greenstarinc.org. Forward this newsletter freely. Send us any email addresses you wish us to add to our mailing list. Thank you!
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